impress - force someone to serve in an army or navy. commandeer for public service.

As you sail the high seas, in your efforts to impress other cyclists in Bike Piratitude, it'll help to have some supplies at your disposal.

• Give-away blinky lights. Obviously. The Prime Directive of the Bike Pirate is to eradicate the Bike Ninja. Light 'em up!



• Chalk. You may at times find it helpful to leave little messages on the trail, or to elaborate on posted signs if they are vague. Merely drawing an arrow if a trail or path takes an odd turn. "Proceed through alley." "Use sidewalk ahead." If you're especially proud of a certain chalking, you might return later with paint and a stencil.



• A pump and a give-away patch kit. Obviously you want to be able to "mend your own sails" if you get a flat. I realistically wouldn't carry a give-away patch kit. That seems a bit much. I'll definitely help somebody patch their tube though.



• Give-away maps. This is a new idea for me. I was discussing the problem of people riding in unsafe conditions when there might be adequate infrastructure a block over. I would imagine this happens because the cyclist just isn't aware of the surrounding infrastructure. My first thought was to chalk sidewalks and roads with something like "Designated E/W bike path: one block south." Then I wondered about how effective handing out maps would be. Not expensive $5 - $8 maps you buy at the bike shop, but over-simplified, maybe hand-drawn ones that point out the highlights. Ones you can make copies of at work. Maybe a link at the bottom to a high-res PDF of the city's bike path grid if there's one online. (Denver's is here.)