There they go and go and go some more!

March 1, 2013

Dad and I went to the theatre last eve for an evening of bicycle-themed cinema.  The film was entitled Reveal the Path.  We both enjoyed it.  We mingled with bicycle-related shoppe and organization personnel.  We drank New Belgium beer.  It was brilliant!

We saw some bicycles.  Fat bikes.  Skinny bikes.  The new Trek Domane 5.9 C is a carbon-fibre bicycle whose sleek suppleness should've immediately caused me to recall Fabian Cancellara, who, unsurprisingly, was for whom this svelte touring machine was designed.  I think the Trek Store shoppe representative stated that the top tube is not connected to the seat tube and that this apparently helps make the ride extremely smooth and comfortable for miles and miles of riding pleasure.

I think you will enjoy Reveal the Path if you answer yes to both of these questions:  a) Do you like travel shows? and b) Do you like bicycles?  If you only answered yes to one of these questions then you should probably either ride your bicycle or watch Rick Steves' Europe.  If you answered yes to a) and God YES! to b) then you are probably watching Rick Steves while pedaling furiously along on your trainer/indoor bikey thing!  You get 'em, tiger!

This movie was brought to us by the good folks from Omaha Pedalers Bicycle Club.  They are also bringing us the upcoming Bike Swap which I thought was this Saturday, but is apparently actually this Sunday (11-4 at the Bancroft Street Market.  So I might actually get to go.  Saturday I'll be hanging out with my young offspring and watching Rick Steves while making sonny's feet go in pedal-like circles.  Should be a hoot, but don't bother stopping by for our usual Saturday in March game of bicycle hoops.  Yep.  The Snot is becoming less flowy these days.

Now as I was typing, RtP was a good film and also a good extended advertisement (I like to say advertizment con mucho accentes mi hermanos y hermanas) for Salsa bicycles.  I think that Mike "Kid" Riemer (owner of Salsa cycles) produced the entire moving picture.  Or it might have been produced by the same guy who did the Ride the Divide film (Mike Dion), which I viewed and pontificated about here.  I would be pretty stoked if I could bicycle around in a bunch of cool places like these guys did.  Scotland, France, Switzerland, Morocco, Nepal, Alaska.  Probably a few others.  They talked about how awesome it was to travel and ride bikes and how playing leads to evolutionary advancement of societies.  I like it!  And I am playing with myself right now!  Purely for evolutionary reasons, of course.

As far as traveling in Nepal or Morocco goes, I am not convinced that pedaling/lugging your bicycle around on various roads and trails is necessarily the best way to experience your destination and meet the locals.  It is a good way to inflict your sporty ways upon unsuspecting folks and provide some good free entertainment to the people you zip by on your horse of highness.  Bicycle touring seems a little better suited to more bicycley places.  Places like the Ukraine and Scandinavia.  Probably Brazil.  Maybe Belfast too.  I hear Van Morrison is playing a show there on St. Paddy's Day.  Although by now I'm sure you realize I have no clue about bicycle touring (my only experience in that respect being bicycling across Iowa and then, a year or 2 later, Nebraska) I'm pretty sure that Iceland would be great too.  I am sure that I would run into someone from an avant garde pop group.  Who knows I might even meet up with the Bjork, the next Bjork or someone from Of Men and Monsters!  That would be so cool!  I would be sure to have my mandolin along to accompany them on a great jam of my favorite song and Iceland's national song - "Motorcrash."

I'm not really even sure that riding in RAGBRAI and BRAN even counts as bicycle touring.  I think it's more like bike-mobbing your fellow USians (Mexicos bland sour cream topping) in their natural habitats.  Which is pretty great.  Dad said he's doing BRAN again.  I think I'm going to go hiking instead.  Maybe I'll carry my bike along, too though.  It makes for some pretty sweet videos!  Let's bhike somewhere cool bhikeheads!