BSNYC星期五乐趣测验!

(Spotted by a reader in Salt Lake City)

Over the past few days or weeks or whatever it's been (my sense of time and space has become distorted ever since I rode over the Williamsburg Bridge yesterday) a number of readers have complained that my so-called "RSS feed" was displaying only the first paragraph of my posts instead of the "whole enchilada burrito." Well, this was not happening because I have some sort of malicious desire to inconvenience readers who choose to read via readers; instead, it was happening because I'm stupid and was having problems with my "feed," the solutions to which lay outside the feeble glow of my understanding. Consequently, I treated the problem like I treat all my problems: after spending four or five seconds on it and failing to solve it, I decided to ignore it in the hope it would go away.

Fortunately, one of the complainers also took the time to figure out my problem for me and tell me how to change it, and that whiny yet helpful person is "Bike Lemming." This is not the first thing Bike Lemming has done for me, either. Awhile back he also took the time to "curate" a couple of CDs and mail them to me:

Thank you, Bike Lemming, for all that you've done. I'll be in touch for help with that plumbing problem once the Department of Health lets me back inside.

Get your own knuckles at the knuckle tattoo gun.

Get your own knuckles at the knuckle tattoo gun.

In the meantime, 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 will know, and if you're wrong you will see the Fixed-Gear Apocalypse--French Canadian style.

Thanks very much for reading and for forwarding various bits of intelligence. Enjoy the weekend, descend carefully, and may your cycling exploits be as "epic" as your burritos.

--BSNYC/RTMS

1) The 2010 Amgen Tour of California route was unveiled yesterday by means of:

--A Versus television special

--A press conference in Sacramento hosted by governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

--An awkward, scripted Twitter exchange among America's most popular riders
--Secret messages hidden in thousands of burritos

2) Alberto Contador may be abandoning his popular "fingerbang" salute. The Tour de France winner was recently spotted flashing which sign?

(This one.)

(This one.)

(This one.)

(This one.)

3) This fixed-gear recently completed:

--The Ironman World Championship
--The Race Across America

--RAGBRAI

--Yet another Portland theme ride

4) Which fictional character was recently spotted cycling on the Williamsburg Bridge?

--Luigi from Super Mario Bros.

--Peter Griffin from "Family Guy"

--Huckleberry Finn

--David Byrne

5) "Boutique novelty lubes: they're not just for intercourse anymore!" How much for a 4oz bottle of "Chain-L No. 5?"

--$10
--$12
--$15

--$20

6) In which city was this police bike spotted handcuffed outside of a pizza place?

--New York City
--Philadelphia

--Kansas City

--New Orleans

7) Given that the World's Greatest Madone is technically a road-to-hybrid conversion, this may very well be the World's Fastest Hybrid:

--True
--False

8) "Some things should go without saying." This weekend's race at the Encino Velodrome will be:

--"In Encino"

--"This weekend"

--"Fixed only"
--"100% hipster-free"

9) "Hipster" cyclists are now embracing leg-shaving (in their own unique way):

--True

--False

***Special Two-Part "My Brooklyn Neighborhood--Not Far From Where Jay-Z Grew Up" Prince-And-The-Pauper-Themed Bonus Question***

Whose background story is this?

Originally from Marcy Houses housing project in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City,________ was abandoned by his father and at 12 years old, he had shot his brother in the shoulder for stealing his jewelry. ________ attended Eli Whitney High School in Brooklyn, along with rapper AZ, until it was closed down. After that he attended George Westinghouse Information Technology High School in Downtown Brooklyn, which fellow rappers The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes also attended, and Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey, but did not graduate. In his music he refers to having been involved in selling crack cocaine.

--Jay-Z

--Sasha Frere-Jones

--Both Jay-Z and Sasha Frere-Jones
--Neither Jay-Z nor Sasha Frere-Jones

Whose background story is this?

He was born ________ on January 31, 1967 in Manhattan, the elder child of Elizabeth Frere and the late Robin C. Jones. His younger brother, Tobias Frere-Jones, is co-founder of the prominent typeface design company Hoefler & Frere-Jones, and is on the faculty of the Yale School of Art. Tobias and Alexander both legally changed their surnames from Jones to Frere-Jones in 1981.

He is a grandson of Alexander Stuart Frere-Reeves, the former chairman of the board of William Heinemann Ltd, the British publishing house, and a great-grandson of the novelist Edgar Wallace, who wrote many popular pulp novels, though he is best known for writing the story for the film King Kong. (C. Merrian Cooper wrote the screenplay.) A plaque honoring Edgar Wallace hangs on a wall in Fleet Street; in the eighties, an establishment called the Edgar Wallace Pub existed for several years. In 1983, Frere-Jones played Capulet in a St. Ann's production of "Romeo and Juliet" directed by Nancy Fales Garrett. Mia Sara played Juliet.

--Jay-Z

--Sasha Frere-Jones

--Both Jay-Z and Sasha Frere-Jones

--Neither Jay-Z nor Sasha Frere-Jones