Sugary nostalgia

August 24, 2015

Well hello.  Fancy that, a time when we are both available!  Well, wait!  Before you go let me just say this – I’ve been thinking about nostalgia. 

Here in the Midwestern part of our USiness I oftimes find it easy to drift back into the days of my early childhood and even further, back into an idealized Leave it to Beaver-esque world I never actually experienced, and will not until I perfect my bye-bye-to-now-cycle (not sure about the name).  This machine will allow me to pedal my way into various other thymes and dimensions and may or may not involve riding rapidly towards a large, solid object and achieving a moderate impact to the cranial capacitor (just a go-to idea if when I can’t come up with anything else).  

Butt I digress.  I think this whole thing started when I began expounding upon the joys of the safety bicycle.

Here is a classic safety bicycle that was made here in the US. 

http://luxlow.com/bicycles/oldbike/1894-antique-sterling-safety-bicycle-built-like-a-watch-2600/

Pretty sweet, eh?  Not your cup of tea?  How about this modern version of a safety bicycle that I encountered at a recent musical event?

http://civiacycles.com/bikes/  I think...

Reminiscing about never-experienced days of yore can take many forms. 

Here is a version of Sixto Rodriguez's classic Sugar Man that I recently enjoyed during our fair city’s Jazz on the Green summer concert series.

Courtesy of Sonny Knight and the Lakers.

It is easy to be nostalgic in late summer, as we consider the fun times we had playing around in water with our friends.  Here is a photo of a friend I made just before we had a fun water fight in the backyard.

He turned the faucet and sprayed me with the hose a few times, but then I realized he wasn't very fast and so I ran over to the hammock and fell asleep.  I woke up dry, so I guess he never made it that far...

Now it is starting to cool down and we can all think about what we did or didn’t do during the fun outsidey-friendly time of year.  This coolness will be a boon for the upcoming Heatstroke 100 ride that I am contemplating participating in, due to my uncle’s contagious enthusiasm.  In addition to my uncle, it may also be due to my friend Rich’s persistent invitations to various bicycling activities which has made me feel more enthusiastic than usual.  As a moderately active person, sometimes I focus more on the moderate part of the equation, but the active part still counts too!  Why just yesterday Rich and I went out on the Jim Johnston Memorial Ride.  It was great.  Jim Johnston was killed by a motorist while bicycling.  His family initiated the ride to raise funds for scholarships for Millard West High School students and to grant Jim’s wish to organize a bicycle ride.  Jim was a science teacher and an athletic trainer at Millard West High School for many years, but also found the time and energy to enjoy plenty of bicycling adventures in his 56 years here on Earth.  

The ride was beautiful.  An impatient pick-up truck driver leaned on the horn while driving through a gauntlet of 4 bicyclers riding along near the shoulders on either side a peaceful and uncrowded highway, which was something I probably could have griped about with Jim were he still with us.  Instead I enjoyed some Chocolate Outrage and kept spinning.

Alright.  Let’s meet up at a cool Heatstroke 100 this Sunday!  We’ll reminisce!  Huzzah!