Sports
Team and individual sports and physical activities
Books on Bike Perfection and Women’s Bike-Won Freedom
Women's clothing was a problem, and to efficiently ride a bike there was only one thing to do: Take it off
December 01, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
Women and the Way of the Pedal-empowered
Susan B. Anthony said bicycling "has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel"
November 29, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
Into a Desert Place: A Talk With Graham Mackintosh
In remote fishing camps along the shoreline, a few older fishermen remember a red-haired Englishman who tramped through 30 years ago, disappearing around the next point.
November 17, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
Crying Wolf Among Motor Vehicles and Landmines
Five drunk young men—the first visibly intoxicated men I think I've seen in Turkey—spilled out and began dancing in the highway to Turkish music from the car’s radio
November 15, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
Zen and the Art of Sleeping Anywhere
By camping wild, we bypass unloading the luggage, taking off our shoes at the doorstep, and all the other finicky logistics of dwelling in a well-groomed society
November 10, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
Beam Me Home, Please
Putting one’s very means of transportation into a box while miles of travel still remain is about as clever as stepping into a canvas shopping bag and attempting to carry oneself to the market
November 08, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
The Final Sprint to Istanbul
The townspeople ogled the tourist he’d captured. “From America,” the cop boasted, like he’d shot me at 400 yards with a rifle
November 03, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
The Figs and Mountains of Izmir
Travel horizontally in any direction and you see no change in landscape; Siberia remains Siberia from Finland to Kamchatka. But travel just 4,000 feet vertically, and the world transforms
November 01, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
Rose Hips and Hard Times
Sultan packs me a goody bag with tomatoes, cheese and peppers so hot I can’t even touch them. I timidly suggest paying and she tilts her head back sharply with a quick tsk—"not a chance.”
October 26, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
Gandhi’s Wisdom Falls Short
Then, from behind me, came a staccato war cry—“Aaaack!”—as my host sent a boot into the dog’s rib cage
October 25, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
Picturing the World Series of the Future
After a brutal postseason, can London finally beat New York City?
October 20, 2011 |
By Matt Novak
Cappadocia’s Fairy Chimneys and Cave Dwellings
Doorways still lead into cool, cozy chambers where people grilled kebabs, served tea and worshiped until 1952
October 18, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
The Long and Bumpy Road to Cappadocia
Of all the bizarre landscapes created by water, wind and time, Cappadocia is among the strangest
October 13, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
The Bear and the Bullet
The truck came by slowly and a spotlight swept the river bottom. "My God—they're hunting me!"
October 06, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
The Boston Globe of 1900 Imagines the Year 2000
A utopian vision of Boston promises no slums, no traffic jams, no late mail deliveries and, best of all, night baseball games
October 04, 2011 |
By Matt Novak
Tea and Bear Talk in Turkey
"It's too dangerous," said a villager. "There are bears." His boys growled and clawed the air
October 04, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
The Wild World of the Black Sea
Throngs of visitors come clamoring for the place and spill onto the beach and pose exuberantly under umbrellas and wrestle with colorful inflatable toys in the brown waves
September 29, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
Istanbul: The Maddest City in Europe
“That’s the fattest stray dog I’ve ever seen.” A lot has changed here since Mark Twain wrote about the city, but there's still plenty of mayhem
September 27, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
Where to Go when Greece Says No: Turkey
That evening a man walked into my bush camp with a gun, marched straight at me as I gaped in shock and sprawled out beside me on my tarp
September 23, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
Uphill All the Way in the Rhodope Mountains
I have my dinner—cheese, an absurd four-pound organic tomato, a sack of figs and a jar of pickled chanterelles—and I’m ready to get lost on the mountain roads
September 21, 2011 |
By Alastair Bland
