EPISODE 52
No Plan, No Problem: Biking the World by Chance
In this laugh-out-loud episode, discover how New York City native Judi Desire went from sending a mass guilt-trip email asking for help to learn how ride a bike all the way to solo touring on six continents. Listen in as she recounts her chaotic method of bicycle travel, which intentionally leaves much up to chance. From completing the Camino de Santiago after hearing about it at a wedding in Spain to nearly getting deported from Mauritius for having zero plans and instead becoming a local celebrity, Judi makes the most of every opportunity. Rather than preparing for a visit to a new country, Judi’s approach is, “I’ll let the people teach me.” And it is the people she meets, from firefighters in Brazil to tour guides in Cuba, that enrich her trips, giving her tips on accommodations and teaching her new cycling skills. It’s an inspiring journey that leads back to New York City, where Judi now runs the Uptown and Boogie Healthy Project, a nonprofit that increases access to fresh, nutritious food and bicycle education in Harlem and The Bronx.
Episode Transcript
Judi: And I took the bike over to the bike shop, and I said, “I want to turn this into a bike tourist.” I thought it was like the type of bike, I didn’t realize it was the type of person.
Gabriel: You just heard Judi Desire, who was surprised to find out that a bicycle tourist was not a type of bicycle, like a boneshaker or a beach cruiser. Judi was born in Brooklyn to parents who came from Haiti. As a child, she never learned to ride a bike and rarely left New York City. Judi joked that there aren’t any Haitian-Creole words for “camping,” “tent,” or “bicycle touring.” Even as a young adult, Judi could not imagine that she would not only learn to ride a bike one day, but eventually go on to complete extensive solo bicycle tours on six continents. As a Haitian-American female solo cyclist, Judi has faced countless obstacles along her path. If our hilarious conversation is any indication, it was her passion for bicycling, her boisterous sense of humor, and her contagious enthusiasm that have seen her through. Certainly, it was not her ability to make plans in advance.
Sandra: You’re listening to The Accidental Bicycle Tourist. In this podcast, you’ll meet people from all walks of life and learn about their most memorable bike touring experiences. This is your host, Gabriel Aldaz.
Gabriel: Hello cycle touring enthusiasts! Welcome to another episode of The Accidental Bicycle Tourist podcast. Today, we meet the ultimate accidental bicycle tourist, Judi Desire. Judi transformed from a woman who did not know how to ride a bike into a woman who bicycle toured on six continents. Not content to see the world by bicycle, Judi has also founded an organization called Uptown and Boogie Bicycle Advocacy in Harlem, New York, which has recently expanded in scope. I look forward to hearing all about Judi’s accidental adventures and more. So, Judi Desire, thank you for being a guest on The Accidental Bicycle Tourist podcast.
Judi: Thank you for having me. I’m excited.
Gabriel: Great! This is going to be a blast from the past. During COVID, you gave a talk for Mappy Hour, which describes itself as a “space for those living in cities to come together and share our passion for the great outdoors.” At that time, the world was on lockdown, so your talk was virtual and it’s, of course, now immortalized on YouTube. I’ll put a link in the show notes. And right at the beginning, you said, “In 2010, I accidentally learned how to ride a bike.”
Judi: Yes.
Gabriel: Let’s start off by talking about that.
Judi: I sort of attempted to ride when I was nine. One of my neighbors was giving away a bike of his daughter and wanted to transition it into another child and tried to teach me. I got excited and made a wrong turn or and then scarred my knee, but I was ready for that bike. I went home excited to tell my mom and she squashed that really quick. She was like, “Absolutely not.” When you are the only child, you kind of live in a little bubble. And, back in my days cycling wasn’t as, I guess you could say, as safe-ish as today. Yeah. So that kind of just like went to the wind.
Gabriel: Was that because you were in New York in an urban environment?
Judi: I was in New York. I’m the only child. My mother was Caribbean. All-the-eggs-was-in-one-basket child. So, yeah. Accidents were happening with drivers. Back in the day, those cars were steel. That could take someone down completely. My mother was very cautious about it and very worried about biking. She wasn’t a cyclist either. She wasn’t really into it and I was just like, well, mom don’t want me to have the bike. And so I watched that bike be ridden around by somebody else around the block. I was like, it could have been mine. Yeah. It had like a little tassel, you know, the girl bikes and tassel at the end. You know what I’m saying?
Gabriel: It didn’t work out as a kid. And then?
Judi: 2001 is when I started kind of traveling and I would go in and out of different countries in the Caribbean. I got, you know, older, finished college, got a job. I said, you know, I would love to like go further, go to Europe. What would that look like? And she was like, “Oh, you know, it’s great when you go to Europe, you can bike everywhere, swim and it’s very friendly. It’s really easy. You could start anywhere.” And the one thing when she said bike and swim with two things I did not know how to do. I just was like, well, maybe I’ll just take a train, a plane, a bus. And she was like, “Yeah, it gets you places. But when you get there, you really want to explore by bike.” I was like, oh, this is interesting. So this is like around 2009, now 2010. And I wrote an email to all my friends and was like, you know, I did the guilt email of I’m your friend who doesn’t know how to ride. But all of you do, you know.
Gabriel: You send an email.
Judi: You send an email to everyone. And you say, and you give him like, you know, the guilt-trip email. And two said, “Yeah, I’ll show you.” And they showed me how they learned. So it was holding the back of the saddle and getting you going. And, you know, there was a lot of crashes into things along the way. Now I know better how to ride a bike. And I teach the balance-first method. But, you know, back in that day, you just held the saddle until somebody was stable and you send them off, you know, down a hill and hope they brake.
Gabriel: Well, that’s exactly what my dad did when I had to learn. I always wondered, why did he choose a place that was right in front of a big hill to teach me how to ride a bike?
Judi: It’s the hills. You talk to a Caribbean, a European, you know, Middle Eastern, and everyone will tell you, down a hill you go. You know, like to swim, they just throw you in the deep end and be like, well, you’re gonna figure it out. And it’s like every culture, it’s amazing. It’s like a beam sent out to parents. Find the biggest hill.
Gabriel: Yeah, exactly. Find the biggest hill. Start in front of it.
