A few months ago on a Sunday evening I went to a birthday party. In between gluttonous bites and gulps of cake and beer I began noticing that some people were getting interested in what I had to say about The Miss-Fires; mainly a writer friend named Jessica Weisberg. A week later Jess emailed me asking if it was ok to present The Miss-Fires to her editor at The New York Times as a unique community group that represents strong unity in this inhospitable metropolitan cesspool.

Did she say that exactly?

No, it was more like, “So, I was talking with my editor at the Times and she really wants more stories about unexpected communities in New York City: groups that make the city seem smaller and friendlier than its reputation suggests. I immediately thought of the Misfires. And I’m wondering if you guys would be interested in being covered in the Times metro-section.”

After reading just her first sentence I as well immediately thought, ‘The Miss-Fires!’ When the rest of The Miss-Fires read that they also immediately thought, ‘The Miss-Fires!’

With resounding AYEs we set a date to meet with Jess and have a photo shoot:  Saturday, March 21st starting at MotorGrrl. Since this was to be the first ride of the season for many of us some had trouble getting our bikes to the garage that morning.  In Red Hook Alison’s Moto Guzzi wasn’t starting so Val sent a van for it to be picked up and brought to Williamsburg. Across the river Kristin was having concerns with the fuel line on her Triumph, and at Erika and Jason’s garage in Park Slope my Intruder’s battery was drained and had to be juiced. Stephanie’s bike was just all in pieces at a different garage. So guess what we did… Got our asses to MotorGrrl that’s what!  Either in a van, through mechanical fortitude, or on the back of another lady’s bike, we came out in numbers and the rest of the day was just perfect.

We started by heading up to the Greenpoint waterfront for a big group shot at the river with Manhattan as a backdrop.  Did I mention that the Times sent Pulitzer Prize winning staff photographer Todd Heisler to photograph the story?  Oh, sorry.  The Times definitely sent Pulitzer Prize winning staff photographer Todd Heisler to photograph the story.  He had a comfortable home on the back of Val’s Honda Shadow and was snapping away while she rolled up alongside some of the ladies for some Speed Racer action shots. Jessica rode on the back with me and though she used to ride, was outfitted, and we were going relatively slow, all I could think was, “Ben is going to kill me.” …her husband.

Beep beeps and hey heys and we found a spot at the end of Green Street and began to assemble our bodies and bikes in some sort of photographable cluster and soon, the sun popped.

Et voilà !

Todd seemed happy with the shot and we relaxed but we weren’t about to go home. Oh no. To The Crab Shack! And Jess and Todd were coming with us!

To be continued…!