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My NYC Biking Story: Gabri Christa

by on August 1, 2011 | 3,846 Plays | from the series My NYC Biking Story
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Choreographer and filmmaker Gabri Christa commutes to work on her trusty Dutch bike from her home in Staten Island to her office in Rockefeller Center, and to rehearsals and performances all over the city.  On her morning commute, she catches the free Staten Island Ferry, meets up with friends, and then hops on the Hudson River Greenway to 48th St.  When Gabri's daughter was young, she used a child's seat to ride with her around Staten Island.  Gabri loves that riding her bike keeps her moving, free, and discovering NYC in new ways.

Streetfilms would like to thank our dedicated viewers for sponsoring this episode of My NYC Biking Story.

 <br> <p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">[music]</font> <br></p> <p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Gabri Christa:</i>  [00:09] I’m Gabri Christa.  I live on Staten Island in New York.  I work as Director of Performing Arts for the Consular General of the Netherlands, and I’m a dancer filmmaker.  I’m a physical person so one of the things I love is just biking and being outside and the other thing I love, water.  I can’t be landlocked.  That’s what I love of Staten Island.  I leave my house and bike down to the ferry, put my bike on the ferry.  I meet some friends most of the time, or I work.  I meet a dear friend of mine [unintelligible], she’s also a working mum.  We used to dance together.  We have 20 minutes or something to sit, chat, catch up and relax.  And then I get off and I bike through Battery Park all the way to 48<sup>th</sup> Street.  The whole Westside Highway bike ride is amazing.  This is a great bike to go to work.  I can wear my dress cos I have to be kind of dressed up, I have my other shoes in there.  And I leave my bike in the streets and I get to work.  I’m Dutch so I biked when I was in the Netherlands and Manhattan has a lot of the same conditions if it weren’t for all the cars that are here.  I really started riding in New York all the time after September 11, the subway was closed near the ferry.  That’s when I really started biking in New York, and loving it really, and discovering a whole other part of New York City.  You’ll love New York on the bike and you’ll love it on the Westside Highway.  I mean there is not one day that I don’t think it’s amazing.  </font> <br> </p> <p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">[music]</font></p> Transcription Sponsored by: <a href="http://transcriptdivas.com.au">Transcript Divas Transcription Services</a>
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  • Anonymous

    Yay Staten Island! 😀

  • Clarence Eckerson

    I absolutely love this one!

  • vhamer

    Glad to see a profile with one of those hefty Dutch commuter bikes. Says something about the simple pleasure of getting around at a manageable, happy speed.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1038802386 Don Pillsbury

    What an inspiraton, thank you Gabri!

  • http://twitter.com/snogglethorpe Miles Bader

    What's the really nice wide separated bike-path at 0:54...?

  • Sebastian Owl

    The west side greenway!  We take that every morning when we ride in from SI.  Love the video--great work as always!

  • Anonymous

    I to am a cyclist in Staten island.  Something they didn't mention in the video is that is you take the ferry with your bike you end up n the bike area.  In short order you know most other Staten island cyclist.  In the ferry shot I know half of the people there.  There is at least one great bike mechanic I see.  Imagine if part of your bike commute you could get water, use a public rest room.

  • http://www.facebook.com/kasheik Kasheik Paisley

    Great vid.. im a new biker

  • Heidi

    She's cute! A great voice for cycling. (And proof you can wear a dress while riding to work.)