Three Years!

Today I realized that I—or this blog, anyway—had reached a milestone.  A minor one, perhaps, but a milestone nonetheless.

Three years ago yesterday, I published my first post on this blog.  Now, 818 posts later, it’s still going.  And I haven’t lost my passion for it.  Or, let’s just say that it’s fun for me.  I hope that reading and following this has been fun for you, too!

In the three years I’ve been keeping this blog, I’ve tried to make it interesting, funny, thought-provoking and a conveyor of emotions and spirit.  Now, I don’t think I’ve done all of those things at the same time.  Then again, would you want to read a post that did that?

I’ve also tried not to turn it into a mere log of my rides or my bikes and equipment.  Speaking of equipment, the few reviews I’ve done are of ones that I have used for (at least relatively) extended periods of time, and for which I hadn’t seen a lot of other reviews up to the time I was writing mine. 

That is why, for example, I haven’t reviewed Mavic Open Pro rims—or, for that matter, any other Mavic rim or wheel.  I have been using Mavic wheel goods for over 30 years, and all of my current bikes sport their rims.  That’s an endorsement, I’d say.  Also, I haven’t reviewed, and don’t intend to review, Brooks B17 saddles, even though I now ride the standard version on two of my bikes (Helene and Vera) and the narrow version on my other two (Arielle and Tosca).  I could write a post, or more, about what I like about them but, for the most part, I would simply paraphrase what other fans of those saddles have already said.  

On the other hand, I hadn’t seen many reviews of the King Iris cage, White industries or MKS platform pedals, Bike Burrrito or other products reviewed on this blog.  I’ve debated whether I want to review the Carradice bags.  Some time, if I’m feeling really ambitious, I might write a blow-by-blow analysis of the bikes I now ride.  I love them all, but I still feel as if I’m learning about them.  Then again, I have felt that I was always learning about any bike I kept and rode for any period of time.

I’ve also debated whether I want to write about past bike tours or races.  If I were to write about them, I’d probably concentrate more on my feelings and impressions—and, perhaps, other things that were going on in my life—rather than to scribble (Can you do that on a computer?) travelogues or accounts of race tactics.

Anyway, as I said, I still love writing this blog, so I expect to keep it up for some time.  In the three years since I’ve started this blog, I’ve posted about three out of every four days.  I don’t know whether I’ll keep up that pace.  One thing that will determine the frequency of my future posts is, of course, what else goes on in my life. 

So, to those of you who have been reading and following this blog:  Thank you.  And if you’re here for the first time—or started following us recently—welcome aboard!  I hope you’ll enjoy the ride with me!

"Death By Bike"

I don't mean to pick on one political party or another.  But I simply must ask:  Why do some conservatives go totally apopleptic when the subject of bicycles comes up?

I think Dorothy Rabinowiz's rant about the New York's new bike share program takes the cake:



Now I will say, in her defense, that I used to respect and even admire Ms. Rabinowitz.  Sure, she has always been more "conservative" (whatever that means) than I am on most issues.  However, she took a courageous--and, as it turned out, correct--stance back in the days when it seemed that every week, some hapless day care worker was  being incarcerated over testimony that included "recovered memories" and other since-discredited evidence.

Please note that I am as disgusted as anyone can be by adults who abuse children sexually or otherwise. However, I also don't want to see people punished for crimes they didn't commit.  That, in essence, was Ms. Rabinowitz's stance when Kelly Michaels and others lost years or decades of their lives over the wildest stories imaginable.

What's happened to her since?  Why exactly does she think bikes are such a scourge?  While I agree, to some degree, with her criticisms of Mayor Bloomberg, I think that she doesn't represent the majority of citizens, as she believes she does.  

Purple Haze And Another New York Pretzel

Today I rode to the Village to meet a friend.  Along the way, I saw this:

A couple of posts ago, I wrote about the "New York Pretzel."  Most of the time, it's a rear wheel that's so mangled. Sometimes one finds a front wheel in similar condition, and some unfortunate cyclists find new meaning in the term "wishbone stays."

But this is the first time I saw a rack so twisted.  Actually, now that I think about it, I'm surprised that more racks aren't even more wrecked.  After all, a rack is usually not as strong as a wheel.  If yours is, Goddess help you!

Speaking of things the Goddess helped, check out what I saw in front of the former United States Appraiser Store:

What I Remembered On My Memorial Day Ride

I can't think of any bike ride I've taken, at any time in my life, that didn't leave me in a better state, in some way or another, than I was in before the ride.

Sometimes it's the exhiliaration of riding a particular distance, up a mountain or across some other type of difficult terrain. Other times, the euphoria can come from having braved rough weather conditions--or enjoying favorable ones.  Or we can be happy about something we've seen, someone we've met or a meal or snack we've eaten (or drunk!) along the way. 

I was happy I took my ride to Somerville on Memorial Day because, as I mentioned, I got to see a race and I pedaled my first (non-metric) century in three years. But, ironically enough, some of the happiness I felt from doing, and having done, the ride came from the moments of melancholy I experienced along the way.

