Detour for a second. A sidebar. From the point of view of a chamois pad in the crotch of a pair of cycling shorts, your perineum is purpose, period. The bike saddle? The bane of existence, the Nemesis of said purpose, ’tis what road salt is, once applied, to black ice. And chamois cream? Aah, beautiful chamois cream and its silky, silky, goodness, uniting […]
Continue reading →With the bike now off the road for all intents and purposes as a mode of adult transportation…at home, but content minding the kids, teaching skills of balance and basic first aid, teaching that taking things apart is often easier than putting them back together again, teaching would-be engineers the finer points of ramp building […]
Continue reading →Maybe there was some sibling rivalry through the early years, the good, healthy kind of sibling rivalry where, because of the friendly competition, bikes and cars became better machines together. Tit-for-tat. The growth toward becoming better was far from equitable however. America was solidifying itself as the world’s hub of innovation and manufacture, and the […]
Continue reading →Heeding my…err…bike’s advice I started to snoop around, do a little research, and found the following… Early automobile history is fraught with controversy, patent disputes, and in-fighting…so wading into that soal too deep could be all-consuming, deadly and thick black bottom mud holding you fast, and still yield no actual truths. I mean, knowing how subjective any history […]
Continue reading →I woke up this morning and with the usual rigamarole got ready to seize the day. Carpe Diem and a load of dirty clothes I went out to the laundry room, that’s when I saw it. The letter–written very neat and tidily, scroll-like, on a sheet of blue-paper shop towel. The black ink looked and smelled like a mix […]
Continue reading →My bike told me to “screw-off” this morning. She then went on about “how crap my behavior” becomes when I ride; that things were “fine” between bikes and cars long before I threw a leg over a top tube…long before even my grandpa got his hands oily tinkering with his first greasy two-wheeler. That we “fleshy, civilized, bipeds”, gripping […]
Continue reading →A large black limo comes to a stop at a light at 7th and H Streets, downtown Washington. A cyclist pulls up and puts a foot down to the right of the big Lincoln as two men begin to talk in the plush, leather backseat. “This bike thing is getting out of control. It’s blowing […]
Continue reading →I was on a ride just the other day spinning down a nice wide street west of town. There were cars around but not too many as to cause competition for space. It was enjoyable really. Up ahead, a group of ducks that had been milling around a roadside ditch began to waddle their way […]
Continue reading →There are two things that need to be done to fix this “groupism”. First, realize its presence in everyday life, this is mindfulness, then broaden your definition to be more inclusive…you need a bigger group. Make the group you share big enough and you’ll have no group at all; all will be one, the crooked tree–straight, […]
Continue reading →That incident in the intersection and my reaction to it gets to the very heart of my argument and the whole point of this blog. At the moment I witnessed the so-called knucklehead, my mind was firmly in the group “Motorists” and that guy on the bike…well, undoubtedly, firmly in the group “Cyclists”…how do I know? Because I’ve […]
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