I live a block from the New York Botanical Garden and have visited several times during the eight months I’ve lived here.
About a mile (1.6 km) away is the Bronx Zoo. I went a couple of times as a kid but have no inclination to go there now: I don’t think I can bear (no pun intended) to see animals in cages.
I do, however, wonder how they might escape.
On Tuesday, I expressed the first iota of sympathy I’ve felt in a long time for Lance Armstrong. After all, I can empathize with anyone who’s had bikes stolen.
But it might be the last time I, or very many other people, express compassion for him. He is not the first, and probably won’t be the last, cheater to ride a bike. However, few, if any have done more to disgrace cycling.
On the other hand, a cheetah on a bike? That would be a first. And it certainly wouldn’t soil the reputation of the sport as the one whose seven Tour de France victories were vacated.
As I understand, bicycles and eBikes are allowed in certain areas of US National Parks.
I hope this rider isn’t violating the policy!
I tried, really tried, to get Caterina, Charlie I, Candice, Charlie II, Max and Marlee to ride with me. I even promised to get a recumbent bike so they could curl up in my lap as I pedaled. Alas!
Now I understand the problem: It’s not that they didn’t want to ride with me. They wanted (and Marlee wants) to ride with, shall we say, their own!
Until recently, I thought “goat” denoted an an animal that lives in the mountains and has horns.
Only a few years ago, I learned that “GOAT” is an acronym for the “Greatest Of All Time.”
That title has been bestowed upon Michael Jordan, Tom Brady and other record-setting athletes. It’s commonly agreed that cycling’s GOAT is Eddy Merckx.
More than one of my old cycling buddies probably thought of themselves as the “GOAT.” Of course they weren’t.
But they were goats in one other way:
Did cycling make them horny?
As cheesy as it sounds, I have envisioned a movie, video or play ending with the main character mounting a bicycle and intoning, “See you later, alligator!”
The ride of some bikes has been described as “squirrels.” What riders mean is that the bike seems to wiggle, squirm or furtively jump, usually at high speeds (especially downhill) or when the rider pulls on the handlebars or stands up on the bike.
That got me to wondering: Do squirrels ever describe anything as bike-y?
I have seen one elephant who wasn’t in a zoo or otherwise in captivity. Even if I hadn’t seen that pachyderm, and even though I am, shall we say, a bit more corpulent than I was thirty years ago, I don’t know how an elephant could get into my pajamas—or on my bike.
Nearly a decade ago (!), I wrote about my old Land Shark bicycle.
I got to thinking about it when I came across this:
Once upon a time, I was a wannabe, unsuccessful, and then a manqué, racer. I wore jerseys—and sometimes shorts and helmets—that were veritable riots of color.
These days, most of the Lycra bike outfits I see are in carbon-bike hues: stealth black, carbon-neutral gray and the like.
Oh, I miss the good ol’ days!
According to legend, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow when he peeks out of his burrow, there will be six more weeks of wintry weather. If he doesn't, Spring is just around the corner.
I wonder: Does Phil--or any of his local counterparts across the country--have to pop out of the ground? Does it count if he, or any other groundhog, peeks his or her head out of some sort of human-made vessel--like, say, a bike basket?
The question probably never would have entered my mind if I hadn't seen, again, the image of Bill Murray reprising his role as Phil (of course!) Connor for a Jeep commercial. Although the ad is mainly for the company's four-wheeled vehicles, for a few seconds, Murray tries to escape the repetition of the time loop on a bicycle.
 |
| At least she's wearing a helmet! |
All right, it's an e-bike. But I had to admit that it was fun to see Poppy peek her head out of the basket. I wonder what she's doing these days...or today in particluar.
Speaking of which...Phil saw his shadow. Our local weather-hog, Staten Island Chuck, didn't see his. Hmm...Six more weeks of winter or early spring? Does Poppy get a tie-breaking vote?
Zebrakenko bicycles first appeared in the US during the mid-1970s, just past the Bike Boom's peak.
Like many other Japanese bikes of that era, their lugwork and paint were clean, and they came with good, high-value components from the likes of SunTour, Shimano, Sugino and Sakae Ringyo (SR).
Somewhere along the way--I am guessing in the early or mid-1980s, the name was shortened to "Zebra." It was, I reckon, an attempt to evoke the animal's agility, as I don't recall any of their bikes painted with black and white stripes.
Or, perhaps, whoever rebranded the bikes had this in mind:
