Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Indignity of Commuting by Bicycle: The Wurst of Times

(...unless they hit you first.)

In the 1850s, before the pennyfarthing was a lopsided glint in James Starley's eye, Charles Dickens wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Then, in 1991, the group Black Sheep came along and rapped, "You can get with this, or you can get with that..." While Dickens and Black Sheep were separated by about 140 years (as well as by Dickens's glaring lack of DJ accompaniment), the message has not changed: we live in a world of extremes. At any given moment in history, the spectrum of human experience and endeavor ranges from the sublime to the repulsive, and from altruism to malice. Where we place ourselves on this spectrum depends equally on our choices and our circumstances--we can live lives of beauty or of misery, or we can avoid both and live in that mushy, tasteless, and odorless middle area known as "meh."

Our own moment of history is no exception, and it's certainly both the best of times and the worst of times for cyclists. I was recently traveling upon the Great Hipster Silk Route (the hipsters and Hassidim are now bartering with each other, and I was on my way to help negotiate a complex body jewelry/kasha varnishkes trade) when I noticed that a vast new lime green bike lane is underway on Kent Avenue, where until recently muffin top-related skirmishes were erupting with disturbing frequency:

Moreover, while Kent Avenue was formerly a two-way street for motor vehicles, it is now a one-way street. However, the bike lane is bi-directional, which I interpret as a preemptive strike against bike salmon. Also, if you're familiar with the area, you'll note that the bike lane is on the unpopulated side of the street, presumably to best shield the pious local residents from the constant procession of visible ass cracks and worn-v-neck-and-messenger-bag-strap-induced nipple-slips.

However, while this may herald a new era of peace and understanding, I fear for the future of the bike lane itself, since I'm sure it will soon be riddled with skid marks. Or will it? Perhaps the white tire trend is actually motivated by courteousness, and hipsters are simply palping them on their brakeless bikes in order to keep the new bike lanes looking clean and fresh. (They almost certainly learned this at their parents' country clubs, where they were not allowed to wear sneakers with black soles on the tennis court. I suspect they formed their eating habits there too--I recently witnessed a hipster asking for "balsamic" at a greasy spoon.) Still, it still doesn't explain their grips:

They look like a cross between Shrek's ears and the Cat in the Hat's hat.

But while more bike lanes can mean better urban cycling, so far it really only helps if you can afford to live in "Hipster Zone 1," which is where all the bike lane innovation is currently taking place. Basically, it's the best of times for hipsters, but the worst of times for everyone else:

And even in Hipster Zone 1, these improvements cause as much acrimony as they do celebration. Take this recent Craigslist post:


Every single one of you on the bike/foot path - 27 (Williamsburg Bridge)
Date: 2009-09-13, 6:29PM EDT

For those of you observing rules, common sense and courtesy, thank you.

The rest of you, however, can get fucked.

I can't be bothered to count, but there are dozens of painted stencils in each lane the length of the bridge outlining which way and in which lane pedestrians and cyclists are to travel. Please do not yell "fag" at me when I try to get around 11 of your teenage asses flanking the bridge. If you cannot see what is coming up behind you, perhaps walking on the other side will offer you a safer and more pleasurable bridge crossing.

If you and your friends are too tired to ride over the bridge, no problem. Walking side by side with your bikes takes up the majority of the road.. This is rude. Single file!

Every cyclist that makes a point to dart directly in front of me when passing, kissing my front wheel and looking back angrily, please next time just slow next to me and let me know you'd like to be punched in the face, so I don't have to catch up with you at the bottom to do it.

Bike "punxxx" who need to stop riding to have a beer and fifteen cigarettes and choose to do so in places that aren't the middle or bottom of the bridge are also on my list.


