The geography is large in Texas and its people friendly. It's like Texans feel they must compensate with courtesy for the fact that their state covers such a big chunk of the southwestern U.S. Then there's the Texas wind, which blows nonstop.

My bike club pal Sally Salmon and I experienced East Texas on a spring bike tour called Texas Hill Country. This roller coaster tour started and ended in Austin and offered a blustery ride for 50 intrepid bicyclists from Manhattan to Florida, from Portland, Oregon, to Vermont. The guides, headed by no-nonsense Kevin MacAfee, was equally diverse, coming to Austin from all over the United States.

The bicycle is the best way to explore big cities crammed with fascinating stuff. New bike-friendly infrastructures make urban attractions pleasantly accessible and New York City exemplifies this trend. The result: an average stream of 220,000 daily cyclists, which includes many touring two-wheelers.

Renting bikes at Battery Park at ManhattanÕs south tip, visitors spin along city greenways alongside the Hudson or East Rivers to the Brooklyn Bridge. Others pedal into Little Italy, Chinatown, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Soho and the theatre district surrounding Times Square. For good times, New York City has lots of pedal potential!