Bike Month
One thing I love about my country is all the many different subcultures. My two favorite subcultures are geeks and hippies. I love geeks because of their fabulous brains and because the below-average level of social skills leads to a below-average level of, well, various kinds of social lying. Too bad they spend a lot of time working on such boring things as computer guts. Most of my friends are in this subculture, where thinking is a good thing.
I love hippies because they're laid-back and creative. Too bad there's an above-average level of fluffy-headedness. Few, if any, of my friends are in this subculture, but I am a member of the local coop, which means I get their newsletter every two months, and I quite enjoy reading this.
Who else would publish a recipe for "Tangy Citrus-Cran Flax Muffins"? Oh, yeah.
This latest issue is the "Big Bike Issue" in honor of Bike Month, which is in May. The most well-known activity is Bike-To-Work Day (Friday, May 16), where, basically, people like me are encouraged to try biking to work and rewarded with free breakfast if they go to any of several stations set up across the city.
But check out this event: the 3-1-1 Pothole Ride.
"During this bike ride, cyclists will locate and make a list of those teeth-jarring, frame-cracking, chain-rattling cracks and holes that threaten to ruin our morning commutes. Our list will be reported to the City of Austin for repair. Afterwards, we'll share our findings at REI."
(3-1-1 is the non-emergency police number we are to use when reporting such non-emergencies as potholes.) Only a bunch of hippie freaks could think up a cool event like that. (No, I am not going, though. I am not a bicyclist.)
They also published what looks like the entire How Not To Get Hit By Cars article which "shows you real ways you can get hit and real ways to avoid them. This is a far cry from normal bike safety guides, which usually tell you little more than to wear your helmet and to obey the law. But consider this for a moment: Wearing a helmet will do absolutely nothing to prevent you from getting hit by a car!" I recommend it if this subject is of interest to you.
And there are some good bicycling stories. Here's part of one:
"The truck driver tracked me down 5 minutes later, a half-mile down the road. He was a very shaken old-school Austin hippie, not the psycho fascist I had imagined. He never saw me ("I was watching the traffic.") He felt the impact and looked in his rear view mirror to see me wobbling in the road. He thought the car behind him hit me. He told me he was so glad I was alive, he wanted to hug me. We hugged. I thanked him for coming back and told him to watch out for cyclists."
In conclusion, bike safely, and watch out for cyclists!
I love hippies because they're laid-back and creative. Too bad there's an above-average level of fluffy-headedness. Few, if any, of my friends are in this subculture, but I am a member of the local coop, which means I get their newsletter every two months, and I quite enjoy reading this.
Who else would publish a recipe for "Tangy Citrus-Cran Flax Muffins"? Oh, yeah.
This latest issue is the "Big Bike Issue" in honor of Bike Month, which is in May. The most well-known activity is Bike-To-Work Day (Friday, May 16), where, basically, people like me are encouraged to try biking to work and rewarded with free breakfast if they go to any of several stations set up across the city.
But check out this event: the 3-1-1 Pothole Ride.
"During this bike ride, cyclists will locate and make a list of those teeth-jarring, frame-cracking, chain-rattling cracks and holes that threaten to ruin our morning commutes. Our list will be reported to the City of Austin for repair. Afterwards, we'll share our findings at REI."
(3-1-1 is the non-emergency police number we are to use when reporting such non-emergencies as potholes.) Only a bunch of hippie freaks could think up a cool event like that. (No, I am not going, though. I am not a bicyclist.)
They also published what looks like the entire How Not To Get Hit By Cars article which "shows you real ways you can get hit and real ways to avoid them. This is a far cry from normal bike safety guides, which usually tell you little more than to wear your helmet and to obey the law. But consider this for a moment: Wearing a helmet will do absolutely nothing to prevent you from getting hit by a car!" I recommend it if this subject is of interest to you.
And there are some good bicycling stories. Here's part of one:
"The truck driver tracked me down 5 minutes later, a half-mile down the road. He was a very shaken old-school Austin hippie, not the psycho fascist I had imagined. He never saw me ("I was watching the traffic.") He felt the impact and looked in his rear view mirror to see me wobbling in the road. He thought the car behind him hit me. He told me he was so glad I was alive, he wanted to hug me. We hugged. I thanked him for coming back and told him to watch out for cyclists."
In conclusion, bike safely, and watch out for cyclists!