You see, along the way, I rode along roads, through places, I hadn't seen in a very long time.  But I once rode them routinely, especially when I was a student at Rutgers and during the time I lived in the area after returning from living in  France.  

Sometimes I rode with the Central Jersey Bicycle Club, back when long-distance (or almost any adult) cyclists were still geeks of a sort.  In those days, most people who didn't live within a town or two also didn't know about the race, let alone the Tour de France or the Giro d'Italia.  And most motorists had no idea of what to do when a cyclist was on the road.  (Many still don't.) 

Much of what I saw, and experienced was familiar to me.  Road surfaces on Route 28 in and around Plainfield and Bound Brook were just as bad as I remembered them.  Of course, that added to the charm of Monday's ride.  Also, the towns I saw along the way hadn't changed nearly as much as I expected.  Sure, there were some new houses and office buildings, and the complexions of some towns' residents had darkened or lightened, but they--and everything around them--were unmistakably Central New Jersey.  In other words, they're close enough to New York that many commute to it, but far enough not to seem like a suburb of the Big Apple.  Also, even in an affluent town like Westfield--whose downtown has stores that rival those of other high-income enclaves--there is still the down-to-earth quality one finds in more working-class towns like Bound Brook and Plainfield, a quality I don't find, say, on Long Island.

Also, I found myself re-connecting with a rhythm of riding I didn't realize I followed through all of those years I lived and rode in the area.  New Jersey, of course, doesn't have the kind of mountains that Colorado or Vermont have.  But, when you ride in New Jersey, you can count on this general principle:  If you are riding north or west, you're going to higher ground.  So, you can expect to do some climbing.  Because many extant roads in the Garden State were created by simply paving over older roads (or even trails)--some of which date to the Revolution or even earlier--climbs tend to come more suddenly.  You climb mostly in short bursts because there's often very little to lead up to it.  More modern roads have more gradual (if longer) inclines and longer straightways leading to them mainly because modern road-building techniques made such things possible.

Also, if you pedal south or west, there's a good chance you'll be riding into the wind (if indeed there is any).  In thinking back to the days when I rode almost daily in that area, I realize that I often, unconsciously, rode in accordance with the terrain and wind patterns I noticed on Monday.

I guess some rides--especially if we begin them when we're young--never end.

Bicycling: An Early Ex-Gay Therapy

By now, I'm sure you've heard that Michele Bachmann is not running for re-election.

I'm going to miss her.  After all, how many other people can make Sarah Palin seem--if only momentarily--sane and, at times, relatively coherent?

I mean, it's not just anybody about whom we can say that her assertion that gays can be "cured" is one of the less wacky things she says.  After all, she consulted the most impeccable authority on the subject:  her husband, who runs an "ex-gay clinic".  

Now, why am I mentioning that crazy couple on this blog?

Well, one reason is, of course, that this blog may be the only one in the world written by a onetime boy racer who became a lady rider.  But, in reading about so-called "conversion therapies" intended to make gay people straight, I learned that this sort of thing has been going on for even longer than I'd realized.  As you may know, people have tried to "cure" lesbians and gay men with electroshock treatments, lobotomies, cold baths, physical torture and even attempts to nudge benighted boys and girls to form loving non-sexual relationships with peers of the same gender.

And, for centuries, doctors, athletes and others have claimed that they could "cure" homosexuality through lots of intensive outdoor activity and vigorous exercise.  And, as you know, bicycling falls into both categories. 

So, as you've probably guessed, a physician who was once a respected authority in his field saw bicycling as a way of exorcising same-sex desires.

Graeme M. Hammond was a New York City-based neurologist and competitive fencer.  (He appeared, at age 54, in individual fencing events of the 1912 Olympics.)  Given that he was an athlete of one sort or another for nearly his entire life, it's not surprising that he would think that exercise is "good for what ails ya'."  Nor is it unusual to find that he believed homosexuality to be a neurological disorder, as nearly every physician and scientist who thought about the matter--including Dr. Harry Benjamin--believed the same thing. 

However, what's really interesting about Dr. Hammond's work is the reason why he proposed cycling as a "cure" for homosexuality:  He believed it to be a result of "nervous exhaustion." Cycling, he said, would help to "restore health and heterosexuality" and to cure other nervous conditions.

He also advocated bicycling and other exercise for women because--to his credit--he believed we are the "fighting sex."  The good doctor/fencer thought we would make better soldiers than men 'if only they could "acquire the physical strength and mental discipline" which, he believed, had been denied us through a culture that "mollycoddled" us and promoted "overindulgent lifestyles in regard to diet and exercise."

I like to think he was right about women.  Now, about cycling:  I'm all for just about anything that will get more people to ride bikes.  But now I know one place where I draw the line.  Plus, if you're reading this blog, you have some idea of just how effective cycling is at changing a person's sexual desires--or gender identity!