From Ezra Pound to Waffles and Dinges

Rain and clouds and rain and mist and rain and clouds.


For two days, that's what we've had.  And it followed heat and smog and heat and smog that ended with a thunderstorm.


I got in a very short ride late today, along the waterfronts of Greenpoint, Long Island City and Astoria.  I picked up some chicken panang curry and steamed dumplings from an Asian reataurant near PS 1 and consumed them into the mist that was turning to dusk on the Long Island City pier.


Along the way, I saw something that put me in the mind of Ezra Pound's poetry:

Well, it doesn't really remind me of Ezra Pound's poetry.  But there is a connection.  I had the same reaction to seeing this bike that I did to reading Pound's work:  I thought, "All right, it's not my style.  But I kinda admire it."


I had to make no such qualification for my enjoyment of what I chased my Thai dinner with:

Tosca couldn't resist the aroma that wafted from it. Actually, I couldn't, but I was trying really, really hard to show that indulging myself wasn't entirely my fault.  (Ah, guilt.  We never get over it, do we?)  


You're looking at the Waffles and Dinges truck, which just happened to be at the pier. I had their waffles and ice cream once before, and loved it. So I was happy to see them again.  And the guy and woman on the truck remembered me!


Through this weekend's rain, I did a bit of bike-related tinkering.  I'll tell you more about that in a near-future post.

What Would They Make Of Us?

Whenever I see a public statue of some historical figure, I wonder what someone from another planet, or another galaxy, would think of it.  I find myself asking that question even more when the statue is of a famous person--usually a military or political figure--on a horse.  To me, horses almost always look noble, which may be the reason why warriors seem even more belligerent astride them.


Now that I think of it, I haven't seen very many statues of people riding bicycles.  I've seen a fair number of paintings, drawings and photos of cyclists.  But I definitely can't remember the last time I saw a public statue of anyone on a bicycle.


They could be very interesting. What would our friend from another part of the universe think about if he or she were to see a statue of Lance or Eddy or Jacques pedaling up an Alpine virage or a Pyreneean pass?  Or, what would our visitor make of a sculpture of someone like John Rakowski or Ian Hibbell on the pannier-laden bikes they rode around the world?

Maclean Featherweight

I only see porn when I stumble over it while looking for other things.  Really, I swear, it's true.


That includes bike porn.  All right, maybe this isn't quite bike porn:  It's actually quite dignified.  But pretty nonetheless:

It's a Maclean Featherweight from 1950.  Don Maclean formed his namesake company during the 1920's and employed several builders.  Apparently, they built frames and bikes for about 40 years, until they were bought up by the Holdsworthy company.

You can look at some more photos of this bike here.  Enjoy!

Advice from Brian May

If you're of my generation--or a Queen fan (Come on, admit it, you loved Night At The Opera!)--you surely remember the Brian May song Fat Bottomed Girls.

Even though the song was recorded more than 30 years ago, it remains one of the few to celebrate those of us who aren't built like fashion models. 

If you remember the song, good for you. If not, listen to it.  And note that line:  GET ON YOUR BIKES AND RIDE!

Would that Brian May weren't the only one giving that advice.  I did find this entry on Women's Cycling.ca encouraging us to do just that.  (The photo came from that site.)  However, I find that as the cycling industry is taking more of its cues from the mass media, the cyclists portrayed in advertising, videos and films about cycling,  seem to be more and more like those you see in ads for gyms and J.Crew.

And some bike shops perpetrate the bias against avoirdupois.  One day, in the last shop in which I worked, a woman who was (at least by most standards I'm familiar with) at least seventy-five pounds "overweight" came in.  She had been very athletic all through college, she said, but the detours of her life had taken her away from exercise and good eating habits.  Plus, after a surgery she needed following an auto accident, her doctor prescribed a medicine with steroids in it, which put additional weight on her.

She wanted to get back in shape, but because of knee and other injuries, her doctor (who cycled and played tennis, if I recall correctly), advised her not to run or play basketball.  Rather, he recommended cycling--an activity she once enjoyed--because it would put less strain on her damaged joints and ligaments.  So, she said, she was looking to buy a bike.

One of the sales people in that shop told her she should come back to the shop after losing weight. 

I felt badly for that woman, but I did nothing to help her. I hadn't thought about her in some time, and I've related the story as best as I can remember it.  

Did you notice that near the beginning of this post, I wrote, "those of us who aren't built like fashion models."  Yes, I include myself.  Of course, when I was training as if I were going to enter the Tour de France for 40-and-older riders, I woulnd't have said anything like that about myself.  Granted, I was trimmer and had more strength.  But almost no one has the same sort of body in middle age as he or she had when young. (Trust me:  I know that as well as anybody can!)  Sometimes it has to do with life taking the turns I've mentioned; it also has to do with the way our bodies age.  Also, in my case, taking hormones added a few pounds to the ones I was already gaining by other means.

And,  let's face it, most people aren't born to be a perfect size four.  (I'm talking about dresses, not Euro racing kit! In my prime, I wore a size three.)  So why should that bar any of us from cycling?  Is there any law that cyclists have to be, as one New Yorker columnist put it, "lycra sausages"?

A Cool Idea?

According to the weather reports, we have a major heat wave coming our way.  Today was warm and humid, but the weather had been either one or the other, but not both, for the past few days.


This has been one of those years "without a spring."  Or so it's seemed.  We had chilly and wet weather for much of March, April and May.  In fact, we had so much wet weather that it became difficult to open and close doors because the wood in and around them swelled.

Artist's rendition of proposed air-cooled bike path in Qatar.

I remember reading that there were plans to build an air-cooled bicycle path in Qatar.  I wonder if anything has become of them.  Can you imagine something like that along Fifth Avenue?