Saturday, November 27, 2010
Winter Wonderland
I just could not help myself. I took a 15 mile bike ride in a Vermont winter snow storm. Collected one bud caan that poked its rim out of the snow! So, it was worth it. Something to think about as Christmas and the new year approaches; God dwells with you and is you. With that being true, no matter how terrible the people are who cross your lifes path; they each have something devine to teach you.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
How we will all roll!
The Past
What the bicycle did, which nobody really foresaw, was the democratize transportation. In doing so it changed society itself. laborers could live in the country and work in the city. Women could escape the house to recreate, ruminate, or as Margaret LeLong did, cycle alone from Chicago to San Francisco. There were no laws about who could and couldn't ride, who could and could not own. The price of a bicycle, once a prohibitive $300, was rapidly falling. The steady advances in producing lighter pneumatic safety bicycles led to annual trade-ins, which in turn beget a brisk secondary market in which last years models could be had for half the cost of a new one.The bicycle was the future, and the future was about getting to a place you had never been. (excerpted from Major by Todd Baif)
The Present
Transportation is dominated by the car, bus, train, and airplane. Here in the developed world of the USA there are some people who can not afford these resources. Migrant workers, people living in shelters, workers with wadges below the poverty level, the layed off and those who have lost their job to an overseas economy. Guess what- they roll on a bicycle and participate in the leveling of transportation written about by Todd Baif. Same goes for the developing world where the bicycle is an ambulance, transportation for an HIV prevention worker, The Doctors only means to make a house call, the 'truck' that delivers goods to market, and the taxi in every city.
The Future
I am a reader of everything about 2012. The earth is either going to melt from inside out, the aliens who build the pyramids will return and reclaim the planet, or the worlds economic systems will fall apart and thrust us all into a rural developing world. Well guess what- the bicycle will once again be the future that takes you to places you have never been. (Hint: Have a stash of spare parts!)
What the bicycle did, which nobody really foresaw, was the democratize transportation. In doing so it changed society itself. laborers could live in the country and work in the city. Women could escape the house to recreate, ruminate, or as Margaret LeLong did, cycle alone from Chicago to San Francisco. There were no laws about who could and couldn't ride, who could and could not own. The price of a bicycle, once a prohibitive $300, was rapidly falling. The steady advances in producing lighter pneumatic safety bicycles led to annual trade-ins, which in turn beget a brisk secondary market in which last years models could be had for half the cost of a new one.The bicycle was the future, and the future was about getting to a place you had never been. (excerpted from Major by Todd Baif)
The Present
Transportation is dominated by the car, bus, train, and airplane. Here in the developed world of the USA there are some people who can not afford these resources. Migrant workers, people living in shelters, workers with wadges below the poverty level, the layed off and those who have lost their job to an overseas economy. Guess what- they roll on a bicycle and participate in the leveling of transportation written about by Todd Baif. Same goes for the developing world where the bicycle is an ambulance, transportation for an HIV prevention worker, The Doctors only means to make a house call, the 'truck' that delivers goods to market, and the taxi in every city.
The Future
I am a reader of everything about 2012. The earth is either going to melt from inside out, the aliens who build the pyramids will return and reclaim the planet, or the worlds economic systems will fall apart and thrust us all into a rural developing world. Well guess what- the bicycle will once again be the future that takes you to places you have never been. (Hint: Have a stash of spare parts!)
Monday, November 1, 2010
Moved
My business partner with Little City Cycles is found of saying that all he would need to live is a touring bike and trailer for extra gear.I am now in my first night of living in a 22 foot class c motorhome through the Vermont winter.(From a nice cape cod style suburban house). I have an converted my Bike Friday into an exercise bike on a trainer folded between the drivers and passengers seat. The Straida lives in its travel bag in the back of my car and the downtube is on my "deck" outfitted with studded tired for the winter. I have a used frame coming from EBay to build up over the winter for or spring recycled bicycle challenge. I sleep in the loft over the cab- one half me and one half boxes. A fold down ironing boards is screwed to the bathroom door. I have a TV that sits on a box of gun parts in what would be a visitors spot at the one table in the rig that when collapsed, becomes a second bed. The moral of the story; I have a long way to go before my possessions no longer posses me and I could be comfortable on a touring bike, four panniers, a handlebar bag and a trailer for extra gear. Hell- I've even got a bike repair stand stashed in the back of what should be a closet for hanging garments.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
