Imagine!

Who said this?:

 "As a kid I had a dream – I wanted to own my own bicycle. When I got the bike I must have been the happiest boy in Liverpool, maybe the world. I lived for that bike. Most kids left their bike in the backyard at night. Not me. I insisted on taking mine indoors and the first night I even kept it in my bed."

One clue might be "Liverpool".  I mean the one in England, not the one in upstate New York (where the locals joke that their town is so named because it has the same kind of weather as the British port city).  When you think of people from Liverpool, who comes to mind first?

OK, you can be forgiven for saying "William Gladstone" or "Clive Barker"--or, for that matter, Kate Sheppard or Peter Shaffer.  But if you're of my generation and know even less than I do about British or women's history, there is only one answer you can give.

That answer is, of course, The Beatles.  And who was the most literate and articulate of the "Fab Four".  You guessed it:  John Lennon.

 

Somehow it's not a surprise that he had such a dream, or was so happy that it was realized.  He had his flaws, but in the end, I think he really meant what he wrote in "Imagine". 



Ironically and tragically, a deranged man with a gun ended his life, thirty-five years ago today.  

The ensuing years have not lessened the shock of his murder.  I often find myself playing his songs in my mind--or even humming or singing them--as I ride and do other things.  It's appropriate, I think:  If more people, especially in developed countries, rode bikes to work, school, shop, or simply for fun, we might come closer to having the sort of world he envisioned. 

The Attack That Deflated Balloon Tires

Seventy-four years ago today, the Japanese Imperial Navy launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.  Well, it was a surprise to most people, but some who were "in the know" saw the United States and Japan edging toward war for months before the attack.

Winston Churchill could barely conceal his glee:  At last the Americans would join his fight against Japan's nominal allies, Germany and Italy.  Never before, and never since, have Americans been so willing to go to war against another country.

It's almost a cliché to say that the attack, and US involvement in the World War, would change almost everything about American society and culture.  As an example, it could be argued that the War had as much of a role as any other event in bringing about the Civil Rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s.  Black American soldiers could sit at any café or pub table in Europe, but were separated from fellow citizens lighter than themselves within their own armed forces, not to mention in schools and other public places in their home towns, cities and states. 

Also, the war turned the wave of blacks migrating from the south to the north into a tidal wave, changing the face of numerous communities all over the United States. Having large numbers of African Americans concentrated in urban neighborhoods would make it easier for leaders to organize marches and other kinds of protests than it had been when the same people were dispersed over miles of southern countryside.  (Remember, this was decades before the Internet and Facebook!)

Now, since this is a bike blog, I have to tell you how the attack on Pearl Harbor--and the War--changed cycling, at least in this country.  At the time, the average adult bicyle weighed 57 pounds (about 26 kilos).  The government decreed that those bikes would be made ten pounds lighter, and that production of children's bicycles would cease altogether for the duration.

The reason for this change was that bicycles were being used in the military, and a lighter bike is easier to transport and maneuver.  Also, it used less of the materials that were rationed during wartime.   Those restrictions, of course, made fewer bicycles available for civilians to buy, but those who were able to get them discovered that they liked the lighter bikes.  Manufacturers took notice and started to make bikes lighter still.

Further accelerating the change in American bicycles were the machines service members saw--and sometimes brought back from--the places in which they fought.  The majority of the bikes to come to our shores came from England, but a few others came from Continental European countries.  Those bikes--yes, even the English three-speed and French "ballon" bikes--were lighter than the "lightweight" models American manufacturers were making during the war.

Could it be that if Pearl Harbor hadn't been attacked, we might still be riding on those balloon-tired Schwinns, Columbias and Huffys?  Hmm....

(Note:  I mean no offense to any of you who still remember--or experienced--the tragedies of that day that "will live on in infamy"!)

 

I Should Feel Guilty About This, But...

I know I should be worried about climate change. After all, so much of the world's economy, agricultural and otherwise, as well as much in our cultures, depends on the weather patterns we've had during the past few milennia.  If we in Western countries think we're having a "refugee crisis" now, to paraphrase Al Jolson, "We ain't seen nothin' yet."  We're just another drought or monsoon away from a veritable tidal wave of people with nothing. And, to quote the immortal Bob Dylan, "When you ain't got nothing, you've got nothing to lose".

