Solstice Quatorzain

Bicyclists consider seasons and segments with interest and reverence. A segment that one is willing to tackle often depends upon conditions at different times of year. Autumn strews bike paths with leaf and twig litter, so streets might be preferable. Icy winter might preempt slippery climbs and descents, so slight rolls appeal. Even muddy spring can reroute you from potholes hidden by puddles. You can choose as you go, but can’t certify what terrain might reveal. Cyclists think in terms of what it will take to begin and end any bit of a ride, perhaps turn aside. Am I steering into a hazards headache? Are my knees up to it? How much exertion will it take? Is there any fuel left in tank? Rather go long way around a towering obstacle, to be frank.

When it comes to urban transportation, BBC Life Project asks. “Maybe the car doesn’t have to be the default?” So many people are stuck in cages because of palpable fear, perceived convenience, and physical weakness, bicyclists are deemed a crank minority as long as gasoline remains available, prejudice against pedaling persists, or price of e-vehicles hover above grasp of masses. Society marginalizes cyclists because they act singularly. Critical Mass did raise awareness and inspired planning that led to action, in this case, cheap paint designating bike lanes in some cities where mayors understood. Labann has even painted own bike lanes at neglected sites and pointed out pavement oversights on bikeways by circling them with temporary highlights.

Like city planners, composers, craftsmen and wordsmiths assemble elements. Artists and authors, on the other hand, derive visions out of interactions in moments, new memes, and old tropes. Literary artists cannot create from nothing, take tiny fragments of own life to weave into narratives without, necessarily, malicious intents. Though developed experientially, B&C extrapolated logically and passed along input from sportifs who learned the ropes. Companion Reader complements referentially and expands upon appendices. Believe it wise to advise whence text derives rather than simply let readers surmise. Barely acceptable products are an amalgam of many components and contributors. Anything of value comes from cooperation and distribution in tandem with individual determination.

Fabric of life benefits from varying strands, from emotionally intelligent to physical strong to spiritually pliant. Never beloved and seldom liked is anyone who shocks others awake with heartfelt honesty. A poet can capture vibrant insights though likely stands to be dismissed, hated or ignored until all goes wrong and policies fail to go along. No system withstands very long, not even quatorzain sonnets 14 stanzas strong. You can tolerate incompetence in many fields, but not government. Unfortunately, that’s where it’s most prevalent. There's nothing quite like song as a sweet caress to soothe wounds endured while meeting demands in shifting sands; audiences devote short segments of their lives to those they choose to hear.

Eric Knight’s orchestral piece The Great American Bicycle Race never made it onto B&C’s song list because no recording had been found. But according to a contemporary New York Times article, The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra recorded it in 1983. Knight, who was principal pops conductor of the orchestra, was commissioned to write “music to bike by” to commemorate the United States Professional Cycling Championship won by David Phinney that year. Performed live only once since by Philharmonisches Orchester Würzburg in 2014, can only imagine how its 6 minutes of bassoons, clarinets, piccolos, strings, and timpani sound. Knight described it as a rousing American fanfare, followed by a polka or galop (a duple time dance from 1820’s Paris) that represents movement. “It has a slow, bluesy middle section - I imagined this to represent them going very slowly uphill - and then it ends with a puff of smoke.”

John Farnham, Break The Ice, Rad [Soundtrack], Curb Records, 1986

Thanks go to Dinnos Demian, who recently updated an impressive 181 bicycle song list on Youtube. Majority were already listed in B&C, but found these 14 hitherto unknown on-point tunes below, more later. Not conversant in Greek, did not know ποδήλατο (podilato) meant bicycle. Further investigated best and cogent, skipped obscure, though worth a look. Historic wonderworker Saint Nicolas of Bari and Myra was a Greek, known now as jolly elf Santa so closely associated with holiday season. Foolish to forget how popular bikes could be on Greece’s 227 inhabited islands among 6000, especially given economic downturn over last decade. Another nation archipelago, Japan’s 6852 islands are likewise infested with jitensha, where Santa begins to unload all those wished for bicycles on his westward itinerary.

Kostas Makedonas, To podilato [Greek], Pame gia orthopetalies, Sony BMG Music, 1996

Aya Hisakawa, Ashita mo mata Jitensha (Bicycling Again Tomorrow) [Japanese], Sailor Moon [Soundtrack], Toei Animations Company, 1996
Hopeful personality image song depicting character Ami Mizuno, who becomes Sailor Mercury in hit TV anime series which spawned a media universe. Sailors are teens who become warrior defenders against evil villains. “Handles - Pedals - Brakes - Tires - Chainz: It’s all exceedingly logical. He's coming to show me his new trick on the bike he loves. What is it about it that appeals to him so much? Bicycle - Marvelous magic. It’s a little frustrating... I’m losing my breath... squeezing out my last bit of strength. The sky unfurling... The sun setting in the city below...  It was the first time I'd started riding downhill! Bicycle - Melting into the wind... His smiling face, the scenery around me... Bicycle - Wondrous magic!”

Aqua Timez, Jitensha (Bicycle) [Japanese], 「七色の落書き (Seven-colored Graffiti), Epic Records Japan, 2006 “Bicycle, my bicycle, I'll put you on it. The dream that we had... is for us. It ’s brilliant.”

Eleni Vitali, Το ποδήλατο (The bicycle) [Greek], Epta... Kai Na Prosecheis, Melody Maker, 2008

Pavlos Pavlidis & B Movies, Το ποδήλατο [Greek], Ayto to Ploio Poy Olo Ftanei, Archangel Music, 2010
“I saw you by chance riding your bike, You looked as if the world was made to be yours... Paradise is like a road that reaches you.”

Too Dumb To Die, Little Bike, single video, self, 2008
When this European band on a world tour by bicycle arrived in Japan, chance acquaintance Moku Teraoka shot a video.

Serafim Tsotsonis, Bicycles On Hudson (no bike lyrics), So This Is Heaven, Klik Records, 2011

Sisterkingkong, The Glory Is Lost [German in English], She Sees Wolves, VierSieben Records, 2011
No bike lyrics, band slow rides bikes throughout official video.

Giorgos Dimitriadis & Lakis Papadopoulos, Pare Podilato (Get a Bicycle) [Greek], single live, Minos-EMI SA, 2012

Killo Killo Banda, My Bike [Serbian reggae], Amongst the People, Phonofile Balkan, 2012
“I like to ride my bike... It gives me inspiration, a kind of meditation. It gives me comfort, the only way of transport... in this concrete meadow... You can never get me down. I’m the king of the clowns with a wheel as my crown.” Catchy.

Lucas Santtana feat. Féfé, Diário de uma bicicleta [Portuguese], Sobre Noites e Dias [About Nights and Days], No Format!, 2014
“You, me, us and our friends. Sun, grass, bicycles and whatever happens... My life on the pedal, slowly... Don't try not to overtake, friend. Face the gap. Here comes the bus. They don't scare me, but without experience and caution they’ll devour you.”

Sotiris Alexakis, The girl with the bicycle [Greek instrumental], single/video, self, 2018
Simple pleasures of pedaling seaside promenades into town at night.

Konstantinos Angelopoulos, Μπλε Ποδήλατο (Blue Bicycle) [Greek], single, self, 2017
“With my old blue bike, I'm looking for an unguarded border to escape the downhill, because its cost is unprofitable... wheel and my durable tire, life short or a quatrain?”

Jitensha, Under Control [Canadian folk], Periscope, self, 2019
“Don’t get emotional. You’ve got to ride it out. You got a long way to go. Relax. You got it under control... With every mile that passes, you start to understand. What once looked like a mountain can fit inside of your hand.”