BSNYC Friday Fun Quiz!

Earlier in the week I was talking about smug, meaningless infographics.  Along similar lines, some guy has now determined that if everybody who commuted into Manhattan drove a car, the island would need 48 new bridges or something:

Taylor calculated exactly how many bridges and tunnels would be needed for all these vehicles to enter Manhattan within a 4-hour period in the morning and a 4-hour period in the evening. In addition to Manhattan’s current 20 bridges and tunnels, he estimates it would require 48 new 8-lane crossings, which are drawn arbitrarily in the image above. For parking, Taylor estimates just the commuters would need the equivalent of a layer of underground parking under the entire island.

Good for you, Taylor.  So what the fuck is your point?  If everyone flew into Manhattan we'd need a giant runway.  If everyone ice skated into Manhattan we'd need more Zambonis.  If everybody paddled a goddamn gondola we'd need more canals:

By the way, Captain Brainiac drew 48 new bridges, and even with all that new construction not one of them leads to Staten Island.

I don't know if that makes him a bonehead or a genius.

In other news, cycling these days is all about hyper-specificity: the gravel bike, the fat bike, the aero road bike, and so forth.  In keeping with the zeitgeist, Rapha have now come out with a $350 cyclocross-specific shoe, and even the bike magazine reviewers think it's stupid:

Here's what they did:

Rapha took a mountain bike shoe, the Code, changed the upper, added $150 to the price, and now calls it a cyclocross shoe.

But the increased cost isn't arbitrary, and for that $150 you get a shoe that is laterally less durable and vertically less versatile than the cheaper mountain bike shoe on which it is based:

The price tag on the Cross Shoe is startling, to say the least, particularly given this shoe’s narrow range of use — they’re not durable enough for mountain biking, too warm to ride in the summer, and not warm enough to ride mid-winter.

Which basically comes down to this:

But the brand came up a little short on this one. The shoe, which is based on an already obsolete model from Giro, is not worthy of its $350 price tag.

In other words, Rapha obviously have a hit on their hands, because the new generation of cyclocross weenies are going to go nuts for these things.  After all, these are the same people who are buying Dugast tubulars at $125 a tire so they can ride on grass for 45 minutes.  And let's not forget those "killer value" $5,000 cyclocross bikes:

At $5,000, the RXC Pro Disc is a killer value for a carbon race bike...

It wasn't all that long ago that a "killer value" in a cyclocross bike meant buying a Surly Crosscheck or something, but apparently those days are over.

The revolution may not be televised, but the cyclocross has most certainly been Fredified.

And now, I'm pleased to present you with a quiz.  As always, study the item, think, and click on your answer.  If you're right you're not wrong, and if you're wrong you're not right--and also you'll see an appeal to those godless hipsters.

Thanks very much for reading, ride safe, and if you're buying gifts this weekend make sure to wear your shopping helment.


--Wildcat Rock Machine

1) Defending Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali confirms Astana is on drugs and so is everyone else.

--True
--False

2) How much for a gold-plated entry-level Giant?

--$250,000
--£250,000
--€250,000
--₫250,000

(The other kind.  This kind wears cold cuts.)

3) Fill in the blank:  "Heroes Wear ________"

--Helmets
--Boots
--Helments
--Posthumous Decorations

(Typical bike messenger.)

4) Amazon has been subjecting bicycle messengers to:

--Geography tests
--Drug tests
--Time trials
--Bathing

5) It's enough with the fucking fat bikes already.

--True
--False

("Hello...is it me you're looking for?")

6) Whose buttock is Peter Sagan kneading?

--Alberto Contador's
--Ivan Basso's
--Oleg Tinkoff's
--He does not know, as the point of this team-building exercise is to figure it out solely by touch

(Just thinking about them makes him angry.)

7) Jerry Seinfeld thinks one-speed bikes are stupid.

--True
--False

***Special Triathlete-Themed Bonus Video***