It’s getting to be that time of year to make a resolution, but before I do I’m assessing last year’s resolution:
Sadly I did not follow through, though I did manage to limit my helmet usage to bike-testing situations:
As well as competition:
Anyway, it’s clear the resolution was misguided, and that what I really should have resolved to do is clean up my damn face.
Well there’s always next year.
It’s also the season where the metaphors are everywhere you look. It can be easy to lose sight of life when you can’t see the forest for the trees:
And it can be equally easy to forget that two heads are better than one:
This is especially true when one of them is occupied and you really have to go.
A wise person once said it’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness–I’m not sure who, but it was probably someone with a selfish agenda and deep financial ties to Big Wax. However, I can personally attest that it’s better to have a dynamo hub than to not have one:
The fact of the matter is that for urban riding (at least around here) you don’t really need a proper headlight, just something that helps other people see you. However, lately I’ve been heading out of the city late in the day owing to a somewhat upended riding routine, and the headlight has made all the difference:
Just as the depths of the ocean are teeming with bizarre bioluminescent life forms:
So too are the trails and multi-use paths of suburbia at night a strange place of blinky light-laden bicyclists and dog walkers wearing headlamps–though they’re pretty werid during the day, too, and you might even have an encounter with a platypus!
The horror…the horror.
Finally, in cultural news, for awhile it seemed the “collabo” bike had gone out of style along with the fixie, but designer Stella McCartney and Cannondale have returned to the trough:
Now more than ever, bikes have become an important part of people’s lives. They are changing the way we move around and have fun. Both Cannondale and Stella McCartney share a heritage of material innovation and commitment to environmental stewardship, with bike riding offering significant benefits to the health of both people and planet. Stella McCartney recognises this shift and promotes cycling as being a community of shared values.
Instead of taking some new plastic bikes that will never get ridden, wouldn’t it have been more in line with their environmental messaging to repurpose something vintage?
It even looks like the crickets we’re all supposed to be eating:
By the way, you might recall that Stella McCartney’s mother sponsored a pro cycling team:
Seems to me the time is perfect to launch new team that rides bamboo bikes and uses insect paste energy gels…
…but all I hear is crickets.