Welcome to Leg Day
It’s good to see you. I’m Daniel Varghese, a writer and editor who lives in Brooklyn. I was most recently the Gear and Gadgets editor at the Wall Street Journal.
Wait, What Does That Have to Do With Leg Day?
Fair question! I’ve always wanted to be a city cyclist, but was worried I’d get killed by a driver. To force my hand in 2023, I pitched a story to my editors at the Journal that I wanted to call “How to Become a Cyclist Without Even Dying1.” With the help of a bunch of friends, the educators at Bike NY and encouragement from cyclists across the country, I set off for the Prospect Park loop. Somewhere along the long descent in the southwest corner, I realized I was yawping with glee.
Nothing I’ve done in the last decade has felt as fun as biking in the city. Soon, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Life became breaks between bike rides. I started to look for any source of writing about biking in the city I could. I found Streetsblog, which catalogs the frequent transit planning losses (and occasional wins) we’re subjected to by our current administration. Beyond that, content usually falls into one of two buckets: coverage of the athletes dominating World Tour level bike races or content from amateur cyclists who are suffering through hardcore training plans as if World Tour level bike races are in their future.
Leg Day is for those of us who’d rather bike for fun. It’s for people learning to properly dock a Citi bike (harder than it should be!), figuring out the ins and outs of downtube shifters on their vintage bikes or trying to make sure you stay hydrated over long rides to the beach. I’ll bring you along on the adventures I’m taking with my friends, introduce you to some of the inspiring folks I’ve met while riding and share links to the tools I use.
Why subscribe?
Free subscribers get …
A weekly roundup of upcoming group rides, events, classes and gear sales
Profiles of people I would follow to the ends of the earth with original (bad, but earnest) photography
Reported essays about trends and issues affecting city cyclists
Reviews, roundups and buying guides for bikes, accessories, and clothing
If you become a paid subscriber, you’ll also get..
Dispatches from adventures you should replicate
Details about what I’m doing to train for events like the New York City Marathon … yes, I am running
Exclusive invites to certain Leg Day group rides and parties
Access to the Leg Day calendar, a shared Google calendar I maintain with information about all events mentioned in the newsletter, and the Leg Day club on Strava
My undying appreciation and respect
My current set of wheels, a 1973 Schwinn Continental in “Sunset Orange.”
The Special Thanks Corner
Trevor Nathan, artist, friend, designer of the wonderful Leg Day logos
Haley Willis, my guide for my first ever city ride
Josh Hirschfeld-Kroen and Adam Ramer, the group chat boys
Sami Reiss, a mensch who gave up the Leg Day Substack domain2
Stella Cooper, my partner in life and in health insurance
I was told this headline was too morbid. I’m still kind of upset about it.
