Bicyclers of the future and the past

April 28, 2017

A good day for ducks.  

Painting by Jen Beirola

Not bad for bicycling, either, just a tad on the soggy side, but no torrential rain.  Here is the view from the local multi-use trail, with and without safety glasses.

As you are undoubtedly/indubitably aware, May is nearly here and ‘twill be National Bike Month!  

Lately, perhaps inspired by Snot Jr.’s influence, I’ve been wondering what the younger generation will do for transportation.  I’ve encountered several young 2-wheee!lers lately.  Here are a couple of them. 

Youngster #1, whom I shall refer to as Herbert, was standing on the multi-use trail and talking with someone on the phone.  “It’s cold out!”  he stated in a bratty, demanding tone. 

I encountered Youngster #2, whom I shall also refer to as Herbert, at Chatty Corner where he cheerily mentioned, “I didn’t expect it to be this cold!”

I am so glad that both Herberts were happy to talk to an oldster like me about one of my favorite subjects.  But underneath this promising interest in our atmosphere I detected two different perspectives.  I really wanted to tell Herbert 1 that he would never amount to anything.  Herbert 2, while brashly unaware of the weather forecast, seemed to have a promising future and I wanted to tell him that he would assuredly be a successful city planner and/or heavy machinery mechanic.

Soon I met two other even younger humans.  One was popping some wheee!lies and so I informed him that those were some nice moves.  Another one was pushing her bike up a hill.  Although I didn’t stop to check, I’m guessing she had a geared bike that had either been cross-geared or had the chain stuck/de-ringed or somesuch.  SOAPBOX ALERT!  This second observation along with a prejudiced supposition angered me somewhat.  When will parents stop buying kids bikes with more than one gear?!  They are more complicated and less fun!  More gears = more headaches.  Maybe once your kid gets fairly proficient at doing some sweet wheeelies and jumps and curb-popping they might be alright with a few extra gears.  Even then, I recommend waiting until they show interest in and can provide a reasonably cogent comparison of single vs. multi-geared bicycling.  Preferably in cursive.  But still, please don’t get a drivetrain with 3 chain rings!  That’s too many!  Unnecessary!  Having ranted thusly, maybe an internal hub might be alright.

So I think these kids will be alright and bicycling will soon take over the nation and/or make some modest gains, if only parents don’t buy kids bikes with too many gears.

Meanwhile, in Mosul, Iraq bicycles are now in high demand due to bans on potentially explosive-laden motorbikes and cars.  The pacifist embraces and smooches the bicycle and gets some errands done while he is at it.  No woman, no bike.  Sorry ladies.  Maybe you could ride on the rack?

Well, it's not all quite so gloomy everywhere.  Here is an exciting story about a woman who wore bloomers and bicycled around the world.  Her name was Annie Cohen Kopchovsky (or Annie Londonderry for short).  She had become pessimistic by the time she made it to Chicago on a heavy, multi-geared Columbia.  But then she switched to a lighter, single-speed Sterling.  

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/491947959266912561/

She also stopped wearing corsets and dresses and started wearing bloomers and pantaloons.  She notably,  "rode the train across most of Nebraska because of the muddy roads."  and "Near Gladbrook, Iowa, she broke her wrist when she crashed into a group of pigs and was forced to wear a cast for the remainder of her trip."

So watch out for the pigs and ducks and keep on smiling through the rain!

Let's ride (and maybe performs some maintenance on ye olde drivetrain in the not-too-distant future)!

BS