Bike Snob NYC: To Whom It May Concern: Letting Things Take Care of Themselves
Bike Snob NYC: To Whom It May Concern: Letting Things Take Care of Themselves.
I don’t ride my bike into the city during rush hour because I’m “concerned with the environment;” I do it because pretending I’m riding down the gullet of a giant salmon on a spring day is awesome, and sitting in traffic for two hours listening to terrestrial radio and then trying to find parking sucks. Being human and doing what makes you truly happy makes the world better; being “concerned” yields two toxic by-products: religion, and smugness.
So if I advocate anything (which really I don’t, since who the hell am I anyway?), it’s doing what makes you happy.
BikeSnobNYC captures one of my key points about cycling advocacy. Being worthy and green and all that stuff is (probably) fine. But I ride a bike ‘cos I like riding a bike. It’s fun and I like having fun. Every day!
Talking Heads talking cities
Really interesting stuff about cycling and what makes a city livable. I’m buying David Byrne’s book when it comes out.
As someone who has used a bicycle to get around New York for about 30 years I’ve watched the city—mainly Manhattan, where I live—change for better and for worse. During this time I started to take a full-size folding bike with me when I traveled so I got to experience other cities as a cyclist as well. Seeing cities from on top of a bike is both pleasurable and instructive. On a bike one sees a lot more than from a freeway, and often it’s just as fast as car traffic in many towns.
Cannondale busted for not fitting a spoke protector disc
From Bicyling mag’s website: This Just In: The Roundup: Cannondale Issues ‘Six’ Recall.
“The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that Cannondale is voluntarily recalling several of its “Six” elite road bike models because they do not meet federal safety standards …. Spoke protector discs, which are required on bicycles to prevent the chain from interfering or suddenly stopping the wheel, are missing from these bicycles, the CPSC reports. This poses a fall hazard to the rider. No accidents or injuries have been reported. The Commission recommends consumers immediately stop riding these bicycles and contact a Cannondale dealer for free repair.”
So every single rider I know who has owned a bike for more than a week has removed the spoke protector disc, which is a useless piece of plastic that performs no function on a modern bike.
In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen a high-end bike, road or MTB in a shop in the last couple of years that does have that disc. But apparently leaving it off the spec altogether is not permitted.
I love the two statements that follow in the quote above: “this poses a fall hazard … no accidents or injuries have been reported”. Hmm.
Cartoon advocacy
Stuart McMillen’s take on bike vs bus, a cartoon starring himself.
Includes partial nudity (bath scene).
Great work. Might have to sign him up for Queensland Cyclist.
Cycling and compassion
Choosing Compassion for Everyday Biking by Kristen Steele
via Cycling on the High Road | Momentum – The Magazine For Self Propelled People!.
Excellent article about how swallowing your pride and anger when you’re wronged by another vehicle is always the better way to go. I must admit that I find this difficult to do.
Here’s a taste:
Seeing the humanity in others is an essential part of cultivating compassion. Jay Ferm, a Madison WI cyclist, says that when he’s faced with a driver behaving badly he “imagines that perhaps they are rushing a kid to the doctor, or are late for a job interview.” He admits that at times he gets angry and, when he catches himself, remembers that he was once “an unconscious road user.”
This article quotes the Dalai Lama, and the Buddhist practice of mindfulness. I would claim empathy and compassion as Christ-like virtues as well.
Major religions of the world unite: cycling is the one true path to enlightenment!