Judi: Yeah. But luckily, my friends did not do that. New York is very nice and flat. So we just kind of biked along the South Street Seaport when you go to the east side of Manhattan Island Greenway. And then a friend of mine, we just happened to take a trip to Pennsylvania. Hershey Park, actually.
Gabriel: OK.
Judi: We rented a bike and we biked around. And that was, yeah, and then I caught the bug. I was like, well, this is interesting. And I just rented bikes because I didn’t know, like, buying bikes. Like, what do you do with this? As a native New Yorker, I didn’t feel like a New Yorker because when I started riding, I was like, well, where is this and who is this and what building is this? And I’m like, wait, from here to here, is that quick? But I made it faster than the subway. And I became a local tourist, I would call it, in my own city. And just kind of explored and was like, bridges! And yeah. And just took off from there.
Gabriel: So when did you purchase your first bicycle?
Judi: 2012. My birthday is at the end of the year. I’m December 30. And I try to, like, be a snow bunny. So I just like, yeah, I just like leave for a warmer climate during my birthday. I go to various places, and I really wanted to go to Brazil. I didn’t really know South America. I barely spoke Spanish. Like, I barely, I think the “hola” and the “gracias.” And so I was like, oh, I should get there. My friend is there. I had went to Spain to try to learn Spanish and realized Spain does not speak Spanish in Barcelona. And I was like, whoa, what’s this? What’s a country like? Like what? So that was interesting to find out when I arrived. So with very limited Spanish and then to go to Brazil, which is Portuguese, I was like, I can’t win with languages. My friend who I met in Spain was like, “Look, I’m about to leave Brazil. I’m going to head off to, you know, Europe. And this will be your last chance to come see Brazil and see it for a carnival season.” So I was like, “Okay.” And it was like, how do you travel around Brazil? Like, how do you get around? Is it like cars? And you know, do you do buses? And, you know, I did a little googling. I found that two French cyclists were biking Brazil and they called themselves a “bike tourist,” which is a term I never heard. They were going through the Amazons and they were just talking about the bugs and things that they were seeing in Brazil. And I was like, who is doing this? And what is this? And so that was around the same time I had my bike. So I went back to the bike shop. So I had a Trek FX bike. And it was a fitness bike, but it was designed to also be a commuter bike. So I’d bike around. And I took the bike over to the bike shop. And I said, “I want to turn this into a bike tourist.” I thought it was like the type of bike. I didn’t realize it was a type of person. And I was like, “I want this to be a bike tourist.” And they were like, “The bike or you?” They were like, “Oh, yeah, you have to get a rack and you have to get paneers.” And they started telling me all of the things and explained that you can get a touring bike. Touring bikes have racks and handlebar bags and all this stuff. And you gotta wear the gloves and the gear. And I was just like, “What? This is a lot.” I like told my friends. I’m like, “Do you know what a bike tourist is?” And they were like, “No.” I felt like I discovered a whole new world and a new word as well. Yeah. They helped me understand how to do it. And I told my friend in Brazil, I was like, “I’m going to come and be bike tourist in Brazil.” And she was like, “Great, I have a bike. We can bike around.” And I was like, “You have a bike?” And she was like, “Yeah, my dad fixed bikes, but you have to bring your bike. That’s no problem.” That’s when I really learned my bike, like taking off the pedals and how to pack it and unpack it and taking off the racks. The bike was really not made to be a bike touring bike. So I always tell people when they’re like, “Oh, what type of bike?” I’m like, “Any bike.” Now I have a fancy, sexy one. But that is fine. I would never wear clips. That was an experience I took off very quickly. I didn’t tell my friends I was going to do it, because I felt like, I definitely did not tell my mother. And at the time, my mother didn’t even know I owned a bike or rode a bike. I was like, this woman does not need to know.
Gabriel: Yeah. You learned from…
Judi: I remember that little 9-year-old girl who did not get her bicycle. So this grown 20-something will not be telling her mother that she’s riding a bike. She later found out and was like, “Well, there’s nothing I can do now but give an opinion, that’s really about it.” I didn’t want people to be worried or scared about me doing this. So I went to the bike shop. They packed it really nice. That was the first and last time a bike was properly packed. It had bubble wrap. The tubes had the cover and styrofoam. My bike has never seen a styrofoam, a bubble wrap, ever since. That was like a luxury. Mine does usually get smacked into a big bag, into a box and taped up and see you on the other side. And it always comes back on the other side like it went through a war. And I was like, this is why we don’t pack properly.
Gabriel: Was it easy for you to find a bicycle shop coming in as someone who didn’t have any experience?
Judi: I have to say, my early experience at bike shops really annoyed me. You come in and there’s no women at the time. And then I have a background in computer science. Ever since I was a child, I loved taking things apart and putting it back together and see how it works. And so I just would ask questions like, “What is this? How do you take it apart? How do you put it back together?” And it was like, “Oh, you young lady. That’s cute. So let me just do this for you.” And I’m like, “But I would like to learn how to fix my bike. And I want to know the parts.” And instead of me saying, “The jiggamajig digimajig, what is the jiggamajig?” I just want to know, you know, why do I break?
Gabriel: Well, we know why you break, but not how you break, maybe.
Judi: Yes. So it’s like, it was just a trial. Yeah. And I learned how to fix my own bike. So to this day, even though climate has changed and, you know, there’s a lot more women in bike shops, I still do my own stuff. I think I just don’t want to deal with trying to tell somebody that I know something’s wrong with my bike and they look at me like, “Well, we’ll see.” I’m like, “I know what it is.” That’s why, when I started my organization, I wanted people to at least learn how to fix a flat. I was like, if you don’t do anything on the bike, just learn how to fix a flat. That will save you a lot of time and it will teach you your bike. That’s when I started kind of doing like little bike clinics just to show people.
Gabriel: Yeah, we’ll get to that later. But I want to hear about that first trip. It seems like your friend was enthusiastic. She had a bike. You had a bike. By now you were equipped, I guess you’d gotten the rack, the panniers. I don’t know. Did you also have a tent or were you on this trip more like in other accommodations?
Judi: I did have a tent. I believe I had, because I once received a tent when I was traveling in Hawaii. So one of people I’ve met gave me a tent. It was like a, at the time, summer tent. So it wasn’t really meant for like rainy days or windy days. It was really meant for just lounging on the beach. But that was my first experience with a tent.
