Riding In Reno

I'm always happy to see elected officials and other celebrities actually riding bikes, rather than just using them for photo-ops.

Here's Bob Cashell, the Mayor of Reno, NV, endorsing the bicycle as a way to commute and a viable means of transportation:




Don't you just love some of the bikes in the video?  The "moonbuggy" was designed by engineering students at a local school.  

I'm happy that a narrator at the end of the video mentioned "the need to make cycling more affordable for our community".  There are other issues, too, that have to be addressed in order to get more people to ride to work, shop and play.  

At least we can hope that this campaign won't lead to a bunch of poorly-designed and -constructed bike lanes and poorly thought-out polices as we have seen in New York and other cities.

I wonder, though, about the choice of music in that video!

Hydrating In Style

Do any of you own a Campagnolo corkscrew?

I first saw one around the same time I started to cycle long distances--during my teen years in the 1970's.  Having scrimped and saved to buy a Nishiki International and a Peugeot PX-10, I couldn't believe someone would pay $200--even if it was designed by Tullio himself and gold-plated.

As I understand, the gold-plated version is still being made. I can only imagine what it costs, as it was priced at $200 before the price of gold skyrocketed.  Still, if I were to buy a Campy corkscrew, I think I'd prefer the bronze model:  I think it's the most attractive and seems, well, more Campagnolo-esque (at least in the old-school way) than the others.

I also like the silver one; then again, I'm normally partial to silver.  Still, I don't know if I'll ever buy one.

I'm thinking about those corkscrews now because someone alerted me to this:

Now, admit it:  You simply can't conceive of doing your daily commute, let alone a ride across the continent, without having a bottle opener handy at all times.  And what better place for it than the saddle rails?

Best of all, it's made in gold and silver.  Now, if you have a Brooks saddle copper-plated rails, which one would you get?  Or what if you have titanium rails?

Even if you' never break a sweat, you still need to hydrate. 

Of course, you could carry one of these with you:

Maillard Helicomatic lockring remover

It may be the only bike tool ever made that includes a bottle opener.

Put On Purple And Ride To Work

Today is national Ride Your Bike to Work Day.

I just found out that it's also "Put On Purple" Day.  The Lupus Foundation of America has so designated this day to raise awareness of one of the most pervasive and severe conditions most people don't know about.  

One reason for the lack of awareness, I believe, is that many people perceive--as I did, until recently--that the disease only affects African-Americans.  Another reason is that 90 percent of its victims are female.  Illnesses that affect mostly women and girls are given the short shrift vis-a-vis those that affect males because medicine, as we know it, is a partiarchy.  Not only are the vast majority of doctors still men, so are and were most of their medical-school professors.  Said professors, like their counterparts in any other field, teach their students what they learned.  Given that--because, until recently, nearly all doctors and researchers were men--most research was done on conditions that mostly affect males, and the "baseline" sex in medicine has been male.

Anyway, if I had known that Put On Purple and Bike To Work Day converged as they did today, I'd have organized a ride in which everyone wears a purple jersey or T-shirt. And, of course, I'd be on it, riding one of my purple bikes (actually, Mercian finish #57)!

Here is someone who would definitely belong on such a ride: