Lately, the blogosphere’s been sending me one very consistent message: Get thyself a bike.
The first message: My blog friend Anna told me about Xtracycle — a bike with an attachment for hauling your stuff. Here’s Anna (left), on her Xtracycle, in front of McCabe’s where once she hopped off her bike, we went in, had drinks, and shot pool, sort of. In a mild drunken excitement, we made tentative plans for a huge, bike-fueled Starbucks Challenge parade that pedalled all over Los Angeles –
The second message: Roger, gone green. Just about every other of his comments has to do with how, if I had a bike, I’d be able to do more stuff without grumbling about driving.
And the most inspiring message of late: eecue‘s bike posts. This dude cobbled together a DIY bike with a lil help from the Bicycle Kitchen, (photos here), and even posted a lil map of his first fixie ride. Now, he’s offering up DIY advice to would-be bikers!
Despite this blog enthusiasm for biking, LA still has some serious kinks to work out to make biking more accessible. It’s pretty much impossible to register your bike, for example. And though eecue and others are adamnant that biking in LA is not dangerous, I’ve been scared shitless about biking since 2 bikers were killed in an accident on the PCH last month.
I’m not sure if I’ve been inculcated into an irrationable fear of biking through gas-lovin’ naysayers in the MSM, or if my fear really is warranted. While I figure that out, I’m gonna start running blogads, so that by the time I get over my fright, I’ll hopefully have enough cash to buy an xtracycle.
Unrelatedly — My fave eecue post is Brick!, about a helicopter-heavy night when a somewhat crazed man threw bricks off the roof of the Alexandria Hotel. Something about this post — now updated with a pic of a smashed brick — makes me reflect on the incident constantly. Dunno why — Maybe the painful brick beauty of incidental urban art, or the smashed-up madness of this brick-built society, or some other crazy half-baked brick of a notion –
Filed in: bike bicycle xtracycle brick losangeles california
That’s hilarious! Almost as funny as an Alderman from the central city some time ago who, enraged at the world, set some tires on fire on I-94. My question is logistical: How did he haul the bricks up there?
On biking, less road rage + more exercise = less pollution. You can live with that I’m sure.
Comment by Fletch — October 29, 2005 @ 2:25 pm
We won’t mention the many folks killed in cars, especially in car v. car collisions, or the pedestrians mowed down by cars. What it comes down to is that cars, while useful, are also a serious menace to society. But not a particular menace to bike drivers.
I believe the REI in Arcadia is offering a Vehicular Cyclist course by a certified instructor. Highly recommended, both to render one a safer bike driver and to bolster confidence.
Really COOL to see the xtracycle . . . I’d never seen these, and may well have to look into one . . .
Comment by Roger, Gone Green — October 29, 2005 @ 4:26 pm
Ok, ok — But Roger — You gotta back that up — you know, the “not a particular menace to bike drivers” thing — with some cold hard stats…
Comment by Siel — October 29, 2005 @ 10:15 pm
As the proud owner of the Xtracycle in pix above, must add emphatic plug for my fave vehicle ever. Not only do I save tons of $ on gas, theres the invaluable fun factor – toting friends on back, cruising by traffic, travelling in STYLE!
Oh, and never dealing w/ parking. We’ll get Siel on an Xtracycle before too long….
Comment by Anna — October 31, 2005 @ 9:17 am
hey hey hey thanks for the props… posted about your posting about my posting about bikes. =]
Comment by eecue — October 31, 2005 @ 1:17 pm
Thanks for stopping by eecue! Still waiting to see if, you know, an xtracycle will drop down from the sky. Otherwise, I’ll be looking into Bitchen. Maybe Penelope’ll be able to give me some words of advice by that time!
And Anna — Keep me posted on the xtracycle thing :) Ahh — For freedom from Exxon –
Comment by Siel — October 31, 2005 @ 11:14 pm