But it's hard not to enjoy some things about climate change.  As an example, this fall has been warmer than normal in this part of the world. It seems that, for the past couple of decades or so, just about every season has been significantly warmer or colder or wetter or drier than normal.  This fall, so far, has been warmer and, I think, drier.  If I didn't see the wreaths and lights and decorations people have hung in their windows and doors and from lampposts during the past week or so, I would have a hard time telling that we're less than three weeks from Christmas.

Maybe it has to do with the way the leaves, which cover everything but the trees they fell from, flicker in the sun. Or with the fact that even the coldest night we've had so far didn't even give a hint of impending winter storms.  

It was another nice day to ride.  And I did. How could I not?  I tried to worry more about climate change.  Really, I did.

What Holiday Is It Today?

Surely you've heard someone say, "You learn something new every day". 

What, exactly, does anyone learn on any given day?  It may be a bit of information or a new skill.  Or, perhaps, a new way of doing, expressing or simply looking at, something one has always known.  For better or worse, we might learn something about our selves or someone else.

Sometimes it seems that I learn every day is a holiday or feast day I've never heard  of before.  Maybe it has to do with my Catholic upbringing:  I don't think any religion has more feast days or saints' days.  It wouldn't surprise me to know that I never even knew about most of them!

Just for the heck of it,  I checked to see whether there's a
"Saint Justine Day".  Sure enough, the 7th of October is the day on which Santa Giustina di Padova is commemorated.  Like many other saints, Giustina was canonized for converting someone prominent  (Cyprian, the pagan magician of Antioch) and her martyrdom.  Hmm...I'm not sure I want to martyr myself for anything.  As for conversions...well, I converted myself:  I used to be a guy named Nicholas.  I know, that's not the kind of conversion the College of Cardinals has in mind. 

(By the way, St. Nicholas Day is tomorrow. Yes, it's the 6th, not the 25th, of this month!)

So, is there a holiday today?

Turns out, there is, in the cycling world--at least a part of it.  If you're not part of it, that's not the only reason you haven't heard of this holiday:  After all, Global Fat Bike Day was proclaimed for the first time only three years ago.

A "fatty" on a trail in Killington last year.

Now, while I don't envision myself becoming a Fat Bike rider (as distinguished from a fat bike rider) and thus won't celebrate, I am glad the holiday is being observed as it is.  You see, it hasn't been taken over by any commercial enterprise:  It's a grass-roots day, as Earth Day was in the beginning.  And, unless Fat Bikes become a major part of the bike market, that's probably how the holiday will remain.

Today is Saturday.  So, in two years, this holiday will fall on Tuesday. (Next year is a leap year.)  Will they call it "Fat Bike Tuesday" and ride up and down the streets of New Orleans?  Bon temps rouler, as they say in "The Big Easy".

 

Proof That The Dutch Don't Have Tunnel Vision

Some of us are fortunate enough to cycle to and from work. 

Of course, such an arrangement is not feasible for everyone.  So, some people ride their bikes to another mode of transportation, such as a train or bus, that takes them to their jobs.  It's been a while since I've been that type of commuter.  But my memories of it are not fond, in part because I wasn't crazy about the jobs I was working--but, more important, the companies and agencies that operated the bus and train lines I used didn't make it easy.

Back when I was a multi-mode commuter, the stations I used (on the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit) had no provisions for cyclists. You found a pole or parking meter to which you locked your bike:  pretty much the same ordeal you faced if you took a bus, as I did for a time when I was living in New Jersey.

Many train stations pose a further inconvenience to cyclists:  If the train line happens to follow a street you want to cross, you have to take a detour if the tracks and platforms are at or near street level.  

If someone had told me that, one day, my local station would be completely navigable by bicyle--yes, that you could pedal to the platforms or under them to go through the station--I would have wanted to inhale whatever that person was smoking.  Even today, I'd wonder whether someone making such a prediction had taken his or her medications beforehand.

Well, it turns out there is such a station.  The tracks and platforms are raised above the street level.  Underneath them, at street level, a tunnel for cyclists and pedestrians passes through--and provides access to the platforms.

That station is--where else?--in the Netherlands.



This testament to good planning is in the Den Haag HS railway station, in the Hague.  The tunnel runs between Waldorpstaat and Stationsplen/Parallelweg in the home of the UN's International Court of Justice.

I'd say the tunnel does plenty of justice to cyclists and pedestrians.