Gabriel: OK.
Judi: I didn’t even know these things existed. No, in my family, no Haitian person ever mentioned the word “camp.” I don’t even think it’s translated in Creole. Like I’d tell people, I was like “hostels.” There’s no word. Every Haitian kept saying hotel. I kept saying hostel. Camping. Camping was like, what is this?
Gabriel: Yeah. So you stayed in hostels or something in Brazil?
Judi: Yeah.
Gabriel: And where did you go?
Judi: Well, with my friend, we biked around all Rio. I mean, like I saw every inch of Rio and that was around the same time the Olympics was coming to Brazil. So there was a lot of traffic jams. So it was not ideal to be in a car. So biking was like, oh, look at you in this two hour wait. Gonna pedal around. Her father helped us put the bike like in a car to go a little further and then we would park and then bike somewhere else like, along the coastline. It was really fun. I was just like, wow, I’m riding a bike. And like I’m seeing another country by bike, when I’m usually like trying to get buses and walking around. So this was a great experience. I was like, well, I guess I’m going to see if I can bike a country. And I met two Couchsurfers who had posted that they were gonna bike from Rio de São Paulo. And this was my first, so I was like, let me tag along with someone who knows what they’re doing. And we rode together to São Paulo. And I was at the only destination that was just ending in São Paulo and finishing their trip. I learned biking in the rain is beautiful. Mudslides are interesting. And I’m like, “Oh, so we biking through this?” And he was like, “Oh, it’s calm. It’s not so bad.” And I’m looking at the mudslide like if my mother knew, I want to go back home. And I think now I love biking in the rain. Like in the summertime, it’s amazing feeling. So that really was one of my biggest experiences, like, biking in the rain and not automatically thinking everything is danger. And then I learned, you know, hills, I learned my gears and finding people to stay in their home. I didn’t think this was something people did. And random people helped us and let us stay in their home or had us put our tent in their backyard, or… I was like, wow, this is a little bit interesting. I didn’t know people did this. And so when I was going to do my trip, I said, you know, I’m going to see if I can ask, you know, “Can I stay in your backyard or whatever?” And I’m used to traveling by myself. And so I was like, all right, let’s see how we go. The one tip that everyone gave me in Brazil is the most secure group of people to trust was the fire department. They had volunteer firefighters. There were men and women living in separate quarters, but there was dorms and space for both. I found the fire department and I was like, “Can I stay?” You know, they had a women’s section with a curtain that separated the dorms, which is cute. I was like, “Well, so this curtain is what’s dividing us? Got it.” And they held onto my passport, which is kind of a little scary. But I was like remembering people said, trust them, trust them, trust them. For them, they didn’t know me, you know. And so they were like, if she’s going to do something, we at least have a passport. They held onto my passport and I had a great time. And they gave my passport back and told me the next fire department to go to to stay. But I think one of the last ones I went to, now we’re talking about like maybe six fire places by this point, the captain knew where I started and called them and was like, “Oh, by the way, we heard she was with you.” And he was like, “She made it this far? Where? She’s with you? Wow!”
Gabriel: Just to get it clear, at this point, you weren’t with those two people anymore?
Judi: No, no, their trip finished in São Paulo. They weren’t traveling anymore. That was their whole journey.
Gabriel: OK, so what was your first tour then, Rio to…?
Judi: With them was Rio to São Paulo. And then by myself, it was São Paulo to Florianópolis. And then I kept going through Brazil to Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru.
Gabriel: Now, one thing from the Mappy Hour talk, you joined a group of 11 people or something in Brazil.
Judi: Yes, that’s in Florianópolis. But they were going to a protest. There was a driver that ran over a group of cyclists in Buenos Aires, Argentina. And so I was like, well, I’m trailing with you. They cared for me. They were a great group of people. You know, I learned to share the food at this point. I was so used to like, no, eat all my food. I learned you can hold someone’s back to help them go up a hill. I was like, oh, this is very good. They would ride with me and I just… hills were not my friend.
Gabriel: So they would push you?
Judi: Yeah, from the back. And they were just like, ride with me and push me up. And looking back at it, I’m like, that hill was not that serious. But back then, when you’re learning to ride and doing this for the first time, it felt like you were climbing a mountain, literally.
Gabriel: Yeah.
Judi: I did get sick on the trip. It was the ladyhood did not like this journey. So they had to take me to the hospital.
Gabriel: Oh, whoa.
Judi: Yeah, a lot of people don’t talk about the menstrual cycle when you’re touring. I was always one who dealt with being sick and vomiting. And I wasn’t really diagnosed with such an issue, but it was never a great experience when it happened. Bike touring just exacerbated the problem and the cramping and I was literally like, I felt like I was paralyzed.
Gabriel: Oh.
Judi: I basically went to the hospital, got IV, some happy drugs in me. I fell asleep and kind of stayed there for a few hours and then basically back on the tour.
Gabriel: The group waited for you?
Judi: Yes, they did.
Gabriel: These people are amazing.
Judi: They are. I think there was a well-received break, too. I think they needed a break anyway. So they’re like, “Look, stay in the hospital, we’ll chill out.
Gabriel: They’re like, “There is a bar across the street from the hospital, so…
Judi: Yeah, they were fine. I was just like, this is great. And that’s when I was like more better about what I ate, understanding when timing arrives, better management of it. Because I was kind of like, it comes, it don’t come.
Gabriel: In the Mappy Hour talk, you also recommend this menstrual cup.
Judi: Yes. Yes. The menstrual cup is amazing, but I never heard of it. Never knew it existed. It’s been around for like the sixties or seventies. I don’t know. But in the US, it’s not talked about. You wear the rag, the napkin, the pad. So when I learned about menstrual cups, I was like, well, what? What is this? And learning how to insert it and use it and what it’s good for? Because when you try to ride a bike and you have like layers, you don’t want to feel like I can’t ride because I have this thing that may rub and burn, and I won’t feel comfortable in my ride. The interesting part is there’s only one brand in the US. One. And back in the day was called Keepers. I think it’s changed its name since. In Europe, there is hundreds and a whole two-shelves full of it. That was really interesting. So I purchased mine. The interesting part about South America is I accidentally lost my cup. I don’t know. Don’t ask me how that happened. And then I thought I could buy another one in South America. And I found out it was not legal. You cannot buy a menstrual cup because it’s perceived as a possible birth control.
