Within the feedback on a current put up readers leveled accusations that the Faggin, in its present incarnation, is aesthetically displeasing, or what we colloquially name “ugly:”
To this I say, “You’re damned proper it’s ugly!” You may even go as far as to name it a grotesquerie. It’s a sickly, fleshy, cold pink, just like the carcass of a freshly-slaughtered pig. Moreover, the lone Spinergy within the rear resembles a medical equipment, like one thing Eric Von Stroheim may need worn to evoke the sense of some previous trauma:
Ah, however the trip is way from ugly. Certain, it could have peaked aesthetically on this configuration (although that’s debatable):
However on this filthy panorama of salt-strewn streets and sooty brown snow it has the benefit of providing a top-notch trip while having aesthetics that even the worst corrosives couldn’t diminish any additional.
Talking of the poor street circumstances, I did incur a flat yesterday, and so after deploying my spare tube I finished at a bicycle store to acquire one other. It was about midday on a Sunday, on the primary warm-ish day in fairly a while, and after I stepped into the store all of the lights have been off, it smelled strongly of marijuana, and the particular person behind the counter knowledgeable me that they have been closed. Whereas I’m not implying my inside tube buy would have made a significant distinction on their steadiness sheet or seen them via the useless of winter, in nonetheless struck me as a wierd enterprise mannequin and a peculiar time for a bicycle store to be closed…although maybe he merely denied me service due to the ungodly look of the Faggin, and was anxious I’d try to have interaction him in some probably time-consuming and non-remunerative job like servicing my historical Spinergy. (I’d should think about an previous Spinergy is the one sight a bicycle store proprietor dreads much more than a Walmart bike.)
In the meantime, over on Streetsblog, a former Transportation Different Board member is distraught over the state of the town’s bike lanes:
Particularly, he cites anecdotal proof that with the proliferation of all the assorted types of motor scooters and e-crap even long-time bicyclists are hanging up their wheels:
Whereas I trip as a lot as ever, I’m far much less desirous to trip within the metropolis than I as soon as was, and the Microbility Shitshow actually has one thing to do with that. On the identical time, I think this might be the case even if the bike lanes weren’t overrun with idiots on fast-moving contraptions, for the reason that older I get the much less keen I’m to cope with any type of annoyance, of which there has all the time been a lot round right here, even earlier than all of the e-tards (sorry). Certain, I’m much less keen about driving a motorcycle within the metropolis, however I’m additionally much less keen about being within the metropolis in any respect, on or off a motorcycle. Whereas in my youth I went into the town every time I might, now it’s one thing I solely do when I’ve to; it’s turn out to be like going to the dentist or pulling clumps of hair out of the bath drain. In order pernicious as I discover quite a lot of this micromobility stuff, I believe it’s necessary to maintain issues in perspective and acknowledge that with age comes a certain quantity of sheer orneriness, and a bent to conflate one with the opposite.
As for what to do concerning the scenario, he has some good solutions, reminiscent of limiting the velocity of e-Citi Bikes and that kind of factor. Nevertheless, I’m just a little skeptical about a few of his different thought, particularly “wider bicycle paths:”
I do know from years of studying Streetsblog that widening highways is dangerous due to “induced demand.” See, the concept is that everyone thinks that extra lanes means extra room which suggests much less visitors, however apparently what actually occurs is that extra lanes simply means extra vehicles which suggests much more visitors and all of the dangerous stuff that comes with it. So if we widen the bike lane wouldn’t the identical factor occur–that’s to say extra dashing e-contraptions all of the concomitant chaos? As it’s there’s fairly actually no escape from these items:
Fortuitously for me, whereas I turn out to be extra ornery as I become old, I additionally care much less on the identical time, and at this level I’m content material to let everybody struggle over what ought to or shouldn’t be finished within the metropolis whereas I hold driving my bike away from it.
Additionally, one potential upside of all of that is that it might assist the notion of “conventional” pedal-powered cyclists. For many years and a long time, folks have derided us as probably the most annoying issues on the street, however as motorized units turn out to be exponentially extra irritating possibly they’ll begin to discover us quaint as compared–although little doubt it will take awhile, and for now we’re nonetheless the primary scapegoat in terms of causes for driver exasperation. Think about this Hyundai business I noticed final evening:
In it we see a Pack of Freds:
The run the sunshine, due to course they do:
The drivers trade glances:
Worldlessly and wearily conveying the common sentiment to which all drivers can relate–“Silly cyclists:”
Thanks, Hyundai, for saving us from ourselves.
