Remembering

 I am about to invoke my Howard Cosell Rule.

Today is Memorial Day in the US—at least, officially. While it is a Federal holiday—banks and government offices are closed—some states have taken it upon themselves to declare their own “Memorial Days.” Some are being celebrated today. Others have chosen other dates: For example, in North and South Carolina, 10 May is Confederate Memorial Day: On this date in 1863, Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson died after being accidentally shot by his own soldiers; in 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured.

Given what we’ve seen so far from the Fake Tan Führer, I wonder whether he’ll try to end the current Memorial Day and replace it with the Carolinas’ (or some other state’s) Confederate holiday. Of course, it would include a military parade that wouldn’t honor the “suckers” and “losers.”

Unhoused veterans occupy 30 tents on the Veterans Row encampment in front of the West Los Angeles VA campus in April, 2021. George Rose/Getty

Me, I wish this day’s memorial were more about the tragedy of dying young (and, sometimes, for a questionable cause) rather than a celebration of “heroism”—or simply another shopping orgy. Oh, and wouldn’t it be nice if we made sure that those who served got the mental as well as physical health care they need—and that we don’t create more veterans who live under highway overpasses. Avoiding war and turning “swords into ploughshares” would be the best—perhaps the only—way to ensure that.

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.

“We Should Charge More For It!”

 When I worked at Highland Park Cyclery, more than four decades ago, deep-V aerodynamic rims and Cinelli cork ribbon (Don’t call it “handlebar tape” to a purist!) were new. As we soon discovered, they had, shall we say, their idiosyncrasies. 

Because the “aero” rims didn’t have eyelets in the spoke holes, spoke nipples easily fell into the space between the rim “well” and the outer V shaped section. That meant shaking the rim or wheel and chasing errant spoke nipples on the floor. Also, because the distance between the “well” and the spots where the spoke entered was greater than on other rims, it was more difficult and time-consuming to thread the nipples and spokes together:  Spoke nipple tools weren’t long enough to reach, and when you couldn’t see the nipple as you inserted it.

Given what I have described, some shops (but not HPC, as I recall) charged more to build wheels with deep-section rims. They also levied an additional fee in addition to the usual cost of wrapping handlebar tape when the customer requested Cinelli cork ribbon because winding it around a handlebar took, let’s say, more finesse—and time—than wrapping with cloth or plastic tape.

Working with those items was a pain in the gluteus maximus, but at least there were good reasons for using them.  Cinelli cork ribbon was more comfortable than other handlebar wraps and grips available at the time and was stylish, if not very durable. But those V rims could stand up to all sorts of conditions, which is one reason why they became popular with messengers in New York City, where some potholes were rumored to have their own ZIP and area codes. (That said, whatever aerodynamic advantages they offered were meaningless for most cyclists.)

I thought about those rims and cork ribbon when I came across an article in road.cc. A clearly frustrated mechanic says shops should charge more for working on bikes with cables routed through the steerer tube. That “wrencher” wasn’t simply whingeing (I have to use the British spelling!) about the inconvenience. Rather, they pointed out—correctly—that the setup serves no discernible purpose but to follow the aesthetic of the peloton or the flashy downhill mountain bikers.

I’m definitely on that mechanic’s side.  In contrast to “aero” rims and Cinelli cork ribbon, there is no reason why anyone—even a top-level racer—“needs” to have their cables hidden in the headtube. Of course, most people don’t need cables internally routed through the top or down tube, either, but at least such arrangements require little, if any, more time or effort to set up.