Weekdays are for burning modest to not so modest amounts of petroleum in order to get "to work." Please realize it does not matter if you have a job or a family; if you don't, you'll be required to act like you do to conform to the schedules of those that do. How much fuel you will need depends a lot on how well you match your housing to your job, and whether you think burning gasoline is "fun" or not. Also, if you have no idea what crimes against the natural world you are committing by burning gasoline, it will help your definition of "fun." What weekends are for is to burn huge quantities of gas AND kerosene as you fly from home and rent a car to access other endangered natural places reeling from the impacts of fossil fuel burning. At least this is how it goes in the US of A today. Anyone who stays at home and modestly reads or enjoys the nature photography of talented, skilled, well-equipped, distinguished photographers, are deemed "spoil sports" or idiots, or even worse, meditators. Spiritual development can occur primarily in quiet, serene contexts, and this has little to do with fossil-fool tour packages and travel plans. I was part of an eighty person bicycle tour of Berkeley, California's residential architectural oddities a month or two ago. It was an utterly remarkable feeling to be part of a "tour" where that many individuals can roll up to a neighborhood, even an individual house, remark on its features, and enjoy it’s amazing landscaping, and then leave without having made scarcely a sound nor a scrap of tailpipe pollution, nor disturbing the neighborhood one whit. This would hardly be true had we been piling in and out of that basic workhorse beast of tourism, the rotten, worst available technology, that snorting, screeching, idling diesel bus. The funniest part was the 40 of us that had to curse and drop the bikes directly to the ground since U.S. bike shops think kickstands are a luxury or idiocy. Personally, I think it's idiotic to have to dump a bike directly on the ground and then have to bend completely over to pick it up from the dirt, simply because kickstands are at best difficult to rig in a country that is sure that bikes are only for recreation or racing, not transportation. Watch for the next Bike Blog on how to keep a bike stable and upright without a kickstand! An improvised, featherweight and fabulous rig of my own, that is applicable to most any bike. You can mount the bike without having to lift your leg over the top tube, when this set-up is engaged. I've devised a custom "flickstand" for three different bike frames to date. But for tonight I want to confess I've become quite romantic about my bikes; it's embarrassing. A bike shop sold me a Specialized bike-lock called the "Wedlock," billed by its maker as "Better than a prenuptial agreement." And I will admit to being in love with my bikes, especially the Cannondale Jekyll 3000SL, which is my favorite of the entire polyamorous fleet. I cannot hide my affection for that Jekyll. That downhill mountain racer is not quite faithful, and will run away with the slightest imperceptible grade. Like a mischievous child, this bike has been caught running away too too many times. But I'm so in love with it I have to check and see if I'm developing a belly full of little bikes once in a while. Bungee cords, tire tubes and plastics! Here's another pointer to help keep urban bikers safe and sighted. Bungee cords, widely and wildly used by both bicyclists and motorcyclists to secure cargo on whatever rig you can, are THE leading source of eye injuries in the US today. Lost control of one of these elastic hazards can mean a jagged chuck of metal flying right into one's face, with tragic results if an eye is struck. Cheap bungees from overseas are now the primary culprit, safety tips were added by the industry and many cords are so equipped now, but often the tip is lost in the course of using the cord, and you can bet a factory somewhere is still pumping out cords with steel hooks lacking them to this day. "Vacuum caps" sold at auto supply parts counters, secured with epoxy adhesive can safety the tips. Still, the best bet is the new cords made in America with oversize rigid but far less dangerous *plastic* hooks which if well-made will also have a v style length adjusting channel or track for the bungee to adjust its tension by trimming its length. Any good hardware should have the new style which almost certainly evolved from personal injury suits against the rusty steel hook design. Plastic coatings on the steel ones often crumble off at the tip creating a heinous hazard. New cords are inexpensive items and when you think of it a fantastic deal in that by carrying nothing more than a good bungee or two, a bicyclists can and do increase their "carrying capacity" radically. Best wishes for badass urban bikers kicking butt, from the bike blogger. [Editor's note: When the author was asked about used bike inner tubes as an alternative to bungee cords, here is what the Bike Warrior Pacifist had to say: ] Old bike tires can be the resort of the desperate; between powder and rubber toxins, the time needed to tie and untie knots, you come to understand the popularity of bungees pretty quick. Remember rubber now is manufactured from petroleum. On the subject of plastics, which the Bike Blogger knows is a hot topic at Culture Change because of the new Campaign Against the Plastics Plague, here is food for thought: The nice thing about stopping cars and gas burning it seems one would stop or slow the production of all the plastic by-products produced by refining gasoline. Plastic crapola is so cheap, because we use so much gas and refiners need to dream up things to sell as plastic leftovers from refining. To quote Lily Tomlin, "Let's Make a Deal, in one game show alone, uses more plastic than the entire country of India has ever seen." The bottom line being, use less gas and you will generate less plastic. See Plastic Oceans
By James DMake-it-home-safe MANTRA: When dealing with traffic, it's better to be patient than to become a patient; AND - A Sailboat is to a Polluting Cruise Ship what a bicycle is to a smokin' Hummer. I know bikes are beautiful but I’M not backing off until bikes are bountiful and bikers have greater strength in numbers. CategoriesArchives
February 2016
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