We rode out after coffee and rosemary bread to my next event: a reading Moto Coffee Machine. Like a kid just let out for recess, Monk led the way as I marveled again at his grace on the bike—he rides with a certain playfulness and freedom. I tried to keep up with him on the twisting two-lane highways of the Hudson River Valley.
Affectionately known as Moto, the establishment is a long skinny retail space wedged between historic buildings on the main thoroughfare of Hudson, New York. Hudson has the distinction of being the first city to be incorporated after the thirteen colonies became the United States. Steeped in history, but simultaneously incredibly hip, Hudson has the highest percentage of self-employed people—entrepreneurs—of any city in all of New York State.* It is a very cool place.
We backed the bikes in to Moto’s “motorcycles only” parking spaces on Warren Street. Backing up my 500-pound-when-loaded bike is a considerable challenge for me and I was having problems with my brakes, which prevented any freewheeling ease (John and I would ultimately diagnose the problem and replace the brake master cylinder an entire year later). I suffered the humiliation of not being able to back up my bike in front of Monk and curious onlookers and asked John to do it for me. With our full gear and prominent QR codes (the genius on-the-road marketing strategy John came up with) on the back of our bikes, we were hard to miss. And Monk’s bike is a real eye-catcher, a 1986 BMW K75C with a Sprint Fairing.