Gabriel: Oh, geez. Okay.
Judi: So I had to have my friend in the US, ship her a cup so that she could then ship it to me, because getting it was not possible in South America. So that was another interesting fact about menstrual cups. So like that’s what 2012 or so And till this day I’ve never brought one since. I’ve never had a maxi-pad or anything. I’ve had that cup ever since. Like it’s the best cup and it’s still going strong.
Gabriel: Okay.
Judi: Just letting you know, letting the ladies know, just look into it.
Gabriel: That’s a good tip.
Judi: Yeah. And those are the tips that it’s always great when you have a woman at a bike shop. Could have told you what to do.
Gabriel: Did you reach Buenos Aires with this group and attend this protest?
Judi: Yeah. Yeah, we did. Oh, it was fantastic. And Buenos Aires also has a cycling group to bring awareness to cycling. And they usually are about 400 people deep. So that’s on their normal day, and then to have all these other cyclists coming from, you know, other parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia to come, it was like a massive.
Gabriel: And then you kept going.
Judi: Yeah, I kept Met people along the way and learned that June starts getting cold in Argentina. I really wanted to get to the tip of Argentina, but in the south, because I’ve heard such beautiful things about it, but I didn’t have proper clothing. And I really didn’t want to have to buy clothing. Yes, I just said, let me just head to Salta, Jujuy and just keep going up.
Gabriel: Where did your trip end?
Judi: It actually ended in Spain.
Gabriel: Oh, OK.
Judi: So by the time I got to Peru, I took a bus to Lima and flew out to Barcelona. Yes, for a wedding. When I was in Spain the first time I met a friend, and we really got along. And so she was getting married and she invited me to a wedding. And I thought this is interesting. A Spanish and Italian wedding, I must go. It’s a must. I must go. And while at her wedding, I met another female bike tourist, and she had me sit next to her at the table and she told me about the Camino de Santiago. And I was like, oh, well, what is this? A pilgrimage by bicycle? A bicigrino? She was talking to me and told me the route and everything. Enjoyed the wedding, enjoyed the time there. And then ended up on the Camino.
Gabriel: You just biked all the way to Santiago de Compostela.
Judi: Yes. And I met some amazing cyclists. Getting to see the differences in European cyclists, it’s very… if you ever wanted to define a country, find its cyclists that’s touring.
Gabriel: Yes. The bicycle tourists are a microcosm of the culture.
Judi: Yes.
Gabriel: So what are some of your observations? I’m curious now.
Judi: French will fill their bag with food and nothing essential. It’s full of cheese, wine, I now know it’s called the charcuterie board. But that’s pretty much what they travel with. Germans didn’t like cycling with me because I was not prepared. They had everything in there. I was like, if anything goes down, I will find one. I’m the type of friend that you bring along if you’re the organized one and I just show up. I’m the ones where people are like, how do they survive? I tell people, just tell me the place, time, and how much I’m good. And I always end up with people who are like, “At 10 o’clock and at four o’clock and at six o’clock.” And I’m just like, “I’ll be there at 10, four, six.” But it was great doing the Camino and meeting so many people. And I met a lot of Americans who were doing the walking part. There wasn’t a lot of American cyclists. There was a lot more walkers, pilgrims. And I was just like, “How did you learn about this? I learned about it in Spain in a wedding.”
Gabriel: It’s become very popular in the United States.
Judi: Yes.
Gabriel: A lot of people know about it now. Okay, that’s fun. Good. We’re continuing with the accidental stuff. Next thing, you wanted to learn more about how your bike works, which is very commendable, but you went from New York City to Portland, Oregon, the other side of the country, to learn how to fix your bike. What’s that all about?
Judi: Yeah, I, doing the googling, I was just like, is there a school that teaches how to fix bikes? Because I didn’t see one in New York. And so I didn’t see anywhere on this coast. And it showed up, the United Bicycle Institute. And I was like, well, there I go. I will figure out how to get there. Ideally, it’s for those who really want to become bike mechanics. You can be starting at the age of 16 years old, and it’s accredited. So it’s really serious. But it was more for me not having to go to the bike shop anymore. So they were teaching you to be bike mechanics and own a bike shop. And I was there to not to do either. That was just like, I was like, I did not want to deal with mechanics, and I don’t want to go back to a bike shop. So… but I’m going to learn how to be both. We had different training courses and the different tools that you need I didn’t know that it even existed. To take my bike apart completely was terrifying to see it all in pieces. And yeah, everything was off and having to clean all and re-grease and oil. I was like, oh my God, you missed that, one ball flies away. You just like…
Gabriel: You mean like the ball bearings?
Judi: The ball bearings. One goes, that’s it. Just walk out the door and never come back. And then, you know, me being blind is a bad that didn’t help trying to find it.
Gabriel: Wait, you literally lost the ball bearing?
Judi: Yeah.
Gabriel: You really did, okay.
Judi: But I found it. I found it because I was like, it’s gone. It went to the ether of the whole of the bike shop. Like they all helped me out and that’s when I learned that there was like a magnetic tray that you’re supposed to put it on so that it doesn’t roll away. I was like, oh, that’s what that’s for.
Gabriel: I put my keys on there.
Judi: Great. I found it very, very, very, very helpful. It made bike touring 10,000 percent easier. In other countries, I actually looked for bike co-ops instead of bike shops. And I found one when I was in Australia. I visited Canada. I found bike co-ops so that I can like fix my bike. I think my bike was more maintained when I was touring than it is today. Even now, I’m like looking at my brake pads and I’m just like, I got maybe one more, two more weeks. But when I was touring, the slightest little, you know, it’s time to change the brakes. But now I’m just looking at like metal. And I’m like, nah, there’s still a little rubber.
Gabriel: Yes, there’s no pad left. Once you hear that screeching, maybe.
Judi: Not quite there yet. But I finished the class. And then that became an accidental bike tour because I decided to bike to Washington. You always heard of DC, but I was like, Washington state. So I biked to Washington and then went along the coastline. So basically went up to come back down.
Gabriel: Right.
