The ultimate renewable resource:

Youth!

Avila Chicago: Making a Difference will air my recent interview on Comcast Chicago Access Network TV, Channel 19, Friday, 5 September at 5pm and again on Sunday, 7 September at 12 noon.

Outing

the original
biker zine

Well before it meant something different altogether, Outing was THE mag for the active British gentleman. It covered a wide range of sporting activities, including biking, during the late 19th and early 20 centuries. First published in 1882 under the title of the Wheelman; it went through four title changes before ceasing publication in 1923. But it never strayed far from it's original mission:


Outing was also popular here in the US; prossibly because of our slavish Anglophilia during the Gilded Age. It attracted the best American authors and illustrators. Jack London's White Fang was serialized in from May through October, 1906. And Frederic Remington, having lost his inheritance, did many of its illustrations.

Thomas Stevens, the first to circle the globe on a bike, also serialized his adventures. I originally came across Outing while I was looking for articles on winter biking. GoogleBooks coughed up a number of issues featuring Alfred C. Stokes, biologist and erstwhile biker from Britain. He must have been a regular contributor since I found articles on topics ranging from quick road repairs to the joys of winter biking.

IT IS NOT A DREAM A BICYCLING SKETCH ... Winter riding is not pleasant in spite of the assertions to the contrary of some that must be thinking of the fragrant and sunny South where the bicyclist has the year on his string and may play it and do with it as he pleases. But to us of the North when the heavy sky comes clown and covers us with its chill winter riding is not pleasant.

There are I believe reformed cyclists who have written confessions in which they tell us who are not reformed that when under the best conditions they have seemed to be gliding smoothly and with little effort every joint has been rattling and every tooth leaping in its socket I think that unless the reformed were telling lies they had been experimenting with winter riding when the roads...

It is better to light the fire and your pipe put your feet on the mantelpiece and travel the summer roads in a mental vision. In the curling smoke you may see the summer adventures and hear the summer sounds.

Then we can dream about the time when the cyclist with loving care wheels the machine through the alley and out of the front gate with a wicked wish that someone might be envying him his good luck in possessing such a treasure.

He is not conceited nor self conscious beyond the majority of his fellows but you remember the beginning of a certain rider's career when he tried to seem bold while his heart was making a lump in his throat with fear of a disaster and his hands grasped the vulcanite with frantic clutch. But that passes.

The time always comes when the wheelman is like that classic woodchuck that sat under the tree where he cared for nobody and nobody cared for he. Then cheerfully he rides with holes in his knickerbockers a hat down over his ears and shoes that have seen better days.

You are here

a Surrealist Map
of the World

A la Alfred Jarry, Surrealists in Belgium (re)imagined the world not along the lines of patriotic nationalism. Rather they made the point that where it dominates, ultimately all human intimacy is lost to power and profit. I wonder what the CBF Chicago Street Map would look like along similar lines?

Even more than patriotism – which is a quite commonplace sort of hysteria, though emptier and shorter-lived than most – we are disgusted by the idea of belonging to a country at all, which is the most bestial and least philosophic of the concepts to which we are all subjected... Wherever Western civilization is dominant, all human contact has disappeared, except contact from which money can be made – payment in hard cash.

Surrealist map of the world. (From Vanetes, Brussels, June 1929), p.183.

Bikes Belong in politics

bike-partisans
roll the conventions

The Denver-based bike advocacy group is partnering with Humana to provide 1,000 bikes for the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, August 25-28. Being non-partisan, the partnership will provide another 1,000 at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, September 1-4.

The goal is to encourage bike riding officials, delegates, volunteers, and journalists. Bikes Belong and Humana believe that the bikes will promote short trips between hotels, convention centers, restaurants, and the convention arenas. With an estimated 10,000+ participants for each convention, they hope that the presidential candidates themselves will develop a greater appreciation and respect for the role of biking in the US.

What's better than a slinky& saves you $$$?

back to school
w/Halle Miroglotta

Over at the Loyola University Examiner, the sociology student and activist is starting a series of articles to honor the final month of Bike Chicago 2008. Her articles will focus on local bike shops, Chicago Critical Mass, and the new Loyola University Bike Initiative. She also has a few tips for would-be bikers.

1.Stay visable- the law requires you to have a front headlight. And, while not required, rear blinking lights are a great way to increase your visability and safety.

2. Obey the rules of the road. Bikes are vehicles- you are required to stop at stop signs, obey traffic patterns, and yield to pedestrians.

3. This is a given- wear a helmet!

4. Know your bike- regularly check your air pressure, brakes, and chain in order to ensure the safest possible ride.

5. Know your rights- motorists are required to pass with at least three feet of room.

The waffle bike

cooked up
by Tom Sachs

Thanks to
Urban Velo

The Pushbike song

by
The Mixtures

This is a video made in 1970 by the Australian band. It depicts the band and friends riding through the streets of Melbourne. Filmed in black and white (due to Australian Television having no colour broadcasts at that time), it was notable for scenes involving a procession of bikes (including a penny farthing and rollerskaters) on a busy six-lane Melbourne arterial road, and a scene of four members of the band riding a tandem bike atop a car transporter travelling at speed across a bridge.

Ridin' along on my pushbike, honey.
When I noticed you.
Ridin' downtown in a hurry, honey,
Down South Avenue.

You looked so pretty as you were ridin' along.
You looked so pretty as you were singing this song.

Well, I put on the speed,
And I tried catching up,
But you were pedaling harder too.
Ridin' along like a hurricane, honey,
Spinning out of view.

You looked so pretty as you were ridin' along.
You looked so pretty as you were singing this song.
Sing a song!

A-round, round, wheels goin' round round round.
Down up pedals, down up down.
But I gotta get across to the other side of town,
Before the sun goes down. Hey, hey!

Now we're riding along on the bicycle, honey.
That's a bicycle built for two.
A-lookin' at my honey in the rearview mirror;
Now I got a better view.

You looked so pretty as you were ridin' along.
You looked so pretty as you were singing this song.
Sing a song!

A-round, round, wheels goin' round round round.
Down up pedals, down up down.
But I gotta get across to the other side of town,
Before the sun goes down. Hey, hey