Jay? Peg?

Bike Girl once made a post in which she said she always has N bikes, where the number of bikes she wants equals N+1.

I've been feeling that a lot lately.

I have one bicycle. My old Chicago Schwinn Sprint is a die hard, and a work horse, and pack mule. It has soul but it's not a soldier, and it is awesome.

Also, I love this craigslist find so much, way much more than the blue Motobecane I bought in Mission Beach, San Diego, and which was too small for me, and infinitely more than the little red mountain bike that I got at K-Mart, which was even smaller than that.

I feel like my bicycling experience has to date consisted of buying larger and larger bicycles, and then realizing, "Oh my god, how have I been riding that tiny thing for so long?"

It is for exactly that reason that I have been trying to get down to my LBS for the last week or three, to test ride their larger models.

But anyway. I have N bicycles, and the number of bicycles I think I need is AT LEAST equal to N+1.

More likely N+2, at least.

I think I need a mountain bike to better navigate the worse Denver weather, and I think I need a fixed gear single speed, because, still, the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that the simplest, most straightforward manifestation of the bicycle might just be the best.

And then, to allow for N+3, I'm just obsessed with and in love with utility bikes.

Here are the manufacturers I'm drooling over currently.

1. Worksman Cycles -- The supreme queen, and -- according to the NPR story I heard on them -- the oldest bicycle manufacturer in the nation. They were the original creators of the ice cream and hot dog cart. Their trikes are drool worthy, but their bikes are hard to justify NOT buying.

2. Lightfoot Cycles -- These guys are awesome because they sell great trikes and bikes, and because they have created a kit that'll turn a 26" bike into a serious, heavy load bearing trike. In the same way that Xtracycle will turn a 26" bike into a serious, heavy load bearing extended wheel base bike. Sweet!

3. Bilenkey -- Just found out about these guys today, but they seem pretty righteous.

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So here's the thing. I don't haul 50 - 100 lbs worth of crap to work each day. I do haul groceries every now and then. But those are managed well enough with my Cannondale trailer. I don't need these utility bikes.

But Oh My God I want one.

It's the same thing that makes Black Sheep Cycle's S-Cargo frame amazingly attractive. Attractive in the same way that Surly's Big Dummy frame is incredibly stupendous. And stupendously incredible.

Ultimately though, folks, what's happening here is that I'm having a love affair with up to three different types of bikes, while trying to convince myself that it is utter folly to have more than two.

We'll see how this works out.

Open source transportation

Lifted from the Salvagetti site, which means that Scott probably wrote it: 

"BIKES ARE A WORLD WIDE PROJECT. A TRUE COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT.

Think of that. Bikes have been designed in most countries of the world. And the end goal that all of these countries are working on is the perfect bike. Everyone is experimenting and sharing and learning and growing. The only other example we have thought of is LINUX... "

This is a fascinating connection that I had not to date made. I am a big Linux enthusiast, and I am a big bicycle enthusiast. I had not considered bicycling "open source" transportation until now, but now that I think about it, it definitely makes sense.

I will continue to meditate on this.

Library

I'm building a library. It will be the most authoritative collection of material about bicycles and pirates on either side of the Mississippi.

The list below serves as a "suggested reading" list and as a plan of acquisition in the development of the collection.

Yargh!


The Man Who Rode His 10 Speed Bicycle To The Moon

Bernard Fischman

Amazon | Library

I read this book when I was in the 5th grade, and it has haunted me ever since.

Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do (And What It Says About Us)

Tom Vanderbilt

Amazon | Library

Incredible insights into, observations about, and factoids regarding the most complicated and dangerous thing that most people will ever do, and spend hours each day doing.

Urban bikers' tricks & tips : low-tech & no-tech ways to find, ride, & keep a bicycle

Dave Glowacz

Amazon | Library
This is the best book about commuting that I've read. Just like it says in the title, it is chock full of low-tech and no-tech tips. It's heavily illustrated and very accessible. The grand theme of this book is "All you need to ride a bike is a bike." You don't need hundreds of dollars of Lycra or spandex.

Effective cycling
John Forester
Amazon | Library
This is my bike bible. An authoritative guide to bike mechanics and politics. It's my first reference when I have a question.

on cages, and liberation therefrom.

In the cyclist's jargon file, an automobile is often refered to as a cage, and one who drives an automobile is a cager. It is an interesting play on the roles of ownership, for if one is in a cage, then one is obviously confined, restricted, without liberties. The cage contains its captive. The captive does not own its cage; it is subject to it and inferior to it. The Cars R Coffins group elaborates on this line of thought.

Automobilers though immediately regain some control when they are called cagers. A cager must be "one who cages," or one who drives a cage. Now the driver again has some ownership of the car.

However you chose to look at it though, the implication is obvious that riding a bicycle is liberating. 

And it truly is.

A lot of Pirsig's comments on quality, as it pertains to his motorcycle rides, apply directly to bicycling.

One begins to measure "good time" with an emphasis on "good" and not "time."

And, possibly most importantly, by losing the barrier between you and your environment, you seamlessly become part of your environment. Without the windshield in front, the roof overhead, and the doors on your sides, you are no longer merely passing through. Feeling the wind on your face and smelling the aromas around you make you feel like a participant in the symphony of your surroundings, not just a guest, or a visitor trying to get from point A to point B.

It makes your trips and commutes feel purposeful and intentional. It's mindful commuting, in the tradition of Buddhist mindfulness.

So it often does feel like when I talk about bicycling, what I'm actually doing is talking about weather. But that's okay because a large part of cycling is weather, and being mindful of it and participating in it and embracing it.

And all over the world, strangers talk only about the weather.  

-Tom Waits, strange weather

But speaking of weather, I think this kind of two day combination may come to typify Denver for me: lethal amounts of ice, snow, and wind on Monday; clear, sunny, and 50 degrees on Tuesday.

That kind of severe variation isn't healthy or stable. Denver weather has Dissociative Identity Disorder.