Judi: Went all the way down the California coastline.
Gabriel: Pacific Coast Highway, Highway 1.
Judi: Yes. It’s very scary. I think it’s a roading at this point. But you’re biking with no rail. I was like, there’s like, if you go, you go, like, you know.
Gabriel: If you go, you’re gone.
Judi: You’re Like I said, who thought this was a good route? Me.
Gabriel: Well, it’s actually a classic. It is a classic bike touring route.
Judi: Maybe in the ’60s and ’70s. But when people get cars and cell phones and they’re trying to take pictures while they’re driving and then you’re biking with someone not paying attention, it’s not a classic and it becomes a little dangerous. I never used my bell so much on that route. There was a lot of scary moments where I was just like, yeah.
Gabriel: Good thing mom doesn’t know about this one.
Judi: They didn’t know anything. No. She got a postcard with a lipstick kiss. Yeah. So that was that. I had gotten into a bike accident. That was my first.
Gabriel: On highway 1?
Judi: No, I was already in. I was in LA.
Gabriel: Oh, wow. Okay.
Judi: Yeah. LA looks a lot different now for biking, but at that time in 2014 or so, it wasn’t. So yeah, that was my first bike accident. I did have a helmet, but it did kind of put a ooh to the biking, which was very depressing. But my friend kind of helped me continue the trip all the way to Mexico.
Gabriel: So the bike was repairable?
Judi: Totaled. It was totaled.
Gabriel: Oh.
Judi: The bike was totaled. Yes. It was my first bike. I bike toured everywhere with it.
Gabriel: Yeah, and you named your bike?
Judi: Yes. Betsy. I was about to say Betsy. Betsy was totaled.
Gabriel: Betsy was totaled.
Judi: Betsy is still in my house. Betsy is still in my bedroom. I pay homage to her all the time. She’s growing a lot of dust. She gets wiped off once a month, once a year.
Gabriel: Once a year.
Judi: Once a year, Betsy gets a little spring cleaning. I still have her parts. She’s still with me. She’s completely totaled. It was aluminum. But then that’s when I learned about an actual touring bike. And I went from the FX series to this, like what do I have? The 500 or so. So that’s the touring. So that’s where I learned the frame is longer. Well, I learned that at the bike school, but I didn’t realize you’re not supposed to hit your panniers when you pedal. Yeah. Because that was the one thing I was like, why people bike, and no one talks about hitting their panniers every time they pedal?
Gabriel: You mean, with the heel of your foot you hit the pannier?
Judi: Yes, the heel on my foot. Yeah. You hit your bag.
Gabriel: Yeah. People don’t talk about it, because if you have the proper bike, you don’t hit the…
Judi: Exactly. Yeah. Because there’s bikes where the frame is longer and the paneers are pushed further back, and so no one hits it. Just you on the wrong bike. And that’s when I learned about dropbars and thumb shifters. I was like, okay, this is interesting. And I learned I can… I had the S&S couplings on the bike now, so it makes it easier to travel with.
Gabriel: Yeah. So this is really interesting. We’ve talked about S&S couplings before on the show in conjunction with a tandem bicycle because there, a tandem is so long that you need to use the couplings to get it into two boxes. But you use the S&S couplings on a regular bike.
Judi: Yes.
Gabriel: Which means you could get it really small.
Judi: Yes. And avoid fees.
Gabriel: For on the airlines.
Judi: Yes.
Gabriel: Okay. So tell me more about this.
Judi: So the S&S couplings, you have to find like a certified welder. So it’s not like something I could do.
Gabriel: No.
Judi: Although I love educating myself, I don’t know if I want to go to the route of welding. And there is particular people who are authorized to do it. So it’s not only you have to be a welder, you have to be certified with the company. So it was in New York and I was looking for somebody in New York and I found a welder, certified welder, in Brooklyn. At the time, I thought it was very expensive to do it. And I found out later, I had a good price because now it’s like ridiculous…
Gabriel: Thousand.
Judi: Yeah, thousand. I think at the time I paid, I want to say 600, 700 dollars for the couplings. That was a lot. But I knew by the time I went on two or three flights, that would have paid for it. Like I would have avoided all the fees. So either I paid it to the airline or I paid it to the welder and made packing the bike even more easier. The S&S couplings come with like a little wrench that allows you to kind of tighten it. Because it does kind of overtime loosens. And also I had Ritchey brake cables. That’s when you can basically screw apart your brake cable or your gear cable. You kind of split it apart. I would turn it into like a sandwich. So basically the frames and then the wheels would be to the side. So it met all the airline requirements. I packed light so I only had two panniers. I did not have a front rack or panniers. All the weight is in the back. And then I just had my handlebar bag and it just turns into like a purse. That’s what I learned about Ortlieb. Because Ortlieb is pretty big in New York. So I had Ortlieb bags.
Gabriel: You got it down to the form factor of a folding bike.
Judi: Yes.
Gabriel: But then it’s a full-size bike when you want to ride it. That’s pretty cool.
Judi: Yeah, it is. Now I have like a proper folding bike that I travel with.
Gabriel: Oh, OK. So you have gotten a folding bike.
Judi: Oh, yes and no. I wanted to travel to Cuba and I didn’t really want to bring a big bike. So at the time I had a Brompton. So I put it on the plane and I used the Brompton as the folding bike and bike around. So whenever I travel, I take the Amtrak or the Metro North or if I’m going to do a domestic flights, I just bring the Brompton bike.
Gabriel: OK, because for Cuba, you mentioned specifically that this was another one of your accidental tours.
Judi: Yeah.
Gabriel: And why is Cuba accidental?
Judi: I want to say I was in California and then you can fly to Mexico and then Mexico made it easier to go to Cuba. I believe that’s how I ended up. And I think at the time it was Obama’s term. There wasn’t really much regulation of just like how Americans go to Cuba at the time. So I thought, why not try and go? I stayed with someone in California who did tours in Cuba and was like, “Yeah, go. Do it now.” And I was like, well, why not?
Gabriel: Cuba was featured in an episode we did, “Two Canadians Rolling Through Cuba.” And it is a unique place in the world, which sadly is in a very bad economic state these days. But probably when you were there, even though things were not great, there were definitely some interesting things that happened. So what’s one story that stands out from your time in Cuba?