I'm as for courteous cycling as I am against homophobic epithets. That said, even I have to admit that it is every teenager's responsibility to goad and antagonize any responsible adult who admonishes them outside of a school or other bastion of authority. Expecting teenagers to follow pedestrian rules is like leaving a steak on the floor and expecting your dog not to eat it. That's what they do--it's simply the way of the world. Also, it's important to remember that sometimes passing is necessary, like when you encounter a rider with two fully loaded panniers:

You might even find yourself stuck behind someone towing a canoe, as I recently saw on my new favorite website, Xtracycle Gallery. (It's like Fixedgeargallery, except with twice the smugness and like ten times the hauling capacity.):


That said, there's a nice way to pass people and there's a rude way to pass people, and as for the aggressive wheel-choppers if they're adults they have no excuse--though it is possible they read this piece in the current issue of Bicycling magazine:

As both a writer with a monthly column in Bicycling and a bicycle commuter I must say I was troubled by this advice. There's enough ridiculous commuter behavior out there as it is in the form of shoaling, red light trackstanding, and general obliviousness. The last thing these people should be doing is adding traffic light sprints and mid-block "bursts" to their routines--which is to say nothing of doing one-legged drills. As amusing as it would be to see some guy on a hybrid sticking one khaki-clad leg and wingtip-shod foot out while pedaling frantically with the other, I don't want to be anywhere near him when he falls, nor do I want to be the one forced to fashion a tourniquet from his braided leather belt in order to stanch the bleeding of the pedestrian he's just flattened during another "midblock burst." I especially love the following bit of advice: "When the light turns green, blow off the line with intense energy." That's a great way to get killed by a driver who's mistimed a yellow light run. All that would be left would be your Nitto bars and your deerstalker hat:

Fortunately, though, not everybody wants to take part in rush-hour training or competition. For example, when it comes to being challenged, this rider simply says, "Frame me out:"

Actually, I'm not sure his "Frame me out" t-shirt means "Don't challenge me," or if he simply wants to be framed out of any photographs, in which case I'm sorry not to have obliged. Or maybe "Frame me out" is simply another way of saying, "Do not put anything in my flower box."

But while overly aggressive bicycle commuters can be irritating, slow-moving bicycles can sometimes be just as annoying. And there's no bicycle slower than one that's still in the box, like these which I encountered this morning as they were being unloaded from a truck in front of a bike shop and placed right in the middle of the bike lane:

If I were Danny MacAskill I might have relished the opportunity to bunnyhop the formidable Wall of Specialized, but since I'm not it just made me cranky. And no sooner had I circumvented this obstruction than I found myself inhaling the filthy two-stroke exhaust from this idiotic moped:

I've been seeing increasing numbers of mopeds on the streets of New York City. Judging from the Chrome bag and general mode of dress, I suspect this may represent the next evolutionary stage of hipster mobility. Sadly, it's not one that's fast or large enough to keep them out of our bike lanes and out of our way; instead, they're still there, only their bikes are just louder and smellier. I wonder if any of them go brakeless. Personally, I don't understand why people sacrifice both the efficiency of a bicycle and the power of a motorcycle by riding things like mopeds, much in the same way I don't understand why this man sacrifices both the minimalism of a flip-flop and the full coverage of a shoe with his stomach-turning choice of "mandal:"

Clearly, he wanted to get with this and with that, and clearly it's the worst of times for shoes.

117 comments:

Anonymous said...

cock

Anonymous said...

balls

ant1 said...

damn it, I got cockblocked.

Empty There said...

3!

Asterisk said...

top 10

Empty There said...

oh well 5

jon said...

Bike Armed.

Astroluc (Find me on Tumblr and Instagram @Astroluc) said...

wow fast pack today! luc9th?

rezado said...

KNCK WRST

grog said...

um, yes.

Anonymous said...

an even dozen...whoa

Disgruntl Ed. said...

Lucky 13?

hillbilly said...

Ant1!!!!!!

this is kinda phat! damn, black sheep and a story about jesse camp peeing off a roof on Gothamist, it's flashback day!

Daddo said...

so if the pee doesn't drain completely from the shower, it does grow bacteria rather rapidly, yes?

Anonymous said...

