A quesiton of perspective.

So I was at a get together with some peeps tonight. Someone is getting married and this necessitates a large gathering of people from out of state. One of those people is a gentleman from NYC, who used to live in Bozeman, and worked at a shop with my boys. This cat came out last summer and spent the week riding around on a fixie DNA slapped togther for him. This time around our visitor had in tow a young lady he is courting. Towards the end of the night his girlfriend was getting tired and giving him hints to call it a night. It occurred to me that obviously this time he wasn't staying with DNA and I asked him were they were staying. He replies (I promise this is actually going somewhere, just bear with me) with the name of a local motel, and I then query if they rented a car in Bozeman. To which his girlfriend replies with a 'yes' that implied that the answer was so obvious that there was no need to have asked the question in the first place.

The great part about the group of people I hang around with is that everyone in the room immediately started offering to loan this couple the use of bikes (since we all have several) in order that they could get around without being encumbered with a car. We even got into a complicated discussion about what would be the best way to get bikes to these two. It was so spontaneous that I didn't even think it was odd, until I noticed the bewildered look on our buddy's Girl's face. It snapped me back to reality and I realized that to most people this would seem completely absurd. It does, however serve as a fantastic and ironic view at the paradigm of my friends verses what you might consider 'normal' people. To us we were lending a hand to someone in need. But to this poor tired girl, who just wanted to get to her motel and relax, we were presenting her with an onerous burden.

Maybe this is a 'had to be there' story, but I chuckled most of the way home, interrupted only by calling a guy driving a red pickup a word that I won't repeat here.

In local sports news

There was an interesting article in the Chronicle today

My favorite part is the quote from the bartender. "I think that they have these all over town,” one of the bartenders said. “I don’t think anyone can beat them. I don’t know their names, but they like Olympia-brand beer.”

That's right. We are Nameless. We are Unbeatable. And we like beer.

Word.

REALLY?!?!

SO...tonight DNA and Capt. E and I were hanging out with the regional Trek rep. Now, this is unassailabley cool for a bike nerd like me, and regardless of the fact that I am smart enough to be aware that this guy isn't exactly telling the guys at Waterloo what to do, I still find a certain mystique in hanging with a rep. But, I have to say that something that came up during the conversation gave me pause. Whilst discussing Schwalbe Tires, which you should be familiar with if you've ridden a bike for more than ten minutes, the topic of winter bicycle commuting came up. Now, I can't remember which of us mentioned 20 below rides to work, but the Trek Rep's reply was "you guys only do that to say that you did"...

Wow! If the $#%&ing Trek Rep doesn't get that commuting by bicycle in 20 below weather is actually more pleasant that commuting by bike in 90 degree weather, then I've been wasting my time, because even the choir doesn't get it.

SIGH

In the interest of full disclosure, the guy seemed super cool and did buy us a few drinks, I'm just disillusioned that even a 'bike guy' with a dream 'bike job' doesn't seem to get it. Really?? The guy that works for Trek doesn't get it? We either have a long way to go (best case scenario) or, I'm wasting my time...hmm...

Fixies = BETTER

I found a really interesting link on fixed gear gallery. Maybe some of you have seen this...perhaps all of you have seen this, I would gather that most of the readers of this site also check FGG. Ether way, this is an artical discussing the physics of riding fixed. Now, I don't know all that much about classical phisics, I'm more of a quantum guy. But, I do know that John and I were on a ride today, both of us on a fixie, and about midway through we were passed by a dude on a pretty standard road bike while making a sustained push into a headwind. I was in the lead at this point, so I tucked in behind our 'benefactor'. After a mile, I slacked off a bit, but we still hung within twenty feet of the freewheeler. Coming back into Bozeman from the East on Frontage, there's a pretty good climb up what turns into Main Street. It was here that DNA and I blew past the guy on his high end carbon road bike using good old fashioned American muscle (just not the kind you find in a '69 Chevelle) and even though I was dying on the downhill, we never saw the guy again.

So when you reach into the quiver, remember, not only do you look like a badass on that fixie, but you have a ninjalike advantage as well.

C-Note

This is our latest endeavor.

Exactly

Nearby, Dolly Sarlo fills up her black Mercedes. She says it's time for Americans to "vote with your dollars and to stop using gas" and use public transportation more.

"That would really, very quickly bring down the price," she says.

She then drives off.

It's always my problem, that someone else should fix isn't it? We've become so lazy that we will now mindlessly pay 100 dollars to continue filling the gastanks of the cars that we have become slaves to. And it's not like the demand for oil is going to run out. Trust me, there's a better way to get around.


And then of course there is this. Seriously, go ride your bike. And take your kids with you.

Not that we need it

Sadly there is yet another reason to ride a bike instead of driving a car. Regardless of how 'green' you make operating a motor vehicle, it is still an incredibly inefficient use of energy. The sad irony is that Americans reap the benefits and the poorest people bear the brunt of the suffering. Would it kill you to ride a bike to work one day a week? How about two? If you do it enough you'll stop even wanting to drive, I promise.