Judi: Well, Cuba is like a time capsule. So if you weren’t around like in the ’70s and ’60s, you know what it looks like. And it was interesting when they had gotten access to internet and there was only certain spots in which internet was provided. So you’d have to go to the spot and then use the internet. And so I thought that was really interesting to see and sad at the same time. I was just like, oh, there’s so much art and creativity. And I’m like, is it going to be lost because I now have internet? Like, you know, because I just, there was so much artists. Like I saw a bike attached to a shopping cart. I think I still have that photo somewhere. And I was like, well, damn, who creates this? Like it was like really, and I just thought, is that all going to get lost now having the internet? It’s such beautiful artists I met, just making art and such random stuff. I love the street food. Like I ate one of the best pizzas. This elder woman makes pizzas from her home and you literally pick up the pizza from the window of this house, because it’s the ground-level floor. And so they were like, “Oh yes, go get pizza at this place.” Because I didn’t want to go to restaurants and stuff like that. I wanted to eat what everybody else was eating. So that was recommended to me and I was like, well, this is great. This is entrepreneurship at its best.
Gabriel: There’s entrepreneurship in every aspect. One of them is with these casas particulares, which are these, kind of like, unofficial accommodation. And so you, I am getting the sense.
Judi: Yes.
Gabriel: You probably met someone who knew someone.
Judi: Someone, yes. And that’s how I got to each and every one of them. I was like, yeah, just tell me where the next one is, and I was fine. The map. I had two people I knew who did tours in Cuba, so they gave me a couple of places to go to. They recommended, especially when I was in Havana, I really wanted to stay in a nicer, nice place and a nice family. And so there was a family recommended to me.
Gabriel: There’s two economies…
Judi: Yes.
Gabriel: That run in parallel there.
Judi: And I was going to help the one.
Gabriel: The one and not the other.
Judi: Yes.
Gabriel: Very good.
Judi: And yeah, every country when I fly out is usually, is the flight affordable? And if it is, I’m going there. If it’s not, well, that’s a country we’ll not see. So at the time I used to live on Skyscanner, like the stock market of the airline at the time. And so I just was like, sit there and I’m like, Oh, I can go from South Africa to Mauritius. And it’s cheaper than going to Madagascar. So, Mauritius it is.
Gabriel: So this is why you call some of these tours accidental. Because really you had no idea. You saw, oh, there’s a low fare. Let me board that flight.
Judi: Yes, pretty much.
Gabriel: And then you ended up in Mauritius.
Judi: And then I learned Mauritius is like the cousin of Haiti.
Gabriel: Oh.
Judi: And that was something new. And that’s another thing that’s really bad. I tell people not to do, but you should do a little research about the country while you go there. I’m more like, I’ll let the people teach me. No, they’ll tell me. People would be like, “In my country, we do this.” And I’m like, we will do it too. That’s how I learned. Every country, like I mentioned, I travel with my bike and I love traveling to islands. You can’t really get lost. You’re just going to hit water. There’s many times I’ve gone to other inland countries and end up in another country. I was like, I didn’t really want to get here, but I’m here. So I like islands for that. Mauritius is a beautiful island. I recommend going to visit. When I travel and I have my bike, like I said, is in pieces and I put everything back together at the airport, I usually bike out of airports. And it doesn’t matter the time of day. Like I have late flights, early flights. I still bike out. I was unpacking my bike. I’m not in a rush to go anywhere. So some people put in their bikes together in like five minutes. And I’m like, if I get in and out, it’s great. And the last thing I want to do is lose a screw. So I’m like, I take my time. And Mauritius Airport is like pure glass. I was mentioning how I look like I’m a TV show. The way you look at the airport, because there’s this all glass and when you’re coming out is you’re really surrounded by just taxi drivers. People picking up people. And so you could really see me like put my bike together. But it wasn’t like I intentionally picked that spot. It was just like, I need space. I need space. Like, I can’t be cramped up in tiny corners. So this was a beautiful space. I wasn’t paying attention. A lot of people were looking, watching me put my bike together. And I’m like, dah, dah, dah, putting my bike. And then finally it appears, the bicycle. I pump the air, have this hand pump. And I’m like, getting it to full pressure. And then I’m like, and done. That’s like the final of putting air in a tire. And then everyone was like, oh my god. Like no one ever sees anyone doing this. It was amazing. And I was like, I looked around. I said, oh my god, everybody was watching me. So oblivious. So one of the people looking at me was a reporter. He was fascinated. So he spoke with me and asked me what I was doing. I had pictures of me in Southeast Asia that he used in the article. But when I get to countries, I don’t plan where I’m going to stay. So usually it happens at the airport. With Mauritius, you’s supposed to show you itinerary, which I did not have. I just thought I would just drop myself in and figure it out. And they were like, “What?” They’re like, “So you don’t know where you’re going to sleep?” I’m like, “Not really.” How about somebody would tell me where to go? Border control was not really pleased with me and my shenanigans. And so they were like, “You need to find some place to go.” And I was like, “Really, do we? I mean, it’s the middle of the night. It didn’t really be available.” I was trying to avoid any way of making a plan. I met another American tourist. It was the same thing. She didn’t know where she was going either. And she’s like, “Oh, let’s go on Expedia and see if we can find something.” And so I asked the border control. I was like, “Yeah, I’m on this website. Do you have any family of people you know that’s on it that I could go to?” And he was looking at me like, “You want me to pick your hotel?” I’m like, “You know, maybe a cousin or somebody…”
Gabriel: A cousin.
Judi: “Owns a hotel I can stay at, you know, trustworthy recommendation.” And so he kind of looked at me. He was like, “I can’t believe this.” He was like, “I kind of do have a cousin who owns a hotel.” I was like, “What’s the name? Is it on Expedia?” Sure enough, it was. And I was like, “That’s where I’m going.” And that’s how I got there. And then he called ahead. He was like, “You won’t believe it, but I’m about to send you somebody random in the middle of the night.” And they stayed up for me. They had other tourists that were in their home. So it was kind of, I wouldn’t say it was like an Airbnb, but in a sense. They had rooms, it was a home. And that’s how I found a place to sleep for the night.
Gabriel: And then the story appeared in the newspaper.