In Our Hometown I represented an early hipster--first woman teacher in the local Yeshiva. Rabbi told her after a few weeks, the boys were getting all hot and bothered by her piercings and the squeak of her nylons.

Ronsonic said...

Mid-Pack, It feels like being home

ant1 said...

Good job making fun of Bicycling Snob. The man (or woman, in the case of that magazine) hasn't yet managed to keep you in line.

Mad Jack McMad said...

Engine, engine number nine,
On the New York Transit Line,
If my train goes off the track,
Pick it up! Pick it up! Pick it up!

Anonymous said...

GOD HATES FAGGOTS!!!

hillbilly said...

took me a long time to figure out whether or not that kent ave bike lane was one way or two way for cyclists. and by "figure out" i mean it took me until yesterday when they painted arrows pointing each way.

Anonymous said...

best wurst

http://homepages.fh-giessen.de/~khfr63/Fun/wurstkoffer.jpg

Astroluc (Find me on Tumblr and Instagram @Astroluc) said...

2 things:

I have encountered a bicyle towing a canoe in the city of Somerville (just north of the Peoples Republic of Cantabrigia, one of Bicycling's "Most Bike Friendly Cities", I might add) and the gentleman piloting the leading bike seemed to be enjoying himself... I have to say though, If I had a canoe I might consider the trail-a-noe (Pronounced; Trail-ah-new)

second; unbuilt bicycles in boxes completely obstructing a bike lane (whilst a truck blocks the road, no less)... is this irony? or does it just suck?

Isolation Helmet said...

Why can't Bicycling Magazine understand that most bike riders ride for enjoyment. Don't take my commute and turn it into a workout. I just want to ride.

Anonymous said...

Beige is a color. Also taupe. Pass me my sweater. No, the other one.

grog said...

So-called flip-flops are the Huffy of footwear, perfectly suitable for standing in the shower where others urinate. Sandals are the correct hip-wear when relaxing or standing on the sidewalk.
A proper walk however should be undertaken in black-sole sneakers.

Anonymous said...

yep, that Mandal get-up is sad. But at least it isn't a Crock-a-dork.

I went to the Hawaiian islands once, and everybody was palping the same $4 disposable flip-flops ("flippers")and strumming (rocking) Ukes. Pot-bellied puppies in every yard, 47CC scooters everywhere. It wouldn't be so bad if this is where we are all headed.

Anonymous said...

Douchebag Will and The Milf. Only at Angry Bike Wrench.

GhostRider said...

That Bicycling Magazine article is a freakin' joke. I just read the article at lunch and then discovered BSNYC lampooning it online. For Chrissakes, it's a ride to work...not training miles for the next Giro. I know, I know...the "leitmotif" of the magazine is about going fast, but still -- get to work without turning into a heap of sweat and do your hardcore training shit on the way home!

Strayhorn said...

There's hope: The Washington Post says that messengers are becoming a dying breed. If the hipsters don't have anyone to emulate, perhaps they will go back to being faux rock stars.

Anonymous said...

stop it Angry Bike Wrench, er, I mean, anon 1:51

Unknown said...

Is the nonplussed trackstander in the photo running his bars 'bum style'?...definitely a shower-pisser.
Outta my way cocksucker! Can't you see I'm mid-block sprinting?

MINGUStheMECHANIC said...

Another pic of the lane in front of Habitat, a store in which the owner is a "pioneer" of ny cycling advocacy,thats some funny shit.

At least there is a passing lane on most highways,but its always the slowtards obliviously blocking, same as the bike lanes.

Anonymous said...

damn i'm slipping.

sufferist said...

There was no sausage reference...I'm a little disappointed...

The thought of towing my kayak with my bike has crossed my mind.

I'm thinking that a whole new brand of triathlon could be created. Swim to your bike/kayak , ride your bike/kayak ( preferably a loop that would take you back to where you ended the swim), dismount and paddle back across the lake.

Distances would vary depending on fitness level and sponsorship.

