How Did We?

About ten years ago, I was talking on the phone as I scurried down the hall to my class.

When I entered, one student wondered, aloud, how I survived with such a “primitive” device:  a flip-phone.

Mind you, neither he nor any of his classmates was wealthy, at least to my knowledge. But I was a couple of years away from having any desire, let alone seeing any need, for a “smart” phone.

Now I’ll confess that before my July trip to Japan, I “upgraded” to an iPhone 16 from the iPhone 8 I’d been using for seven years. I really wanted to stick with 8 because it was familiar, but the software wouldn’t update anymore, the battery took forever to charge and the charge didn’t last. Turns out that changing the battery would’ve cost more than getting a new phone, at least with the surprisingly generous trade-in allowance I got from Verizon.

Anyway, I thought about my old student when I got my new phone. And I wonder what he would think, if he were a cyclist, of some of the bikes I’ve ridden—and still ride.

What’s That About The Hill?

When people say that someone is “over the hill,” they mean that person is too old for some pursuit (usually in sports) or simply old.

As a cyclist, I always found that odd:  Pedaling up a hill (or a mountain), even if it leaves me tired, is a way of reassuring myself that I am not old, that I am in the middle of my life.

Not Extinct ?

 While enjoying my bourgie Sunday brunch and coffee, I looked at a Buzz Feed item in which people recalled cartoons from their childhood that no one else seems to remember. Dinosaurs weren’t really part of the ones I saw (“The Flintstones” doesn’t count!) but they seem to have been prominent in later generations of animation.

Those extinct creatures, it seems, were in the most improbable of situations. I can imagine one of those cartoons including an image like this:

Who Would Win?

 Recently, I saw a bumper sticker that read, “My stick-figure family can beat your stick—figure family.”

I wondered, “At what?”

A bike race, perhaps?

Would Agnès Varda Approve?

 Yesterday I rode LaVande, my King of Mercia, against 20-35 KPH (12.5- 22.5 MPH) headwinds,, to Point Lookout. My reward: I coasted along the coast to Coney Island and its culinary delights .

Joy Without Motion

 How happy can you be while standing still?

Reaching

 What if Michelangelo had been a cyclist?

Sticks, But No Stones

 Well, I just got an answer to a question I never asked:  What would a stick-figure cyclist look like?

Why Do We Call It A Bike?

 When I was growing up, and when I was living as a man, everyone in my family called me by a shortened version of my old name, with an “ee” sound at the end of it. I always hated that nickname even more than my full name. There reasoning was that an uncle and my father shared that name. 

(I hated being a “junior “ even more than my nickname.)

For some reason, however, no one ever called my brother Michael “Mike.”

What got me to thinking about all of that? This:

The Wheel Keeps Turning

 The debates about larger vs smaller diameter wheels and wide vs narrow tires have raged for as long as I can remember 

and, probably, even before my time.

Everybody Was Out

 Yesterday was the first day of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. I began the season with an early ride to City Island. An afternoon of exploring unusual buildings in unexpected places followed with the perfect companion for such a trek: Esther Crain, the author of Ephemeral New York, one of my favorite blogs. 

In the warmth and sunshine one expects on the first day of summer, it seemed that everyone was out for a walk or ride.  Even animated characters couldn’t resist the urge:

How Would You Celebrate?

 Yesterday’s military parade in Washington DC was a birthday bash for the Fake Tan Fūhrer, I mean, celebration of the US Army’s 250th anniversary.

I’ve marched in a few parades but I am not a fan of them in general. If I were to have one, however, it might look something like this:

Her Way?

 Is she trying to coast on a fixed-gear bike?

Alternative Energy Source?

 Is this what they mean by “wind power?”

Women’s Work?

When I rode with the Central Jersey Bicycle Club, more than four decades ago, not many women were dedicated cyclists. Save for one who was, probably, close to the age I am now*, they were usually accompanied by boyfriends or husbands.

In most couples, the male cyclist spent much of the ride “drafting” his partner: He rode a few meters ahead of her so she could pedal in the slipstream. There was, however, one couple who “flipped the script.” At first—being young and not knowing otherwise—I thought he followed because he liked looking at her from the rear. (Hate me, if you will, for saying this: I couldn’t blame him.) After a few rides, though, I realized she was the stronger cyclist.

I thought about them, for the first time in ages, when I saw this:

*—I was less surprised by her skill and dedication than I was by her husband, who seemed completely sedentary.

Trust Me, I Won’t

 When you’re riding your bike (or simply out and about) you’re sure to see certain signs:

Some, however, you won’t see unless you stop—as I did at an intersection near my apartment:

Purple Is Always The Right Size

 Whenever I park my bicycle in a public rack, I am sometimes surprised by the variety of bikes.

Sometimes, though, there’s a bike that, no matter how different the others are from each other, just doesn’t fit, or just sticks out, depending on your point of view.

Taking One From The Team?

 The other day, while pedaling into wind toward Rockaway surf, I spotted this:

It’s called the “Queens Flyer.” Lots of things related to New York City’s most diverse borough bear that color scheme because Queens is home to the Mets.

I have to wonder, though:  Was this bike an attempt at fandom without paying a licensing fee?* You tell me.

*-Although I have been a Mets fan for about as long as I’ve been a cyclist—which is to say, most of my life—I won’t lose any sleep over the team’s owner (reportedly the richest in sports save, perhaps, for members of Middle Eastern royalty who own European football teams) losing a licensing fee or two.

Happy Easter!

From Emily Batty’s Facebook page.

Always Together

 When some couples ride, one member has trouble keeping up with the other.

Here’s one way to solve that dilemma: