>Things That Can Be Carried On A Bike (#234)…and a quick story

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$72.57 of groceries, sundries, and other staples in two plastic crates from three separate stores.
The last of the three stores I went to was a national chain . I try not to shop at too many chain stores but actually like this one, not because of it’s convenience and prices (which are pretty good) but because they have a bike rack located directly outside the store (where the Mundo is parked in the above photo). This is the same store where, in the past, an armed guard–an off duty police officer wearing a firearm–stopped me as I exited and said the reason for stopping me was because, “I was leaving the store without my purchase in bags” (meaning, I suppose, it looked as if I were stealing). Anyhow, here’s a quick story at checkout.
Me: I don’t need plastic bags; you can just put the stuff back in the basket (the plastic basket that the store provides).
Cashier: But how will you get the stuff out to your  car?
Me: I’m not in a car; I’m on a bike, and I’ll just carry it in the basket, load my bike and bring the basket back in.
Cashier: You can’t do that.
Me: Why not; I do it all the time?
Cashier: Because the baskets are not allowed outside the store.
Me: But the shopping carts are allowed outside the store.
Cashier: (after looking at the guard at the door, getting a nod, and then rolling her eyes at me) OK.
As I left the store, walked 10 feet to the bike, loaded it, and returned the plastic basket to the store, the guard eyed me suspiciously. 
Then, after returning to my bike and as I bent to unlock it, a couple came out and there was a plastic bag attached to the guy’s foot. It was a windy fall evening, and as he kicked it free he grumbled, Damned bag! The bag flew off into the distance.
I in turn hopped on the Mundo and pedaled away with the wind to my back.
I am most definitely not a “bag fanatic” because I bring things home in them on occasion (and they are useful for cleaning up after my dogs). But, on the other hand, if I choose not to use bags I feel I should not be made to feel guilty as I leave the store. At the very least the store will save a couple pennies. 
To read more about people not using plastic bags click here, here, and here. 

The Golden Key

I’ve posted this image in the past and just came across it again…it resonated with me from the start so I thought I’d re-post it. It is an illustration by the very talented and prolific artist Nick Dewar. Though it’s been some months I’ve just learned of his passing. The complexity and matrix that I attempt to understand as this life baffles me. It makes my brain hurt at times. Why at such a young age? 37. To go to his site click here, to see a sampling of more of his artwork click here.

>The Golden Key

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I’ve posted this image in the past and just came across it again…it resonated with me from the start so I thought I’d re-post it. It is an illustration by the very talented and prolific artist Nick Dewar. Though it’s been some months I’ve just learned of his passing. The complexity and matrix that I attempt to understand as this life baffles me. It makes my brain hurt at times. Why at such a young age? 37. To go to his site click here, to see a sampling of more of his artwork click here.

Taco Bike

I have always been a proponent of bikes being far more useful than simply a vehicle from getting from point A to point B (though they are really good at that) and this is just another good example. A fellow reader of this blog sent me a link to this and it was just too cool not to post (thanks Max!). Like many cities, the one in which I live has a few street vendors and the latest is a taco truck…but there are no bicycle vendors that I am aware of…hmmm. At any rate, I think this is a pretty good idea…and the food looks good, too. To read more about the Taco bike click here, here, or here.

>Taco Bike

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I have always been a proponent of bikes being far more useful than simply a vehicle from getting from point A to point B (though they are really good at that) and this is just another good example. A fellow reader of this blog sent me a link to this and it was just too cool not to post (thanks Max!). Like many cities, the one in which I live has a few street vendors and the latest is a taco truck…but there are no bicycle vendors that I am aware of…hmmm. At any rate, I think this is a pretty good idea…and the food looks good, too. To read more about the Taco bike click here, here, or here.

Four Chords [sic] of Wood

This past weekend I had my annual shipment of firewood delivered. I usually go through about 3-4 face cords a season (with some left over for the beginning of the next season. I don’t heat entirely with wood; it’s just an auxiliary heat source. None-the-less, hauling four cords of wood to the rear of the house and stacking it is no easy task. When my son was young, and before I had experienced a back injury, I used to do this myself…much to my son’s dismay he had to get up early on a weekend to do hard labor. At any rate, when all was said and done–the wood hauled and stacked–I felt good, as I still do. And it gave me a sense of security…if the electricity goes out this winter I will have heat and candles for light. While it’s unseasonably warm out as I type these words (freakishly warm) the wind is blowing and I know what’s shortly to come. Thus it’s a good feeling having my small backyard full of seasoned firewood. Then I started to think what the true meaning of security is (to me). Many people measure this in many different ways (just as wealth can be measured in many ways) and I was going to put a couple thoughts and/or links here as to what my views on security were, but then I felt it to be a bit presumptuous (I’ll give you a hint, it has nothing to do with monetary wealth); this is something each of us considers for ourselves, I suppose. Lastly, I leave you with this fine song.

>Four Chords [sic] of Wood

>

This past weekend I had my annual shipment of firewood delivered. I usually go through about 3-4 face cords a season (with some left over for the beginning of the next season. I don’t heat entirely with wood; it’s just an auxiliary heat source. None-the-less, hauling four cords of wood to the rear of the house and stacking it is no easy task. When my son was young, and before I had experienced a back injury, I used to do this myself…much to my son’s dismay he had to get up early on a weekend to do hard labor. At any rate, when all was said and done–the wood hauled and stacked–I felt good, as I still do. And it gave me a sense of security…if the electricity goes out this winter I will have heat and candles for light. While it’s unseasonably warm out as I type these words (freakishly warm) the wind is blowing and I know what’s shortly to come. Thus it’s a good feeling having my small backyard full of seasoned firewood. Then I started to think what the true meaning of security is (to me). Many people measure this in many different ways (just as wealth can be measured in many ways) and I was going to put a couple thoughts and/or links here as to what my views on security were, but then I felt it to be a bit presumptuous (I’ll give you a hint, it has nothing to do with monetary wealth); this is something each of us considers for ourselves, I suppose. Lastly, I leave you with this fine song.

Age, Dignity, and Bicycling

I’ve used this photo in a post before but like it so much I thought I’d re-post it (It’s borrowed from Sustrans). 

I thought I’d re-post this photo because I was thinking recently–contemplating, really–about what the hell I’m doing. What I mean by this is why, at nearly 50, do I still prefer to walk or ride a bike than drive in a vehicle. Not always, but most of the time. Being a middle-aged guy on a bike in an American city is no easy task at times…I am fully aware that most riders are half my age. And by riders I mean people that use their bikes as transportation (and in all weather conditions) and not as a once-a-month jaunt in the park for recreation when the sun is shining. Even on this blog–whose readership I think is divided equally between those who come here for cooking and baking and those that are here for bike related posts–the bikers are much younger than myself. I guess what bothers me–and this is not the phrase that really articulates what I am trying to say but it’s the best I have at present–what bothers me is not that I am older than many (or most) riders I see…it’s that there are not more people “of a certain age” out there on bikes.

At what point, I wonder, do people abandon their bikes for cars? I know when I was growing up we all had bikes…now most my age it seems are in cars. If I had a dime for every time someone told me something like, “back when I was in high school (or college or whenever) I used my bike to get everywhere,” I’d be a rich man. I sometimes tell them that they can still do it, at least part of the time…but I usually don’t. Sometimes I really feel it’s just the stigma of an adult (in America) using a bike as their main mode of transport. That is the silliest thing I can think of because coasting on a bicycle with the wind on your face is way more fun, and often more dignified (I think) than sitting on a car-couch and pressing a gas pedal. I really and truly believe that if more people hopped back on that old 10-speed or mountain bike that they have collecting dust in their basement or garage they would remember what it was like…the joy and feeling of freedom it gave them.

Now here’s a quick story of what prompted me to write this little rant:

I was in a local bike shop today pricing studded snow tires (yes, they make them for bikes). The owner of the shop was helping another customer. He had just purchased a lock, and it was the type you could program to have a personalized numeric combination. He was having trouble with it and asked for assistance. What would you like the combination to be, the owner of the shop asked him? Why don’t you set it to the year I was born, he said, that was a good year…set the numbers to 1920.

After the guy left I asked the owner if he still rode a bike. Well, he said, he gave it up for a while because of balancing difficulties and his hips started bothering him so bad he had to use a walker. So he recently bought an adult trike and because of the exercise he no longer needs the walker.

Inspiring beyond words.

Sometimes when I ride bikes it makes feel like a kid and I wonder if I’m just being immature. But then I come to that slight incline in the road or the wind shifts to my back and I coast and I come to my senses. It’s taken me a long time to figure out I want to be “when I grow up” but I think I finally have. When I grow up I want to be an old man…an old man that still rides a bike.

