ghotifish.net

Forgive the sarcasm; it is merely a reflex. The Rake’s current cover story does a wonderful job raising awareness of cycling as a part of everyday life, rather than just “a child’s toy … or a specialized implement meant only for aerobic sport junkies.” I haven’t even finished reading the article, and I already found the most important part:

“One of the most powerful things psychologically,” said Manning, “is to flip a person’s internal switch. If, instead of seeing bikers on weekends in spandex racing gear, you saw lots of everyday people biking to work, picking up their kids, going to the grocery store, then you’d start to identify with biking as commonplace, as functional transportation.”

Just how many bikers are necessary to create that critical mass, to flip that switch, is yet to be determined. But one more is sure to help—so get on your bike and ride, already.

This is absolute genius:

A Mean Chocolate Chip Cookie

Remember that movie Breaking Away? The one I keep asking if you’ve seen, with the quarry and the Dennis Quaid and the Little 500 bike race at IU? Well, it turns out that the Little 500 was a real race, is a real race, and has been a real race since 1951. Why in the world didn’t I ever look this up before?

Not the bikes I would chose for a 50-mile race: freewheeling singlespeeds, ashtabula cranks, and no brakes.

ESPN’s coverage of this year’s Little 500.

Lots of pictures of this year’s Little 500.

No-Impact Man writes:

I have boycotted products that contributed to the hole in the ozone layer; written letters against the Japanese for hunting whales; called for an end to the poaching of Congolese gorillas; marched against the whites who controlled South Africa in the apartheid era; detested the Israeli killing of Palestinians; and despised Palestinian killing of Israelis. But I made the mistake of believing that condemning the misdeeds of others somehow made me virtuous.

(My emphasis)

I’m doubtful I’ll ever have the force of will to follow in his, and his family’s, ambitious footsteps, but I admire them for nudging the average in the right direction.