Money money money makes the world go round.

Further to yesterday's post in which I apologized to Bicycle NSW, I've experienced a bit of a backlash from the New South Welsh (?) cycling community, by which I mean two (2) people left comments like this:

I will confirm that Anonymous is pretty much right in his comment above about Bicycle NSW. I also think Snob should retract his apology.

Okay, then, I love retracting apologies!  Consider it done:



That felt good.

Apologizing sure feels good, but taking it back feels even better.

Meanwhile, the big news in Portland is that child labor aggregator Nike may announce sponsorship of the city's bike share program:

PBOT is referring to this as a “major agreement” so it’s very likely it’ll be sponsorship of the bike share system. And from what we know about how these marketing partnerships work, the first announcement is the most valuable in terms of PR and brand exposure value. That makes it a solid bet that Nike will be the title sponsor. As we’ve previously reported, PBOT needs anywhere from $2 to $8 million in private sponsorship to create the system they envision.

This would be good news for Portland, and $2 to $8 million is nothing for Nike, considering their revenues are up and they took in $7.7 billion during their most recent fiscal quarter:

Imagine how much better off humanity would be if, instead of investing in duplicitous athletes, bullshit sports, and the dope-addled Olympics, Nike instead really inspired people to be fit and active by sponsoring more bike share programs.  I mean sure, they have inspired people to "Just do it" over the years:

Unfortunately for most people "Just do it" means "Sit on your fat ass watching football."

Still, a Nike-sponsored bike share program is the most exciting thing to hit cycling since the Chalkbot:


Nike Chalkbot. from Gorlochs on Vimeo.

Then you've got our bike share sponsor, Citi Bike, who make Nike look like the artisanal olive tapenade shop on the corner:

They paid $41 million to be the main sponsor for six years, which sounds like a lot, until you consider it's a fraction of what they paid in fines last year for their usurious credit card practices:

Oof, that's gotta hurt their bottom line.

Just kidding!

Tuesday's settlement is about 1 percent of the bank's estimated revenue for 2015, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine.

But make a late payment and they'll take it out of your ass.

Still, I don't mean to look a gift horse in the mouth, even if that mouth eats money and gives you a big steaming pile of manure in return.  Bike share is a good thing and any sponsorship helps.  Unfortunately, people still like to complain that many bike share users don't wear helmets, but guess what?  They may very well be safer without them:

People in a bicycle helmet took more risks in a laboratory gambling task https://t.co/k6LZsHqTH0 New research by me and Tim Gamble *ducks*

— Ian Walker (@ianwalker) January 7, 2016

From the abstract:

In a controlled study in which a helmet, compared with a baseball cap, was used as the head mount for an eye tracker, participants scored significantly higher on laboratory measures of both risk taking and sensation seeking. This happened despite there being no risk for the helmet to ameliorate and despite it being introduced purely as an eye tracker. The results suggest that unconscious activation of safety-related concepts primes globally increased risk propensity.

So in lay terms, helmets make you stupid.

Then again, from what I've observed, wearing baseball hats also makes you stupid, and at least 200% more likely to be driving a 15 year-old Honda Civic with a farty exhaust pipe.

I'd love to see another study in which they test the behavior of people wearing ratty Brooklyn cycling caps.

And speaking of money and corporate interests, while corporations make tentative investments in bike share programs, the auto companies are selling unprecedented shitloads of trucks and SUVs:

Six years after plunging sales during the recession forced automakers into bankruptcies and painful restructuring, the industry has roared back to achieve new heights.

Automakers said on Tuesday that strong demand for pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles in December had helped the industry set an annual record of 17.5 million vehicles sold in the United States in 2015.

Holy shit.  17.5 million motor vehicles sold in the United States in a single year, many of which are being driven by people wearing baseball hats.

Translation: it's a great time to lease that Hyundai you've had your eyes on!

(Make that 17,499,999 vehicles, because I still don't own one!)

Once all those cars can drive themselves the takeover will be complete.