Do you ever feel like you would like to take a break from all the hustle and bustle that is frequently a part of modern life? The news can be depressing. Your workplace unrewarding. Your family alternating between demanding and stand-offish. I know! Me too! Well luckily we have bikes and space. For most of us, going to space is unlikely. However, we can dream about it and watch plenty of movies about it. Bicycling, on the other hand, is a get-away that many of us are able to enjoy. But, unfortunately, it is difficult to enjoy both of these awesome things at the same time. No, I don't think riding on a Surly Moonlander counts. Fortunately, and unbeknownst to many of us, we also have the Deke Slayton Bike and Space Museum in Sparta, Wisconsin (the Bicycling Capital of America)! Mrs. Snot planned our last family vacation, but was kind enough to include a stop at the DSB&SM on our trip. Although our visit was several months ago, I have somehow not yet taken the time to document the glories we experienced at this bicycle and space lover’s paradise. Here are a few of the items most entranced me.
A folding Huffy!? Yes! It's the 3-speed Touriste! And one of at least two John Deere bikes on display.
Rural highways always have room for another JD!
Here's something to aspire to someday. 2 things, really - riding a penny farthing and bicycling into my 80s!
Behold the Pegasus! It may have had a rocket booster and a soda dispenser!
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There was also an ice bicycle with outriggers and a mountain bicycle ridden by a Wisconsinian in the Iditasport.
Blessings to you from the heart of USland. Let us ride with gallantry and pageant.
We here in the midwest are now thrown off the hot shackles of daylight savings time. My lights have been at full blaze for the past month or so. I currently enjoy deploying the following set of lights at all times or more:
NiteRider MiNewt 750- good headlight. I always keep mine attached to my helmet. Cord may not hold up to yo-yoing with the light. Shocking, right? Nite Rider fixed it up for $50. Good customer service.
Bontrager FLare R - rechargeable rear tailight and very reliable so far. Will see how it takes winter conditions.
Planet Bike Beamer 3 LED - gift from my father in law. Good up-front beam to help me stay visible. Good enough to function as a headlight if you aren't in a hurry or if you're on familiar terrain.
I also frequently activate this little fella that I’ve got strapped to the back of my helm:
As I was recently coasting down the neighborhood hill I startled a pedestrian who jumped back when she espied my illumination. As I braked to a more conversational pace she declared, “You scared the daylights out of me!” Well bike lights will do that to a person, I reckon! I sometimes have a mild sense of nervousness when I consider the silent menace we call the hybrid vehicle - they might sneak up behind me without any audible forewarning! Aaaaccckkkk!
Here is the one fellow cyclist I occasionally encounter, typically at Chatty Corner, on my way to and from the grain silo at which I am employed:
Butt serious; however, let’s get lit! Snot Jr. went to sleep before 11 tonight, so I am getting crazy and drinking a Belgian style ale and typing! Whew-ha!
Not much out of the usual happening here. How about you? Well, I don’t really know what to say about that. Will you please send me a written explanation with or without a graphical representation of your feelings?
I have been treating my wrist discomfort with the usual gluc(osamine) and chondroitin.
We Nebrascyclers have got some work to do, if the League of American Bicyclists rating system is worth its weight in chamois butter. We are woefully unfriendly towards bicyclists here in the C-huskerplex. We came in 50th out of 50. And this with a governor who is an avid cyclist!? Oh the shame! I feel like it is all everyone else’s fault! I am moderately active! I ride hither AND thither on my 2-wheeled companion I like to call the Bastard. Or B for short. What more do you ask of me LoAB!? Do you want me to quit my day job and devote myself full time to bicycling and/or bicycle advocacy? Speak to me great LoAB! I am your vassal! Let these motorists be freed from their plastic and metal enclosures to experience the great freedom of skinnier and fewer tyres! Well, maybe I can find some great goal/mission to liberate the box-enclosed masses from their self-imposed, somewhat comfortable traveling prisons.
Well, I went out to the movies last night and saw Le Ride, directed by and starring one of my good bicycling buddies - Phil Keoghan. He came by one time for a bike ride with me and a few other close friends (he was riding across the US to raise money for fighting MS). Le Ride is a film about PK’s epic bicycling adventure with another of his good bicycling buddies named Ben. I think he might have asked me to participate too, but his invitation must’ve gotten lost in the mail. Do you have my current address PK? It’s 8515 No. Kizmiaz Rd., Phil. Is that so hard to remember/write down, Phil!? Anyway, it’s a good thing you didn’t ask me to go because I’m very busy getting ready for my own top-secret epic adventure that I will tell you all about later, whether you want me to or not!
Anyhow, PK and Ben intrepidly set off to ride the 1928 Tour de France. As all of his close friends know, Phil is a Kiwi, which means he hails from the island of New Zealand. In 1928 one Kiwi, Harry Watson, set out to ride in the TdF with 3 Aussies. I think the press dubbed them the Austrasian team. There were only 4 vs. the average team size of 10, so they worked very hard and the elder statesman of the team, at the ripe old age of 38, became overly fatigued after several crashes and 200 mile days in the saddle. He sadly quit and rode in the car. And he was very sad to sit in a car - just like all us motorists normally are because we are not bicycling! Right!?
This film was brought to my/our town by a company called Demand Films, which I trust will continue to bring great movies to me right here. I demand! Of course that movie gave me a good excuse to hop in a car to make it over to the movie theater so I wouldn’t have to freeze my Nebrass off bicycling in this chilly fall weather! Shwew!
