Bicycle
Tuesday, 06.27.06 @ 12:16AM 
“Its just like riding a bicycle!” they say. So what does that mean? Does it mean you never were good at it, and you’ll never be good at it? Does it mean the memories of all those skinned knees will come back as soon as you try it? Yeah, when I was a kid, I THOUGHT I was a good bike rider. Spent a lot of time doing it. But I had more than my share of skinned knees and skinned everything else. I got my first bike when I was 6. Dad immediately took the training wheels off, and pushed me down the street. It was a gravel surface, and I of course fell, injuring myself and setting the stage for my future bike escapades.
That first bike was stolen from my front porch. To replace it, I saved my allowance for a YEAR, all the time hoping no one else would buy that purple spider bike with the banana seat in the window at Western Auto hardware. It was $62. The day I purchased it was the happiest of my life at that point. You can get a similar bike now for about half that much, but you can’t get it repaired anywhere. Thanks, Wal*Mart.
Here’s some music to set the mood.
The origins of the bicycle.
The video that inspired this entire post involves a drunk man in Russia trying to ride a bicycle with missing front wheel.
Large men on small bikes. The San Francisco Big Wheel Races.
Bicycle Ride, a video in honor of Albert Hoffman, the discoverer of LSD.
The World Naked Bike Ride 2006 was recently held in Portland, Oregon. Video of the event can be found here. Duh, contains nudity.
Bike crashes on video.
Can you believe a bike driven by seven people at once?
Neatorama tells us about this wooden bike, and this wooden bike, and a bunch of cool bikes.
INTERSTATE HIGHWAY
It had been a quiet night at the local bar so far, but then the door was thrown open and an Interstate highway strode in.
"I'm an Inter- state highway," he declared. "I stretch from coast to coast and have at least four lanes, shoulders, and a median almost my entire length. I have the highest speed limit of any highway. I'm the best of the highways, and I'm afraid of no highway and no road." He then strode up to the bar, ordered a beer, and began drinking it, while looking around.
A short time later, a four-lane highway came in, went to the end of the bar, and ordered a beer. The Interstate looked him over and walked over to him. "I'm an Interstate highway," he declared. "I stretch from coast to coast and have at least four lanes, shoulders, and a median almost my entire length. I have the highest speed limit of any highway. I'm the best of the highways, and I'm not afraid of you."
The four-lane highway said "I agree that you're the best. I don't want any trouble with you. Let me buy you a beer", and he did. They drank their beers and discussed their engineering specifications.
After a half hour, the door opened again and a two-lane road came in, went to the other end of the bar, and ordered a beer.
The Interstate looked him over and told the four-lane highway that he had to take care of the new arrival. He walked over to the two-lane road and said "I'm an Interstate highway. I stretch from coast to coast and have at least four lanes, shoulders, and a median almost my entire length. I have the highest speed limit of any highway. I'm the best of the highways, and I'm not afraid of you."
The two-lane road quivered a bit and said "You're absolutely right. You are the best of the highways. I'm just a lowly two-lane road. I don't want any trouble. Can I buy beers for you and the four-lane highway?"
The Interstate motioned the four-lane highway to come over, the two-lane road bought beers for each of them, and the three of them drank their beers and discussed the merits of various paving materials.
After another half hour, the door opened again and a strip of asphalt about eight feet wide came in. The Interstate highway ducked behind the bar and hid there quivering quietly. The bartender was shocked.
After serving the asphalt strip, he walked over to where the Interstate was hiding. "I watched you stand up to the four-lane highway and the two-lane road. You said you weren't afraid of any highway or road. Why are you hiding from that little asphalt strip?"
The Interstate replied quietly, "It's true that I'm not afraid of any highway or road, but he's a cycle path."
Bicycle dancing.. think it will catch on? (via Arbroath)
This weird little bicycle game
involves riding a bike and not hitting the teddy bears.
One Got Fat: Bicycle Safety (1963)
Learn all about unicycling.
PAgent has tips on learning to ride a recumbent bike.
NERD
A nerd was walking on campus one day when his friend, another nerd, rode up on an incredible shiny new bicycle. The first nerd was stunned and asked, "Where did you get such a nice bike?" The second nerd replied, "Well, yesterday I was walking home minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up to me on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, 'Take what you want!'"
The second nerd nodded approvingly, "Good choice. The clothes probably wouldn't have fit."
Thought for today: A bicycle can’t stand on its own because it is two-tired.
humor jokes video funny games bicycle bike biking velocipede 
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Reader Comments (14)
http://www.shooshtime.com/pics/images/76d978ce3dd59dbd75e76f4c4afc7c9bUnderwater.jpg
1)with urban growth, bicycling is not the same now as it was when I was growing up and could ride anywhere for miles and miles, safely. Parkour is a new sport growing up for kids in a concrete environment (invented by the non-sporty philosophical French, mais oui).
2)kids today are learning to ride bikes but many are not learning how to tie shoes (velcro) and tell time (digital).
Some things stay the same, others change. Never dull.
Cheers.
The bike poem is a classic, I used to have a shirt with the one line on it. LOL
Thanks for the giggles.
Loved Carl's contribution today. Later.
After the advent of the banana seat -- and a few years after I'd expanded in key positions, physically -- it came to mean something different.
Now, "like learning to ride a bicycle" suggests that it carries the threat of giving one wedgies...
Good one, Missy.
No, I'd never willfully destroy the environment like that jackass is...