How can it be that one of my favorite musicians, Dubliners, and half-Catholic-half-Protestants crashed his bike on - as I understand it - a Sunday? Was he riding on The Edge? Clearing his head of the frustration of still not finding what he was looking for? I did not need another reason to like this guy, really. But I am so jazzed to learn he is a cyclist. Oh, and I hope he gets well soon.
A brave cyclist in Beijing blocked a Mercedes that was driving in the dedicated bike lane in China's smoggy capital. It did not exactly evoke the image of a lone protester in Tiananmen Square in 1989, but it was incredibly bold. The western man atop a bike against a high end luxury car being driven in a "communist" country was also worth a chuckle. Shouldn't this have been an image of a humble Chinese pedestrian wearing a blah cotton Mao shirt as he stared at some westerner atop a high-end carbon road bike? Is the world upside down? Enjoy.
Van Gogh's Starry Night is one of those paintings even knuckle draggers can remember. Now a Dutch artist has recreated it in the form of an illuminated bike path in Van Gogh's own Holland. What could be more beautiful than a nighttime ride along the image of a swirling, powerful constellation of stars?
It's that time again! Winter. Snot-cicles. Your face frozen like bad plastic surgery. Your hands so stiff that they remind your office colleagues of rigor mortis. Well a guy in Minnesota (of course, where else?) has some winter cycling advice for you.
Policy and Advocacy:
Just when I think we have it bad here in the U.S. when it comes to the fictionalized war between cars vs. bicycles, along come a few Australians to lower the level of debate. This opinion piece in a Brisbane newspaper would seem to liken a pelaton of cyclists on a suburban street to a criminal street gang. Made me feel a little the superior of the former colonies for at least a nanosecond. Sigh.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/opinion-we-need-to-put-wheels-in-motion-for-cyclist-registration/story-fnihsr9v-1227128667983?
Theft:
Chilean students have designed a bike they believe is theft proof. The reason is that the bike is not rideable if you saw through or cut it. Caveat: Maybe in a world where bike thieves do not operate mobile chop shops, but not in any major U.S. city. The idea is great if bike thieves were just looking for a ride instead of parts to fence for meth money. Buenos suerte colejos. La idea es briliante.
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/20345/20141118/chilean-students-design-theft-proof-bike-yerka.htm
So, if I see you bundled up in the bike lane, and you are riding a bike, not dragging pieces of a bike, and the ground alights beneath us to reveal a miasma of stars like you never see in an era of light pollution, let's be smug.
Elisa P.
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