All you runners, with your working knees can just suck it....

ant1 said...

sufferists - how about you paddle a canoe with a bike in it to the other side of a lake, you take the bike out of the canoe, hook up a trailer and tow the canoe for a while, then portage the canoe while carrying the bike cyclocross style?

ant1 said...

sorry, i meant sufferist, not sufferists. the tuesday tequila is making me see double.

kale said...

Oh baby, I'll stuff her panniers any day. Especially when her pannierway matches her helmetway. I would assume that this means her carpetway matches the draperyway...

Anyway, Hipster Zone 1 is funny since it includes a substantial leg of the Big Skanky. Is there a regatta of post-ironic canoes that I'm not privy to? Let me know so I can get into the Newtown Creek Yacht Club before it's membership closes.

wishiwasmerckx said...

Here we go again with the recipies for the goyim. Kasha varnishkes is a dish made from bulgar wheat and bowtie pasta, and is garnished with shrimp, mussels, clams and oysters.

kale said...

sufferist-

FYI

Udder said...

One way you could avoid unsightly skid marks on bike paths is to make them out of rubber and, in turn, make tires out of concrete.

This is also a "green" approach, as millions of tires would stop going to landfills.

I'm sure the city could get stimulus money from Brother Obama for this sort of innovative, environmentally-friendly project.

Plus, he could milk the cement unions for contributions to his next campaign. He's going to need it.

ant1 said...

kale - she's just playing the evolutionary card. red paniers are the baboon ass of the cycling world. resistance is futile.

BSYC said...

unsightly skid marks make me want to pee in the shower

sufferist said...

Kale: thanks, I kinda expected that someone had done something similar before. My event would/could not include a running portion, unless I wanted to take a team approach. My hinges are on the fringes....

mikeweb said...

Without getting too 'Clay Davis' here: Shhheeeeet, "From a moderate cruising pace, stand and sprint, reaching your top speed. Your sprints should last between 12 and 20 seconds?" When crankin' it, I cover short blocks in Manhattan in 9-10 seconds each.

Dolphin Hater said...

Thank you thank you thank you for everything you've written. Spot on. And right about the mopeds. Get a motorcycle or ride a bicycle. Worst of both worlds.

sufferist said...

Ant1: currently I only have a kayak, which would obviate my participation. Maybe if the bike were tied to a rope and dragged across the lake via kayak, then fished out and ridden when the kayak portion is over....hmmm..does a crabon fibre rig float? More research to do...If you hear about someone knocking cyclists off of bikes near a local waterway and flinging them into the drink, that's me field testing a couple ideas. Do not be alarmed....

Anonymous said...

Although I'm usually a Cadel Evans fan, this summer I too have been disenchanted by his attitude. Of course, I'd probably be pissed too if I had his luck.

Anyways, I wonder if you could discuss whatever it is that makes Cadel tuck his right shoulder up against his head, like in this photo:

http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2009/07/20/1225752/374354-cadel-evans.jpg

and in this one:

http://images.theage.com.au/ftage/ffximage/cadel_evans_wideweb__470x317,2.jpg

and here:

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/images/uploadedfiles/editorial/pictures/2009/07/22/Cadel_Evans_%28350_x_519%29.jpg

Anonymous said...

"procession of visible ass cracks and worn-v-neck-and-messenger-bag-strap-induced nipple-slips."


Keep em comming.

sherpa said...

BSNYC - I think you have a fan in the creator of Yehuda Moon -
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2009-09-11

MINGUStheMECHANIC said...

king bloomberg wants to ban cigarettes from parks and beaches.

I would vote for him if he banned people who smoke while texting on their bikes and add idiots who ride no handed with there arms folded too.

Its going to be a lot harder to hide my wednesday walking weed with no smokers giving me cover.

ant1 said...

sufferist - you may be about to revolutionize bike reviews. laterally stiff, vertically compliant, and hydrodynamically efficient.

kale said...

All these protected bike lanes will limit the fun of riding a bike, like this morning when I was riding beside a cellphone wielding minivanette for a few moments when she finally looked left and saw me and said "holy fucking shit!" and swerved right. Priceless.

