Happy Fourth!
Today is American Independence Day.
You might say that on this date last year, I celebrated a kind of independence: I took my first ride after the crash that landed me in Westchester Medical Center for a weekend.
Today, I plan to do a somewhat longer ride before meeting friends for a barbecue.
Oh, and it just happens to be my birthday. I won't reveal my age. All I'll say is that I'm not about to change the name of this blog.
Enjoy!
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| Photo by Aimee Ferre |
Say "bicycles" and "modern art," and the first work that comes to most people's minds is Marcel Duchamp's "Bicycle Wheel." Next might the "bull's head" Pablo Picasso made from a bicycle saddle and handlebars.
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| Ricardo Brey, "Joy" (2018) |
But even when artists aren't creating objects from bike parts or images of bicycles, the forms, motions and technology of two wheels propelled by two pedals have inspired creators for as long as there have been bicycles. "Almost every one of the Surrealists, Dadaists and Futurists did something with a bike," according to David Platzker.
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| Nina Chenel Abney, "Ridin Solo" (2020) |
He has curated, in collaboration with Alex Ostroy (of the NYC bicycle clothing line that bears his name) Re: Bicycling, a group exhibition in New York's Susan Inglett Gallery. Spanning the period from the Industrial Revolution to the present, the show includes more than 20 works and pays homage to, not only the bicycle itself, but its potential for autonomy and freedom. The artists past and present, according to Platzker, "took it to heart" that the bicycle is "a means of self-powered locomotion."
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| Ebecho Muslimova, "Fatabe Dirt Unicycle" (2021) |
For that reason, he says, "Modernism--and modern art--would never exist without bicycles."
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| Claes Oldenberg and Coosje Van Bruggen, "Bicycle Ensevelie, Fabrication Model of Pedal and Arm" (1988) |
'Tis the season.
It seems that many new laws take effect on 1 July. It may have to do with the fact that in many jurisdictions, the fiscal and legislative years begin on the first of July and run until 30 June.
A few days ago, I mentioned that new cycling-related laws took effect in Virginia on the first. Turns out, a new set of bicycle safety regulations also commenced on the same day. Interestingly, one of those mandates is very similar to one that just took effect in the Old Dominion.
As I mentioned in Tuesday's post, Virginia drivers are now required to change lanes when passing cyclists unless the lane is very wide. Motorists in Georgia now have the same requirement as long as it's safe and legal to chage lanes. The Peach State added another stipulation: If it's not safe or legal to change lanes, the driver must slow down to 10 MPH below the speed limit or 25 MPH, whichever is higher.
Furthermore, Georgia drivers must allow three feet between their vehicles and cyclists they pass. The "three-foot rule," which some other states and jurisdictions have, now applies in all situations when a motorist passes a cyclist. Previously, the "three foot rule" applied only when it was "feasible."
I will repeat the same observation and comment I made on Virginia's law. I haven't cycled in Georgia, but I suspect that riding there has some similiarties with Florida, where I've done a fair amount of cycling. Specifically, I suspect that it's more auto-centric than, say, New York and that in rural and even suburban areas, there might be only one road--a state or county highway--between where someone lives and works or shops. Sometimes cyclists simply have no choice but to ride alongside two-ton hunks of metal zipping along at 50 MPH. So, I think the new law is a good idea, as long as it's observed and enforced.
