How Much Are Those Lilacs On The Wall?

One way I know it's really spring is when I'm riding--whether to work or for fun--and my peripheral vision increases.

It seems that as the days grow longer and the air milder, I am less focused on my immediate space than I am when I'm exhaling steam and there's snow and ice around me.  Could it be that I simply have to notice more (ice patches and such) immediately in front of, and around, me during the winter?  Or does my scope increase when I remove hoods, balaclavas and such and have only my helmet on my head?

Maybe I've discovered a corollary to the material world:  Perhaps the human field of vision expands when warmed and contracts when chilled.

Hmm...Could I have made some discovery that, for once and for all, links the physical sciences with what we know about human consciousness?

All right...Before I get all grandiose on you (too late?), I'll show you a couple of things I saw while riding to work this week.  There's nothing profound here:  just a couple of moments I captured on my cell phone.


Make what you will of this, but the things that make me happiest about Spring are cherry blossoms and lilacs.  Both came late this year, which is probably why they seemed all the more vivid to me.  I paid ten bucks for a bouquet of lilacs that's on my table.  Perhaps I could have taken them from here:

With the money I saved, maybe I wouldn't have to ask, "How much is that doggie in the window?" 

 Instead, I'd leave it to Patti Page:

Bicycle Report Cards, State-By-State

It's that time of year.

Yesterday, rough winds did shake the darling buds of May. Today the air is calmer but for some--especially my students, not to mention me--it is not a temperate day, lovely as it is.

You see, the semester is nearing its end. Some time after Memorial Day, my students will get their report cards in the same sense that we "dial" telephone numbers and "ship" items.   That is to say, no school or university (at least, none that I know of) uses cards anymore:  Students get their grades online.

In a similar fashion, all fifty states of the US have just received "report cards."  They weren't, however, graded in English or Math or History.  Their grades didn't come from me or any other professor or teacher, and their cards weren't issued by any educational insititution.

Instead, they came from the League of American Bicyclists. The "grades"--or, more precisely, scores--each state received were in categories that included Legislation & Enforcement, Policies & Programs, Infrastructure & Funding, Education & Encouragement and Evaluation & Planning.

This is not CNN's electoral map.  Yes, the states deemed most "bike friendly" are in blue.  But the next-most "bike friendly" are red.  Strangely, the states labelled least bike-friendly are in green!

So, which state finished at "the top of the class"?  That would be the Evergreen State--Washington--which also finished first last year.  So, while the efforts of advocates and planners there are to be commended, the ranking is bittersweet, as the state still scored only 66 out of 100 in both years for "bicycle friendliness".

Its neighbor to the south, Oregon, came in sixth and California eighth. Some of the states you'd expect to be high in the rankings--such as Massachusetts (fourth) and Colorado (seventh) are also there.  Not surprisingly, most of the states near the top of the table are in the Far West or Northeastern parts of the US. 

Also not surprisingly, the most of the lowest-ranking states are in the South, with Alabama bringing up the rear (with a score of 12.4, which was actually worse than their 2014 tally of 17.4) and Kentucky immediately in front of them.

My home state of New York ranked 29th in both years, though its score improved slightly from 33.9 to 35.4.

If my students had scores like those, I'd have appointments with my department chair and a dean--and they wouldn't be for lunch!

I Hate It So Much I'd Pay You To Take It. Buy It!

From the time I became a serious cyclist, I always heard other cyclists--and bike shop employees--say, "Saddles are a personal thing."  Then they would insist that whatever saddles they rode would be right for you.

A saddle indeed the most personal choice most cyclists make.  A rider's anatomical quirks as well as riding style (which can be just as quirky) are among the factors that go into choosing what one will sit on while riding.  For the lucky cyclist, the first saddle he or she tries will be the right one.  For the less fortunate, choosing a saddle will be a process of trial and error.

Given what I've mentioned, perhaps it's not surprising that cyclists are more passionate--and, sometimes, defensive--about their chosen saddle than about any other component they pick.  And riders are more vehement in expressing dislike about seats they don't like than about, say, shifters that don't work out for them.

Very few cyclists, though, have expressed their hatred of a saddle quite like this:

Well, I can tell you exactly how many miles I've put on this saddle:  1203 over 14 days.  I know this because having had several leather Brooks saddles previously and loving every one of them, I didn't give a second thought to throwing it on right before a tour.  I'm an idiot and I know better.  Well, 14 days was long enough to develop a truly vitriolic hatred for this saddle.  I loathe this saddle.  I have never loathed a saddle as much as this one.  And I've used some truly horrific saddles in my day.  None compare.

I would pay you to take this thing off my hands.

Anyhow, the Cambium C15 is the Swallow-style (ie, same dimensions) version of the non-leather Cambium series and while it was billed as black, it's more of a brown.  Perhaps it faded as a result of all of the scorn I've heaped upon it, perhaps it was the sun or maybe it was always that way.  This was part of the initial C15 run, not the more recent version.  It's otherwise in good shape.  Everything is rebuildable in any event.

It should go without saying, but it won't, no returns on this one.

See my other auctions, I'm selling a few others.

The above is an eBay listing.  I found it very funny that the lister, in trying to sell a saddle, says, "I would pay you to take this thing off my hands".

What's even funnier is that, as I write this, the saddle has fourteen bids and a price of $61.65, with thee days and four hours remaining in the auction. 

Hmm...Maybe the seller is operating on the Second Avenue Deli principle.  You know:  People love the chicken soup and other delicacies at SAD, but they'd be disappointed if the waiters weren't rude and sarcastic.  In fact, some people go there precisely because the servers are so inhospitable. 

So, perhaps, the next time I sell something on eBay, I should say how much I hated it and that I wouldn't wish it on an enemy.  Very interesting.