FIVE THINGS: MINNEAPOLIS CYCLIST DAVID BRAUER
FIVE THINGS is a weekly feature on the Banjo Brothers Blog. It’s a short interview about life and bicycles with a notable person. This week's notable person is cyclist David Brauer.
Brauer was once dubbed the "sheriff of Twin Cities Media" by a rival journalist. The longtime writer and now ex-journalist (per his Twitter bio) was a staple in the Twin Cities media scene as a writer and editor. He 'palled' around David Carr. Wrote for alt-weeklies City Pages and the Twin Cities Reader, hosted radio shows on sports-talker KFAN and KSTP and wrote freelance stories for national publications.
In the past few years as he transitioned out of journalism, Brauer chaired the board of the Kingfield Farmer's Market, finished up his college degree at the University of Minnesota and started a podcast.
As more biking content infiltrated his somewhat epic Twitter feed, we wanted to get Brauer's take on bikes and for sure wanted to know what is "stuck in his craw."
We hope you enjoy this week's Banjo Brothers Five Things.
BANJO BROS: WHAT ARE YOU RIDING?
DB: The loving of my biking life is my All-City Mr. Pink - the pink edition. Bought it for my first triathlon (at age 58) last year and I was so green to real road biking that I bought pedals that were only half clipless. Everybody on Twitter told me not to be such a ninny; they were right (no zero-speed crashes), and I ended up buying full clipless, so sorta wasted my money on the first set. Lesson learned: be bold! My winter bike is a repurposed Marin Kentfield, my get-around bike is a Marin San Rafael DS3 I picked up for $100, and because my wife just got a Linus Dutchi, I get to ride her cargo bike, a Yuba Boda Boda, which is just an excellent machine.
BANJO BROS: WHERE ARE YOU RIDING?
DB: My rides are pretty much a spray chart emanating from southwest Minneapolis: 40th Street Greenway, Midtown Greenway, every inch of the Grand Rounds, Gateway/Browns Valley trail to Stillwater, Luce Line, Lilydale-Harriet ... I also commute via the Blaisdell protected bike lane a block from my house. This fall, I’m super-excited to be biking through Slovenia and Croatia.
My wife and I made a decision a few years ago to spend more money on bikes and food, and we’ve never looked back.
BANJO BROS: WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO, READING OR WATCHING?
DB: I’m an old guy so I spend a lot of non-biking time on the couch watching TV: “The Expanse” on SYFY; “Handmaid’s Tale” on Hulu; “Brockmire” on IFC + the usual “Game of Thrones” nonsense. My all-time favorite is HBO’s “Deadwood,” which sadly IS dead, but I’ve rewatched it at least three times.
BANJO BROS: WHAT ARE YOU COOKING EATING/DRINKING?
JD: My wife and I made a decision a few years ago to spend more money on bikes and food, and we’ve never looked back. I’m a good cook, so you’ll often find me at the Kingfield Farmers Market and Seward Coop in South Minneapolis. Dining out, our favorite local joint is Kyatchi at 38th & Nicollet, we also dig Revival, Galactic Pizza, Sun Street Breads, Patisserie 46, and the food trucks at Kingfield Market. Guiltiest pleasure is a swirl waffle cone at Target Field. Minneapolis is just stupid blessed with food options these days.
BANJO BROS: WHAT'S STUCK IN YOUR CRAW?
DB: I continue to be gobsmacked by bitter, stupid drivers who cannot get outside of their unibody souls to understand the need for protected bike infrastructure. All they see is their lane gone; no one thanks me for NOT being in their way because I’m NOT driving my car all over town ... the absolute lack of empathy, to beyond yourself, is killing our society, not to mention our bicyclists. I have a pet theory that my fellow privileged Boomers who whine about this are seeing their bodies break down; their fear makes them lash out without recognizing that bike infrastructure, like eating healthy, is an essential preventative. All that said, I’m also pissed at bicyclists who don’t yield to pedestrians. Right of way works both ways.
MORE ABOUT THE FIVE THINGS INTERVIEWS FROM BANJO BROTHERS
A big Banjo Brothers thank you to David Brauer for participating in this week's edition of Five Things. These short interviews about life and bicycles will appear every Friday on the Banjo Brothers Blog. If you liked this FIVE THINGS from Banjo Brothers you should check our full series of past five things interviews.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE INTERVIEWED FOR FIVE THINGS?
Use the contact form on our website to send us a note. See you next Friday. Also, since you're here, we do need to mention, Banjo Brothers makes a whole line of tough, practical and affordable gear for cyclists. Thanks for reading.