Judi: Yeah. So what happened is that the reporter talked to me at the airport and took my contact information and was like wanting to set a time to meet to talk about my trip and my journey. And he wanted to write about me. And he had, I think this was like maybe three days later, he pitched it to his newspaper, to the editor. And he was like, “Yeah, let’s write this.” We did meet the interview and everything. And then by the time the article came out, and so when I was biking around the island, everyone knew me. Like I did not, I was like, wow, this newspaper was like the New York Times in the island. Like, you know, like everybody read it. Like…
Gabriel: Yeah.
Judi: Everyone read it. And if you didn’t read it, you were going to read it. So everyone saw me, so when I was biking around, they were like, “That’s the girl in the newspaper.”
Gabriel: That’s right. That’s great.
Judi: It was good. I got recognized and the guy was like, he saw me. I think I was heading to a bike shop to pick up a tube, inner tube. Because my inner tubes usually have like 10 patches before it gets a new one. So that’s something people need to tell you when you’re traveling. Carry at least four or five inner tubes. Yeah, I was getting one and then I was waiting and I got spotted. And then he was a cyclist, a road cyclist, a roadie. And there was like biking competitions that happened on the island. And he’s like, “Oh, I want you to meet my family.” And he kind of took me in. And I stayed with him. The Ali family. We still WhatsApp sometimes. I’ll just send a little message. How are you doing? That’s how, yeah, I went from different places and literally the night before it’s when I book anywhere. I’m a professional procrastinator and I’m afraid of commitment.
Gabriel: You’ve done so many tours. Ten months touring Hawaii, Australia.
Judi: Hawaii is when I perfected biking. Hawaii was great. I was actually considering moving there. I was going to live there. I was like, I was going to take my mom and be like, “We’re going to Hawaii.” But yeah, I stayed there for like three months. One of the roommates was a cyclist, but the other roommates weren’t. So he never really had anybody to bike with. So I was like, “You could bike with me.” And so we would bike everywhere. And I think he like showed me how to bike. The same thing. I kind of biked New York to Montreal. And so in Montreal, my Couchsurfer showed me how to bike in traffic. And basically learning to ride really came from people I stayed with that taught me like different techniques. Southeast Asia taught me you have to protect others and not yourself. We learn to scan. You kind of look around, make sure there’s no cars or whatever. But in Southeast Asia, they just bike. They don’t turn their heads. So I was like, so you’re just going to turn. Okay. You’re not going to see me coming. All right. So I’m going to slow down for you. Okay.
Gabriel: The problem is in Southeast Asia that that same philosophy applies for all modes of transport. So if you’re driving a huge truck, you just drive that huge truck.
Judi: Yes.
Gabriel: So it’s the law of whoever is smaller gets out of the way.
Judi: Exactly.
Gabriel: It’s nuts over there.
Judi: No traffic lights. Everybody’s just like timing. I learned math like on the road. I was like, when I see people crossing, I said, okay, you got two seconds. But if you turn around, I’m going to have to dive. And I think Southeast Asia taught me to do math on the road. I was like, all right, two more seconds. Can I make it? No. It’s actually, Vietnam was more dangerous to walk than it was biking. I started walking and I got right back on my bike. Southeast Asia taught me elders are respected and they ride bicycles. I remember in Thailand, there was an elder, she was biking maybe five miles an hour. This woman was going nowhere fast. And I thought to myself, I was like, I think that was my first elder on the bike. I was like, oh, wow, she really out here in the Thai streets. She was doing really good. And when I tell you, everyone stopped for her, they just stopped. The cars stopped. Everybody stopped. She was not pedaling faster. So that means you’re going to stay there for a while and they let her bike. And then the minute she got out the way, it was like, go, go, go. Mayhem. All you saw was dust. I’m like, what?
Gabriel: It’s like some kind of martial arts movie where that scene is just in slow motion, as she’s going, and then full speed.
Judi: And I was like, this is amazing. And I thought, oh, this might be a flu, but I saw this all the time. Like when people in New York is like, “Oh my God, you know,” I said, “Well, Southeast Asian elders don’t feel danger on the road at all. They feel the safest on the road.” I was like, oh, so I can continue biking till I’m 80 or 90.
Gabriel: Yeah, you retire to Southeast Asia and you’re going to be fine.
Judi: Yes.
Gabriel: I wanted to just wrap up with a word about the Uptown and Boogie Bike Advocacy. And then there’s the Uptown Boogie Healthy Project.
Judi: So I had to come back in 2017 to care for my mom. Well, in 2013, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia. So that’s when I was like before the disease progressed, I thought this would be a good time to kind of like travel, go around. And then I told her, I said, “You know, when you get to a point where you like, you feel that you need me, I will stop.” That was about 2017 when I started seeing the decline coming faster. I love taking care of her, so it wasn’t a problem for me to basically stop biking and stop traveling. But when I got back, there was a sense of people don’t really talk about the traveling blues. You kind of get the blues. When you’re in the experience, you’re like, oh my God, I need to go home. This is the worst. And then when you get home, you’re like, oh. I liked not knowing where I was going to stay tonight. I liked not having to shower for 10 days. You know, you start kind of reminiscing and just like, well, I am where I am. Let me see where other cyclists are. What can I do to meet other cyclists? And I didn’t really find that in Upper Manhattan. And I would try to reach out to the groups and say, “You know, would you want to start a ride in Upper Manhattan or maybe end in Upper Manhattan?” And it was kind of like, “What is there to do? Like, what’s up there?” And I’m like, “18 bridges to mainland America.” I’m like, you know, that’s what’s up in Upper Manhattan. You know, Greenway, parks, escape routes. That’s what’s in Upper Manhattan. I can literally go to another state in Upper Manhattan. Yeah. And I didn’t really see. So I was like, well, you know, if you’re going to complain, you might as well just build it. I was like, I’m just going to do my own group. And I did not see it becoming what it is, what it became. I just was like, I’m going to create a bike ride. It’s all in Upper Manhattan. And we started ending up in Manhattan.
Gabriel: Because that’s what you want.
