20 February 2015

Will This Bike Be Thawed Out?

The temperature has not reached the freezing point in more than a week.  That might not have been unusual last month, but here in New York, the daytime high temperatures start inching above 5 degrees C (40F) in the middle of February.  

Tomorrow the temperature might reach 1C and a high of about 7C (45F) is expected, with rain, on Sunday.  Will it be enough to free this bike parked down the street from my place?:




I've seen the bike, but not its rider or owner, around the neighborhood.  It's been parked in this spot ever since the first significant snowstorm we had nearly three weeks ago.

If we get more snow--or if the temperature drops and Sunday's rain turns to ice--will this bike be glacially encased until some future archaeologist finds it?  Or, perhaps, some life form from some distant galaxy will chance upon it. What would such a being make of it?

Of course, being the bike aficionada that I am, I wonder whether the bike originally came with its dropped bars or rat-trap pedals.  I couldn't see the name badge on it, but I'm almost entirely sure it's an English three-speed. Time was when bikes like this one were sometimes equipped with dropped bars and road pedals--and even alloy rims and brakes.  Such machines were known as "club bikes".  

How would my hypothetical archaeologist of the future--or visitor from another part of the universe--know such things?  I'm guessing that if someone could make it here from someplace far away from Earth, he or she would have a database far more advanced than Google or our libraries.  So, for that matter, might a yet-unborn archaeologist.

Oh, dear.  If I'm thinking about such things, that's proof I need to get on my bike more.  I'll do that soon, I hope!

19 February 2015

Riding Again At Sunset

I'm so happy to be back on my bike again.  Late the other day, I took a ride that wasn't a commute for the first time in weeks.  I was going to meet some people for dinner in the Village, which meant I would have to lock my bike on the street.  And I knew that there was still a lot of ice and sand on the streets. So I took my LeTour, as its tires are the closest things to snow and ice treads I have.

It wasn't a long ride, but enough to stimulate my senses.  I got this glimpse of dusk on the Hudson River near Christopher Street in Manhattan.




And this--with the relatively rare sight of ice on the Hudson--just north of 14th Street:



I did what I could with my primitive cell phone. But I think I captured something of what the light, if not the cold air, felt like!  If nothing else, they're whetting my appetite for more riding.

18 February 2015

How Did I Ride Then?

Back when I was young, skinny and in shape--and, I must say, full of testosterone (and, according to some people, some things I can't mention on this blog)--I would sometimes push other cyclists up hills or into the wind--or simply help them get home.  I won't reveal their identities lest they or their friends happen to be reading this, in which case, you know who you are!

And I'll admit to grabbing the back of a truck or a bus and letting it pull me along.  In my defense, I'll say that I did it while riding a fixed gear, so I was still pedaling.  I will also mention that I did it only while I was working as a messenger.  Somehow the other messengers knew if you'd never done it, and that would put a gap in your street cred bigger than any pothole any of us ever dodged!


So, even though I have both pushed and been pulled while on my bike, I couldn't quite tell which was happening in this photo.  Both, perhaps?


Cycle Tag

Speaking of potholes:  OK, I'll admit there were a couple I didn't couldn't dodge.  So there were times I rode on wheels that weren't quite true or round.  But I'm not sure I ever rode on any like these:


Square Wheels on Cycle

Both of these photos come from the Guy Sports blog.

17 February 2015

Wheels On Ice

Lately there's been a lot of ice on the streets and sidewalks around here.  Sometimes plowing the streets leaves little patches of ice that might not affect a car or truck but can cause our bikes to do dances we were never taught.  Or, the snow is piled on the sides and when it melts, the next day or night of freezing temperatures results in ice.  So, in navigating between the traffic and parked cars on the narrow one-way streets of this city, you're bound to hit some ice.

I think I was lulled by a few mild, relatively snow-free winters.  So I never bought tires with metal studs for any of my bikes, figuring that I could use them only a couple of days every year.  But this winter and last, we've had longer spells of snow and ice.

Maybe I should go for the studded tires. Or, perhaps, wheels made of ice:





Wheels made from ice?  Notice that about 3:10, in the first trial, the tire splits in two. At least he has a sense of humor about it!



16 February 2015

More Presidents On Bikes

Today is Presidents' Day in the US.

When I was growing up, American schools, banks, post offices and government buildings were closed on the 12th and 22nd of February to commemorate the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, respectively.   In 1971, the commemoration of Washington's Birthday was moved to the third Monday in February. Celebration of Lincoln's Birthday was left up to the states.  My home state, New York, is one state that celebrates the President who served during the Civil War.

A little more than two years ago, I wrote a post about Presidents who rode bicycles.  Now I'm going to tell you about two more.  However, they didn't preside over the US.

Here is Nicolas Sarkozy, who preceded Francois Hollande, the current President of France:






And here is Russian President Vladimir Putin   with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev:




Please do not take my inclusion of these photos as approval of any of these leaders' policies, or of my politics generally! I simply approve of the fact that they ride bikes.