Back on Bike, Narain?

"If we don't have the right to breath and walk freely then we cannot talk of city's development. Freedom from all pollution ought to be seen as a matter of right,” said Director General Sunita Narain of New Delhi’s Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a position she has held for 4 decades from which she earned listing among Time’s 100 Most Influential People and numerous international awards. A year before, this advocate of commuter bicycling, ecology regeneration, poverty reduction, and sustainable practices was mowed down by a motorist while pedaling to work, sustaining severe injuries. Name of Narain derives from Sanskit term nārāyaṇá, literally "eternal man”. Inundated with hesitancy and negativity, some percentage of cyclists will always become disillusioned and give up.

Despite Narain’s courageous return to cycling and persistent environmental warning, air pollution in India’s cities has now reached crisis levels. Global warming has also caused record heats and resultant droughts throughout America’s West. Can forest fires be far behind? Republican senators still only support one congressional bill calling for improving roads to burn fossil fuels faster. Their reckless greed and rigid reliance on gun and oil lobbies will doom mankind. Don't look to heroes for redemption.

Your basic humanity is denied if you can’t safely bike or walk alongside motor vehicles. Motorists have no exclusive right to roads, merely a regulated privilege; they must operate within rules, remediate pollution, and share with all other users. Since society largely overlooks this for sake of convenience and ease, those who travel sustainably get called jaywalkers, have been marginalized, often sacrificed, and sometimes shot.

Ben Passmore, Once More, With Feeling [excerpt panel], April 15th, 2021

Hypocrites who belittle decent choices and family values run NGOs that cover all sorts of lesser issues. One billion innocents have been massacred by motor vehicles since introduced. Between Juneteenth and July 4th humanity should be inspired to seek freedom from nation’s 3 biggest scourges: Cancers, car crashes, and cardiovascular diseases, all resulting from automotive and petrochemical devotion. Pandemic binge watching begat bogus shame phrase “quarantine fifteen”, though 61% of Americans do admit recent weight gain with 45% now overweight amidst twin epidemics of diabetes and obesity. Fat people should bike shamelessly, since they’d benefit most.

Ameliorative alternatives and transportation interaction will always be legitimate topics for discussion and expletives. Evidence abounds in art forms: Books, movies, poems, and songs that Labann continues to discover and highlight, not just someone’s unexamined top 10. Thousands of media examples have contributed to one of the biggest bike booms in history. Who now can call Bicycling Culture a non sequitur or oxymoron? It’s a way to address most of what ails mankind. Vive le velorution! Need B&C go on boring and cajoling readers with big words and compelling statements?

Antisocial teen bicyclist Dinky Bossetti (Winona Ryder) anxiously prepares to Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (Jim Abrahams, dir., 1990) along with majority of Clyde, Ohio residents, who have planned a gala event. Adopted as an infant, she believes her birth parents are Denton Webb (Jeff Daniels) and title demimondaine Roxy, who as a teen abandoned a baby and town for national celebrity. Perennial Oscar nominee Thomas Newman wrote film’s score including one minute instrumental G on a Bike about school crush Gerald Howells (Thomas Wilson Brown), who also rides. Stinky Dinky expects mom to take her away, thereby finally savor acceptance. Instead she grows up after learning a cruel life lesson.

Contestants in Blainsworth Bike-a-Thon pedal right into Night of the Twisters (Timothy Bond, dir., 1996). Teen protagonist Danny Hatch (Devon Sawa) tacos his front wheel on final sprint, so loses race, but wins raffle for a brand new bike. Later he’s riding to protect community against a rash of Nebraska tornados.

Seeing his bicyclist cheerleader crush Madison (Nicole Badaan) being sexually propositioned by adult redneck hunters in a pickup truck, Percy (Adam Raque) creates a diversion and ditches them on his BMX. Unfortunately, deep in woods he takes a wrong turn into an endo and winds up unconscious. When he comes to, he meets a new friend, Bigfoot (Kevin Tenney, dir., 2009). Lots of pedaling later, Percy’s bike posse saves Bigfoot from hunters. This Family Channel feature had cost only one-fiftieth of Harry and the Hendersons (William Dear, dir., 1987), which also runs counter to allegedly ferocious Sasquatch behavior and undermines any cryptozoological assessment.

Exists (Eduardo Sánchez, dir., 2014) mimics Blair Witch filmography to tell horror story of five East Texas campers. Arriving at Uncle Bob’s remote cabin, they encounter evidence they are being stalked. Besieged by Bigfoot, who destroys their car, group hunkers down while Matt (Samuel Davis) bikes to where there’s cell reception to call Bob for help. Bad mistake. Despite shelter, technology and weapons, nobody survives mayhem.

Hin und weg (aka Tour de Force, Christian Zübert, dir., 2014), has sun setting on Hannes (Florian David Fitz). At onset of his circle’s annual bike tour he reveals it will be his last. ALS diagnosis gives him 6 months of physical participation before succumbing to neuromuscular incapacity. Shocked and tearful, they embark as planned on a wild adventure in Belgium, celebrating life as never before, realizing how precious life is.

Classic narrative is replaced with hypnotic images and trance beats in Polish drama Jak calkowicie zniknac (aka How to Disappear Completely, Przemyslaw Wojcieszek, dir., 2014). Two ladies, Gerda (Agnieszka Podsiadlik) and Little Bandit (Pheline Roggan) meet in Berlin’s underground, then drift seductively by bike, on foot, and riding subway through its night-scape. As Radiohead, whence title, said, “Melody is dead; rhythm is king.” Substitute “story” and “exploits”, and you get gist of director's intention.

Musíme se sejít (aka We Need to Meet, David Král, dir., 2016), follows gross misadventures of hapless Czech cycling foursome (one with teen son in tow), played by amateur actors (standup comedians), as they tour landscape outside Prague en route to Bambus Camp that they nostalgically recall from youth, long since closed. Critics weren’t amused by this “Dumber and Dumberest” low budget road trip.

Au Nom de la Terre (aka In The Name of the Land, Edouard Bergeon, dir., 2019) is based upon director’s own upbringing. After roaming Rocky Mountain ranches and seeing world a bit, Pierre Jarjeau (Guillaume Canet) returns to buy out family business west of Paris from his cruel, unforgiving father. His young family bikes through the bucolic Mayenne landscape like so many recreational day trippers and Tour de France dreamers. But reality of living off the land today is shocking. This film exposes bank loans, conservative bullying, corporate pressures, and tax brutality for suicidal desperation they impose on agricultural lifestyles. Rural isolationists don’t realize how much they’re cherished by those who rely on their contributions. But it’s not why aging champion Mark Cavendish, having arrived at nearby Pontivy dismissed from former team but given a chance by another, sat crying after his 31st TdF stage win, second only to Eddie Merckx’s 34. On final sprint in Stage 21, he'd miss breaking record by a wheel radius.

Just out on Disney+, new Pixar animated feature Luca (Enrico Casarosa, dir., 2021), follows mermen buddies Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer) and Luca (Jacob Tremblay) onto beach of Italian coastline (Cinque Terre), where they assume human form (as long as kept dry) and befriend Giulia (Emma Berman), who introduces them to terrestrial thrills and watches Luca race down hills on her single speed bike. Daredevil duo also rigs up an abandoned Vespa into a BMX ramp jumper. Their chance to fulfill dreams and gain acceptance comes from winning a triathlon with Luca riding bike leg. This family fare is rated G with plenty of pathos and pesto.