Judi: That’s what you want. So I was like, well, somebody else may want to do it too. And before I knew it, it grew to Uptown and Boogie Bicycle Advocacy. We did street art rides. And we led bike rides from farmers markets. We went to the movie. We have like two popular islands that one likes to go to. Randall’s Island and Governor’s Island. We’d bike there and then come back up. I think the biggest ride might have been like 50 people. The smallest could have been like two or three people. I really loved it. I kind of miss it a little bit. Like one thing I loved about Brazil was just, and South America in general, was the access to fresh food, farmers coming in, selling their food. When you go to Vietnam, it’s like a parade of watching farmers coming on bicycles or whatever. I was just like, why don’t we have…
Gabriel: And all that tropical fruit, the mangoes and the papayas and…
Judi: Oh my God.
Gabriel: It’s all delicious.
Judi: Jackfruit. I learned about jackfruit and durian. Oh my God.
Gabriel: Oh no, no, no, okay, okay, okay. No, no, no.
Judi: You got to get the stinky one. You got to bring in the stinky, but…
Gabriel: I draw the line at durian.
Judi: You know, people talk about. I actually enjoyed it. I thought it was just like cheese. Like when you have bad cheese, you know, smelly, stincky cheese, but it tastes good.
Gabriel: No, I can’t do it.
Judi: We’re in the city. Cyclists would say, you know, “I would love to eat healthy, but where am I going to get it?” You don’t really trust what’s in the market. So you basically eat to survive, you know? So we would leave bike rides at farmers markets. And people would pick up different fruit that they can have in a journey. It was really good. I have a farmer’s market in my neighborhood, but it happens in the time that I’m at work or I’m not in the area when it happens. So hearing that and seeing that become an issue and started looking at sources of food in our communities and Upper Manhattan, the Bronx, I didn’t really kind of see it there. And I’m trying to figure out how to connect with farmers. So 2020 gave me an idea. Everybody was, you know, available to start calling out to different farmers and finding out what models are out there. So in agriculture. And we started with a community supported agriculture program in the Bronx. So I always wanted to bring this initiative in the Bronx. And many of our rides and many of the fun rides I had actually all happened in the Bronx. We did a bike and paddle. So we paddled along the Bronx River, like, you know, so it was always fun going to the Bronx. And I love the bike path that would take along the Bronx River Parkway. That’s in Pelham Parkway. And I thought, why not put it there? A lot of recreational people running around. It’s a park. And yeah, we put our CSA program there and it went really well. I also had started composting. So another thing that I learned when traveling in Germany was composting. I learned that in Germany, there’s a thing called compost. I never heard the word. When I spoke to my mother about it, that’s another word that doesn’t have a Creole word. She was like, “Oh, so the big ditch we throw food in, like that?” Yeah, like we’ve been doing that forever. And I’m like, I don’t even know. So I was composting at a community garden and then a garden across to it became open. And then I had access to a community garden and created a farm stand in Harlem. And before you know it, by ’22, we transitioned to a nonprofit called Uptown and Boogie Healthy Project. We kind of faded out a little bit the biking. We did like kind of bike repairs and small trips. But then I just kind of fully just went into agriculture.
Gabriel: And what is the CSA?
Judi: Oh, so I’m sorry. CSA is community supported agriculture program, where basically a group of people come together to pay a farmer to grow their food. We are unique in a sense that we work with multiple farmers so that we can provide different cultural produce. We have farmers who specialize in okra. It’s very popular in the summertime. And so we bring okra, bring ginger, bring different Asian produce. We mix it up. So we support on average about five farmers every season for the CSA, so the box doesn’t get boring.
Gabriel: Nice.
Judi: Someone’s like, “Oh, I didn’t even know we had this or we grew.” Or someone’s like, “What is this? How do we cook this? What is it called?”
Gabriel: Yeah.
Judi: I noticed the one thing in my travels was like eating and how to eat and how food is way different. Like, I think the thing that I did in my bike tour was take pictures of people and take pictures of food. The food was delicious. Every country I went to, I was like, yum, yum. And I didn’t gain a pound.
Gabriel: That’s a benefit of touring. You can eat anything.
Judi: Eat No one told me that. And then the amount of food that you can eat is scary. I don’t know.
Gabriel: Fuel. It’s all fuel.
Judi: Yup. And not gain a pound. And I love taking portraits. I wish I took a bit more pictures, but I’m glad I took the portraits that I took. I think that was something that I never thought I had an inner photographer in me. You become a bit of a photographer. It was beautiful. And being able to capture all of that and using a real camera, a Canon. I had a Mark III and Mark II when I was traveling. And yeah, taking portraits. I was like…
Gabriel: That’s a full-frame camera.
Judi: Yeah.
Gabriel: Okay. That’s pretty big.
Judi: It was the only thing in the handlebar bag. The whole handlebar bag was just the camera. Yeah. And I was just like, tell people, I said, when you’re traveling, yeah, now you have the ‘Gram and the Instagram and stuff. And then when I was traveling Instagram and social media was still kind of going up there, but I didn’t really share too much about biking because it felt like I had a privilege that people weren’t having. And so I didn’t really want to kind of brag about it. So I had stopped blogging. And so I just focused on taking pictures of people. I think people should value when you go to countries to meet the people in the countries and get to know them because you are a certain age and someone else is the same age and you just see how your paths and the way you grew up could be different or same or just like, how did you grow up? What’s it like for you? I just hope people did more of that than trying to get likes.
Gabriel: If they heard it, I bet people wouldn’t believe that you couldn’t ride a bicycle until you were a grown woman.
Judi: Yes.
Gabriel: I think that probably would shock people.
Judi: Yeah.
Gabriel: The transcript for this episode is available on the accidental bicycle tourist website. I welcome feedback and suggestions for this and other episodes. You’ll find a link to all contact information in the show notes. If you would like to rate or review the show, you can do that on your favorite podcast platform. You can also follow the podcast on Instagram. Thank you to Anna Lindenmeier for the cover artwork and to Timothy Shortell for the original music. This podcast would not be possible without continuous support from my wife, Sandra. And thank you so much for listening. I hope the episode will inspire you to get out and see where the road leads you.
Judi: Oh, was it Uruguay? I let… That’s another thing when you travel too much. You start messing up the countries. But it’s like, what country was I in?
Show Notes
Judi’s nonprofit is called Uptown Boogie and Healthy Project.
Judi’s Mappy Hour talk is available on YouTube.