cdmCyclist

Auto traffic is snarled, while two-wheel commuters fly by on this tree-lined bike path along the Ringstrasse.

My Vienna trip wraps up with a nasty dose of food poisoning. I don’t make it out of the hotel till about 4 o’clock, just in time for rush hour.

I keep blaming my malaise on the bike — I haven’t been on one in a week, so it’s no wonder I’m sleeping poorly and dragging my butt. Next up, fifteen hours of flying to get home.

Almost everyone is a utility cyclist; there’s not much Lycra to be seen.

For a motor vehicle, this is pretty snazzy looking.

 

Vienna’s bike share system.

I’m in Vienna for a week; it’s the annual EBAN (European Business Angel Network) Congress. If you remember, last year it was held in Moscow. After 6 years, this event is what I owe most of my European travel to.

Most of the week will be spent discussing Eastern European early-stage startups, but this weekend I have time to check out the local bike infrastructure.

The city has a bike share system, check, but it’s the separated bike lanes that cause me some jealousy. Last night at rush hour there were plenty of bikes taking advantage of these bike paths and doing so the European way — without a helmet!

Nice infrastructure

Tania Lo and Jeff Miller

Momentum Magazine‘s Tania Lo and the Alliance for Walking and Biking‘s Jeff Miller ride with me over the Golden Gate Bridge.

At the Newport Pier with Troop 37

Last week while out with the Boy Scouts on Cycling merit badge I treated them to pizza and soda. After ordering I quickly realized my mistake; the same week Mayor Bloomberg’s trying to eliminate super-size sodas, I order up 5 large ones. It won’t happen again.

Maybe it was cosmic payback, it just occurs to me, when I choked on my soda. It went down the wrong way and in 2 seconds I’m coughing my head off. I’m coughing so much everyone feels compelled to ask if I’m ok. The only way I can think to signal that I’ll survive is with my first breath, “Wow, that’s good stuff,” which lightens the mood.

I recover and pedal home; it’s not till the middle of the night when I wake up coughing again that I realize, I’ve picked up acute bronchitis. I continue to cough through the night for the next several days.

My schedule takes me to Seattle and I think I’ll be fine, but, can you picture it? As we’re about to land, maybe it’s the decompression in the cabin, I start coughing and can’t stop. The entire cabin is freaked out.

Of course, this malaise isn’t contagious; I’m the only one suffering. And coughing so hard I feel I’m gonna break a rib. A few days later my neck is hurting; I feel like the Tin Man in need of an oil can. My neck is hurting so much I get the idea a new pillow might help. And why buy just one?

I’m in Seattle for the Northwest Regional Angel Conference. I’ve attended all 6 years.

Angel investors here, like elsewhere, look for technology company startups to invest in. It’s half profit motivated and half altruism. For theFrankPetersShow I travel to these summits to meet new people and hear the latest in best practices. This 2-day Seattle conference is a stand-out each year.

Led by the long-term leadership of the Alliance of Angels’ Dan Rosen, these investors benefit from a fertile early-stage investment market. Companies like Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon and Starbucks have created multi-millionaires to seed new companies, then acquire them once they hit the mark.

Year after year, Seattle and the many angel groups gathered here at this conference demonstrate that they take a back seat to no one.