Anonymous said...

Everyone knows this is a cranky species. And most people can see that the particular strain of critter found in America is especially prone to graceless oubursts, being, as we are, a collection of all the strange and restless castoffs and rolling stones who proved such an ill fit back home. George Carlin - Brain Droppings

libertyonbikes! said...

like Fixedgeargallery, except with twice the smugness and like ten times the hauling capacity.):

NICE!
maybe there will be an xtracycle protest,

a day without hauling

if you get pelted by bungee cords during your commute tomorrow, you know who's behind it...

sufferist said...

Anon 2:35-

Possible reasons:

1.)It could be he has a shorter muscle in his neck on that one side

2.)One terrible cyclocross portage

3.)He's right-side douchy

4.)He's unsure of himself and this is how it manifests in his personal somatic "meh"

5.) The gravity of being Cadel is finally catching up with that side of his body?


Don't know....

Anonymous said...

That bike lane had more skidmarks than CommieCanuck's underwear.

leroy said...

Imagine my embarrassment.

I'm in the zone and still can't assume the Half Lotus position while track standing.

Oh the shame.

Unknown said...

this means her carpetway matches the draperyway...

Ever since I was a young boy "studying" photography, I've noticed that the carpetway breed is dying along with the messenger breed.

LowBalls said...

Does the Big Skanky Yacht Club provide xtracycle parking?

Anonymous said...

udder,

yep, and you could grind up all the old tires to make the bikeways...them we could just run around on our bare MA40s and never get flats. Exploding wheels aside, this could work. the downside being said rubber strips would soon be clogged with knee-conscious runner-salmon.

bikesgonewild said...

...straight off the top non sequitur...

...RIP, jim carroll...the respected poet, author, underground rocker & a man who tied nyc & sf creative cultures together w/ both his musings & the jim carroll band passed away last friday in manhattan...

...patty smith helped encourage carroll's participation in the rock genre & the man was influential in his time...& while the very creative jimmy carroll collaborated w/ a lotta well known entities in the rock world, the bottom line is this...he & his band rocked hard...

...what more could be asked ???...

...sad to see ya go, james dennis carroll...

RANTWICK said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
southpole said...

keep an eye on those mopeds.

on a recent expedition to LA, where i was originally planning to study flocks of fixed gear riders, i witnessed a large pack of moped riders outside the tar pits, all dressed like stereotypical hipsters. perhaps they were trying to accumulate critical mass.

meanwhile back home in germany we cracked down on mopeds in the 70s already. but someone should do something against folding bikes, there's an epidemic.

Judi said...

RIP Jim Carroll.....

Anonymous said...

I wonder if he's singing "People Who Died" in the afterlife right now and adding a line to include himself. Maybe realizing that we never really die and scrapping the whole concept of the song...

Seanywonton said...

I miss Jolene and Red Neckerson.

Unknown said...

The hipster moped movement is coming to new york to annoy the shit out of us.

Having just returned from chicago... I saw that in the wicker park are kids cruise around on their curated mopeds. Tight pants and limited addition hats flow like wine.

Just wait and soon enough we'll be choking on moped fumes on the sand street bike lane.

RANTWICK said...

I don't need great green stripes in the hipster zone. Wait, my City doesn't have a hipster zone, really. Anyway, I don't need great green lines. I'll be happy to hang with the rest of the losers, just give me smooth pavement.

I reposted this because the one with the link in it made me feel like a dirty blog traffic cheater boy, so I deleted it.

mikeweb said...

Rantwick,

Those roads look pretty smooth by NYC standards. But that banana peel would throw me for a loop. We have a lot of steel plates here that cover trenches and bomb craters which are really smooth. But a little too smooth when it rains...

Astroluc (Find me on Tumblr and Instagram @Astroluc) said...

hah! rantwick... I already followed that link and posted a reply ;)

RANTWICK said...

Yeah, Astroluc, I saw... thanks for visiting my short-lived link!

