Within the feedback on a current publish 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 would possibly 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 experience is way from ugly. Certain, it might 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 experience 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 had been off, it smelled strongly of marijuana, and the individual behind the counter knowledgeable me that they had been closed. Whereas I’m not implying my interior tube buy would have made a significant distinction on their stability sheet or seen them by the lifeless 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 activity like servicing my historical Spinergy. (I’d must think about an outdated Spinergy is the one sight a bicycle store proprietor dreads much more than a Walmart bike.)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 town’s bike lanes:
Specifically, he cites anecdotal proof that with the proliferation of all the varied types of motor scooters and e-crap even long-time bicyclists are hanging up their wheels:
Whereas I experience as a lot as ever, I’m far much less wanting to experience 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 believe 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 at all times been a lot round right here, even earlier than all of the e-tards (sorry). Certain, I’m much less captivated with driving a motorcycle within the metropolis, however I’m additionally much less captivated with being within the metropolis in any respect, on or off a motorcycle. Whereas in my youth I went into town each time I might, now it’s one thing I solely do when I’ve to; it’s change into like going to the dentist or pulling clumps of hair out of the tub drain. In order pernicious as I discover a variety 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 an inclination to conflate one with the opposite.
As for what to do in regards to the state of affairs, he has some good recommendations, equivalent to limiting the velocity of e-Citi Bikes and that type of factor. Nonetheless, I’m slightly skeptical about a few of his different concept, particularly “wider bicycle paths:”
I do know from years of studying Streetsblog that widening highways is unhealthy due to “induced demand.” See, the concept is that everyone thinks that extra lanes means extra room which suggests much less site visitors, however apparently what actually occurs is that extra lanes simply means extra automobiles which suggests much more site visitors and all of the unhealthy 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 this stuff:
Luckily for me, whereas I change into 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 battle over what ought to or shouldn’t be completed 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 many years, individuals have derided us as essentially the most annoying issues on the street, however as motorized units change into exponentially extra irritating perhaps they’ll begin to discover us quaint compared–although little doubt this can take awhile, and for now we’re nonetheless the primary scapegoat relating to causes for driver exasperation. Take into account 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 alternate glances:
Worldlessly and wearily conveying the common sentiment to which all drivers can relate–“Silly cyclists:”
Thanks, Hyundai, for saving us from ourselves.