In the middle of the journey of my life, I am--as always--a woman on a bike. Although I do not know where this road will lead, the way is not lost, for I have arrived here. And I am on my bicycle, again.
Contrary to what many believe, it wasn't Gloria Steinem who said, "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." She herself admitted as much, and credited Irina Dunn, an Australian educator, journalist and politician with coining the phrase--which, as Ms. Dunn admits, was a "smart-arse" take on "Man needs God like a fish needs a bicycle." Anyway, those fish will never know what they're missing. But, apparently, someone decided that his or her (or someone else's) bicycle needed a fish:
There are all sorts of things you can do on a bicycle, and I encourage most of them. Not included on that list is burglary. Now, I don't recommend stealing in any circumstance, but if you must go to other people's homes and businesses and take their stuff, I don't recommend that you do it on a bicycle. For one thing, it makes the rest of us in the cycling community look bad. For another, in most places--at least in the US--you would be easy to identify and track down. Bicycles are not, as yet, the preferred "getaway" vehicle for criminals. So you would stand out as much as if you were as tall as an NBA player or wide as an NFL player. And, even if you have a mountain or "fat" bike with studded tires, don't ride your bike in the snow to rob people's homes, stores, offices or warehouses. Actually, I would say not to do your dirty deeds on a snowy day especially if you have a bike suited to the weather, as that would be--and make you--easier to identify.
I would have given all of the advice I've just listed to a 52-year-old Detroit-area man. Whether he would have listened is another matter. Since December, he's ridden his bike to and from a dozen burglaries in Motor City-area stores and gas stations. He always struck very early in the morning, before those businesses opened for the day, and took cash, candy and cigarettes. His image was captured on surveillance videos. But the police finally caught him after following tire tracks in the snow to a house--where, as it turned out, he'd stashed some of his booty, and himself.
He performed in front of the Bataclan in Paris just after terrorists attacked it in 2015: And he's played in all sorts of "trouble spots", including war zones, all over the world. Wherever he's gone, Davide Martello, a.k.a. Klavierkunst, has played the baby grand piano he's brought with him. Aside from his playing, what's interesting about him is the way he's transported his instrument--behind a bicycle.
That worked very well for him, even on some rugged terrain. But neither his bike nor his piano made could navigate one American city's geography. Ironically, he was on his way to San Francisco's Hyde Street Pier, a more peaceful spot than others in which he's played. He was "in a hurry" to get there and find a parking spot, he said, when he started riding down Bay Street between Columbus and Leavenworth.
What he didn't realize, until it was too late, is that particular stretch of Bay Street has a 17.4 percent gradient. While Martello, his piano and his bike have survived all sorts of attacks and indignities, his brakes were no match for the descent.
He doesn't yet know whether the piano is salvageable. At least he didn't get hurt: He jumped off the bike before it crashed.