Astroluc (Find me on Tumblr and Instagram @Astroluc) said...

mikeweb,

giant steel construction plates, freshly (over)painted lines, and good ol' fashioned brake fade... a rainy day 1-2-3 punch to the (urban)bike commuter.

RANTWICK said...

Mikeweb - smooth steel plates... so slippery, so noisy, so NYC!

hillbilly said...

Followed it already too, rantwick, and enjoyed it! mmm, steel plates....hate em. but not as much as I hated the milling/repaving around the already shitty atlantic/flatbush this AM.....

mikeweb said...

hillbilly, I hate the milling and repaving too. At least it results in a nice smooth ride after a week or 2. That is until they come back and cut a trench into the street a week or 2 after that to lay some gas or water lines.

Union St. in Brooklyn all the way from the water to PP is in dire need of milling and paving. I swear, all of the craters on that street are on the bike lane side too...

Anonymous said...

NIPL SLIP

Anonymous said...

Xtracycle, meh

www.fullyloadedtouring.com

Four stuff'd panniers of smugness going up a mountain.

Anonymous said...

i love the milling/repaving. they've been doing it in CP annually (it seems that way, anyhow) ... blowing through those sectors is always a blast. your own personal cental park-roubaix (not the video game, mind you)

bg dubs, appreciate the post on JC - i hadn't seen that. requiescat in pace.

red neckerson said...

jolene misses me to

she been shooting at me with her daddys hunting rifle but her aim aint worth shit

if i was a babe and found my man hosing my little sister i dont think id get that bent out of shape

bitch cant take no joke if you ast me

sufferist said...

view the fully loaded recumbent in all it's glory:

behold it's beauty

sufferist said...

At what point does a trailer make more sense?

mikeweb said...

sufferist, and it's fully suspended to boot! I'd be afraid to ride that for fear that the comfortably prone position would cause me to doze off and coast into traffic. Setting it up as a fixed gear should prevent that.

Toxteth said...

BSNYC (or anyone who may know) - Aren't the green painted bike zones completely slippery? I avoid paint lines and crosswalk stripes where I can when conditions are wet - I can't imagine being forced to ride in a giant wet paint line like that?...

sufferist said...

MikeWeb: Personally, I'd be worried about the multiplicity of dangling straps conspiring to foul my wheel.

There are some beautiful expressions of creativity and madness out on that site. There is a fully loaded recumbent with a trailer, high riser bars, flags, it just gets better and better.

Anonymous said...

Well, that was a waste of time

Asterisk said...

WishIwasMerckx @ 2:22,
When it is good kasha varnishkes, it is technically called kasha vanishes.

*

southpole said...

those touring bikes may be fully loaded, and have even more than one nice rack on them. but their design is not epic, unlike these: http://www.epicdesignsalaska.com/

Asterisk said...

BSNYC,
Can you explain why the motorized bike you discussed on NPR is OK? Today you wrote that the moped was a poor compromise of efficiency and power. Was it because the dude built it himself?

Thanks,
*

jolene said...

it was funny one time back in time reds and ricky and me and john and rickys dads retrever was at tried to paint bike lanes here in viper but the graval kept movin around

it was funny i tel you becus the i wanted it to work but the rodes aint shit wheres obamer socalism

Anonymous said...

been towin to row since 2003

John Bantam said...

Brilliant!

nicolas said...

bikesnob the immage of the scruffy bearded old man you use with the words approve written under it as in image that can be seen here:

http://images.google.be/images?hl=nl&um=1&sa=1&q=bikesnob+approve&aq=f&oq=&start=0

is that flemish artist Thierry de cordier ?

seen here:

http://www.klara.be/cm/klara/2.262/1.32049-thierry-de-cordier

Jaminben said...

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/mis/1375927956.html

Anonymous said...

Astroluc,

The Somerville canoe is less of a canoe-on-trailer than a canoe-based child-carrier.

I haven't seen Joel take that to the Mystic River and get it on the water although I may be ignorant.
Maybe the canoe is river-worthy.

