NAME: Alexis Dold
LOCATION: Gainesville, FL
OCCUPATION: Frame Builder

Where do you live and what’s it like riding in your city?
I live on the North East side of the city. It’s the older side of town that wasn’t polluted by cul-de-sacs and gated neighborhoods during the middle part of the last century. Speed limits are low and being at the opposite end of the city from most student housing the traffic is fairly light and seems more experienced and amicable than most other places I’ve ridden.

What was your favorite city to ride in, and why?
All the places I’ve ridden have their perks. Germany, with its paved trail system and beer at McDonalds. San Francisco is amazing—I lived there for two years dodging doors, hopping rails and drowning in sushi and the best Mexican I’ve ever had. Riding up streets so steep that a couple actually clapped for me when I crested one of the big ones near Coit Tower. Not to mention the accessibility of world class riding just over the Golden Gate Bridge.
There’s something about the northeast that elicits a kid-like kind of excitement in me that no other place can. The hospitality, brutality, and camaraderie that is a consequence of that environment is poetic. In my opinion, NYC is the epicenter of everything that makes riding a bike for me so badass. Where else do you have to work so hard not to be killed?

Why do you love riding in the city?
It’s kind of like staying with a bitter lover. Sometimes she embraces you, sometimes she hurts you for no other reason than because she can. She makes you respect her and then drives you to drink. She’s exciting and easy to leave, for a week or so. She has what you need and you’ve got history, but she always seems to cost you money. She teaches you and inspires you. She makes you smile and curse the world. She affects you. She lets you know you’re alive.

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