By Steve Hawkes
Tim Mason has heard it all. Ever since the Tesco executive launched the supermarket giant’s Fresh & Easy venture in America a year ago, analysts have accused him of missing sales targets by a mile, while unions pushing for negotiating rights have complained that staff morale has fallen through the floor.

The critics were out again last week after The Times revealed that, faced with recession, Mr Mason was being forced to slow the store rollout programme. Worried? He hardly looks it. One minute, he’s jumping on to a Fresh & Easy rickshaw for a photo shoot; the next, he’s leading a chorus of Happy Birthday at the head office in Palm Beach, Los Angeles, to mark the chain’s first anniversary.

Asked about the prospect of a looming supermarket price war in America, he jokingly cites the line about amplifiers in This is Spinal Tap, the spoof “rockumentary”: “We’ll do better than the rest,” he says. “Our knobs go up to 11.”

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Tags: America, culture, difference, future, Los Angeles, Manhattan, market, marketing, Newspaper, Pedicab, Pedicab News, Product, recession, rickshaw, route, San Francisco, Story, US, weekend

by Gary Koenig, Denver Cycling Examiner

If you’re like me, you’ve invested more than a few idle minutes thinking about being a professional cyclist. What could be better than getting paid to ride all day long? Daydreams are fun, but sober reflection on the shrinking nature of the pro pelotons, both worldwide and domestic, would lead most of us to conclude that cycling for a living is not realistically in our future.

So what if I told you that I could get you a paying cycling job tomorrow? That you would enjoy the consummate cosmopolitan benefits just as other top cycling pros do. And to top it off, even though you’ll be riding 6-8 hours per day, you’ll never have to tackle a hill and headwinds will be as rare as a 12 ounce Ruth’s Chris ribeye. Furthermore, you’ll never have to answer to a surly directeur sportif who doesn’t even speak your language, never have to sacrifice your legs for an ungrateful prima donna team leader and never suffer the ignominy of watching an Italian gregario who has been latched onto your wheel for untold kilometers suddenly bolt by you to win a Grand Tour stage that so rightfully belonged to you.

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Tags: 16th street mall, bicycling, company, Denver, driver, fun, future, Main Street Pedicabs, pedicab driver, pedicab drivers, Pedicab News, pedicabs, professional cyclist, street pedicabs, traffic

The scene was vintage New York as 32 pedicabs chauffeured patrons from the Essex Hotel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art during a prearranged ride. The organizer Lisa said “Thank you so much for Saturday. Our ride up to the Met was the highlight of the weekend, everyone is still talking about it and will be for a long time to come I am sure!! Please thank all the riders, they were amazing. And tell them that you guys were the most reliable, professional and fun mode of transportation we used all weekend. I think you’ll have some new customers in the future. Thanks again and all the best.”

Tags: future, metropolitan museum of art, mode of transportation, Museum, NEW YORK, patrons, pedicabs, Press Releases, scene, weekend