Any news on Lynn's film?

Personally, I want a canoe trailer, just to go the short distance to the mighty Chuck because portaging even a 1/4-mile through Watertown would suck.

Triple-X punks?
Isn't that Suicide Girls or punkxxxDOTcom?

Anonymous said...

There is only one form of footwear suitable for Americns. The white sneakers. Ask the Lone Wolf.

Anonymous said...

for once NYC is behind on the hipster trends, hipsters have been riding mopeds around SF for at least two years. apparently chicago also,
see hollywood holt's "throw a kit"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_kIUSr7-is

Paul Bowen said...

Mandal? Surely the sandal is worn by all genderways?

mikeweb said...

Now I know what a Pogie is.

Velocodger said...

Is it just me who calls them repugnants? Just the thought of seeing the world obscured by my knees makes me queasy..Apologies to all you hemorrhoid suffers who ride them for medical reasons.

Mike said...

Mopeds were last year!

Nexus said...

You can have beauty and misery together.... she was my ex-wife.

Personally, I love messenger bag cleavage. In 20 years there will be thousands of hipster gals needing a tuck on one side only.

And Anon at 7;52. You are right. but they must be worn with high waisted, slightly faded, blue jeans ala Seinfeld.

leroy said...

I always say thanks when someone moves to the right so I can pass.

Maybe that's why Cadel has been so peevish lately. No one's told him thanks when passing him.

But I draw the line at hipster doofuses on mopeds on the Manhattan Bridge bike lane.

Nothing personal, it's just that it's tough to speak with a lung full of two-stroke exhaust.

Anonymous said...

i like the smell of two stroke. much better than the sanitized stench that comes out of a hot cataclitic converter. is not right that you dont have to put oil in modern cars. some of them dont even have a sump plug anymore.

Anonymous said...

I think Bicycling magaines push for folk to ride with randomness (at least it would appear to be so from anyone outside the brain of the rider) is a good idea. the more unpredictable people on the road the better. This will make the car driver more wary (erratic), and will give proper city riders, like myself, new challenges. I feel that the tracings of the riders at the top of the page are very impoersonal. Its like the "artist" brief was to remove the soul from a person on a bike.

bernie said...

Hey all, not sure if this was already brought up by someone else before...

From CBC's show "The Current":03/09/09: Bike Courier Rage

"For today's podcast we took a look inside the very tightly knit subculture of bike couriers"

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/current_20090903_19802.mp3

It was after a courier was killed after a driver-rider escalation in Toronto...

*not sure what they mean by "tightly knit subculture"...

Anonymous said...

Its bad enough if you live outside of the zone, but if you live in Queens (and not east of Flushing or Jamaica) there is only 1 east-west bike lane. This is shameful compared to even the 'looser'zone of Brooklyn, who's populations are roughly equal.

mikeweb said...

Tourin' P-far style.

Hell yeah!

Anonymous said...

I have always eye bike lanes with severe caution. They provide a false sence of security.
You're probably better of in queens only having one.

Anonymous said...

Hipster moped gangs have recently been featured in Wired, where all the leet kidz hngz

http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2009/08/moped/

omowo said...

Daddo said...
so if the pee doesn't drain completely from the shower, it does grow bacteria rather rapidly, yes?


The shower should be on at the time ...

... just saying.

Me said...

i have to stop reading this at work

bikesgonewild said...

...the snob's timing on these posts is going from bad to wurst...

...just sayin'...

Anonymous said...

WTF!!!! No link for nipple slips??????

Anonymous said...

Yes Black Sheep!!!!!!

Nexus said...

Surely there must be a FLICKR group for Hipster Nipple Slips ?!

Dan said...

Hey Snob bring back the full RSS feeds, this partial post stuff is annoying - i know you need the ad revenue but who reads em really...

Anonymous said...

On the subject of shoes and bad moves that fashionistas make you should check out: http://upperclasstwitblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/if-these-were-last-shoes-on-earth-i.html