>Age, Dignity, and Bicycling

>

I’ve used this photo in a post before but like it so much I thought I’d re-post it (It’s borrowed from Sustrans). 

I thought I’d re-post this photo because I was thinking recently–contemplating, really–about what the hell I’m doing. What I mean by this is why, at nearly 50, do I still prefer to walk or ride a bike than drive in a vehicle. Not always, but most of the time. Being a middle-aged guy on a bike in an American city is no easy task at times…I am fully aware that most riders are half my age. And by riders I mean people that use their bikes as transportation (and in all weather conditions) and not as a once-a-month jaunt in the park for recreation when the sun is shining. Even on this blog–whose readership I think is divided equally between those who come here for cooking and baking and those that are here for bike related posts–the bikers are much younger than myself. I guess what bothers me–and this is not the phrase that really articulates what I am trying to say but it’s the best I have at present–what bothers me is not that I am older than many (or most) riders I see…it’s that there are not more people “of a certain age” out there on bikes.

At what point, I wonder, do people abandon their bikes for cars? I know when I was growing up we all had bikes…now most my age it seems are in cars. If I had a dime for every time someone told me something like, “back when I was in high school (or college or whenever) I used my bike to get everywhere,” I’d be a rich man. I sometimes tell them that they can still do it, at least part of the time…but I usually don’t. Sometimes I really feel it’s just the stigma of an adult (in America) using a bike as their main mode of transport. That is the silliest thing I can think of because coasting on a bicycle with the wind on your face is way more fun, and often more dignified (I think) than sitting on a car-couch and pressing a gas pedal. I really and truly believe that if more people hopped back on that old 10-speed or mountain bike that they have collecting dust in their basement or garage they would remember what it was like…the joy and feeling of freedom it gave them.

Now here’s a quick story of what prompted me to write this little rant:

I was in a local bike shop today pricing studded snow tires (yes, they make them for bikes). The owner of the shop was helping another customer. He had just purchased a lock, and it was the type you could program to have a personalized numeric combination. He was having trouble with it and asked for assistance. What would you like the combination to be, the owner of the shop asked him? Why don’t you set it to the year I was born, he said, that was a good year…set the numbers to 1920.

After the guy left I asked the owner if he still rode a bike. Well, he said, he gave it up for a while because of balancing difficulties and his hips started bothering him so bad he had to use a walker. So he recently bought an adult trike and because of the exercise he no longer needs the walker.

Inspiring beyond words.

Sometimes when I ride bikes it makes feel like a kid and I wonder if I’m just being immature. But then I come to that slight incline in the road or the wind shifts to my back and I coast and I come to my senses. It’s taken me a long time to figure out I want to be “when I grow up” but I think I finally have. When I grow up I want to be an old man…an old man that still rides a bike.

Old Bike Advert

Image found here.

I came across this old advert a while back and decided to finally post it. What I like about it is that while it is a poster for CCM bicycles, produced at one time by our friendly neighbors to the north, the only American city where these bikes were made and (sold at one time) is the city in which I was born and raised (and still reside)…Buffalo. According to the author of this book and curator of this bike museum Buffalo has a distinct and influential past in the evolution of the bicycle. Maybe. I don’t know. It’s hard to see now. There was, though, an article in our daily paper recently discussing the rise (again) of bicyclists in our fair city (click here to read the story). It’s difficult to believe it with the amount of times I’ve been yelled at to “get off the road” by crazed drivers. At any rate, it would be nice if they (CCM) still produced bikes like this (below photo) here or just north of the border.

>Old Bike Advert

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Image found here.

I came across this old advert a while back and decided to finally post it. What I like about it is that while it is a poster for CCM bicycles, produced at one time by our friendly neighbors to the north, the only American city where these bikes were made and (sold at one time) is the city in which I was born and raised (and still reside)…Buffalo. According to the author of this book and curator of this bike museum Buffalo has a distinct and influential past in the evolution of the bicycle. Maybe. I don’t know. It’s hard to see now. There was, though, an article in our daily paper recently discussing the rise (again) of bicyclists in our fair city (click here to read the story). It’s difficult to believe it with the amount of times I’ve been yelled at to “get off the road” by crazed drivers. At any rate, it would be nice if they (CCM) still produced bikes like this (below photo) here or just north of the border.