Define Bargain

Having studied anatomy and psychology with a notion to graduate medical school and practice psychopathology, chuckle to know a “trick cyclist” can sometimes be just a gibe for a “psychiatrist”. But fancy riding and treating crazies both invite bruises and worries. Stuck within a brainwashing regime where sanewashing every inane executive act occurs daily, analysis of abnormal behavior occupies way too much of everyone’s time. Didn't sign up for no-choice diktats, postmaster fraud, or ridiculous extortions. There are enough grievances worthy of resistances including connectivity fee hikes, planned obsolescences, and product shrink-flation amidst historic dollar inflation and federal debt at $50 trillion. That's 5 followed by 13 zeroes, which is 12 times what IRS collects annually, while government budget exceeds entire amount, so never pays down debt you owe. Last hurrah for Labor Day, because your dutiful efforts dug deeper holes for yourselves, while sweetheart deals develop ever fewer jobs.

While riding AMONG, not impeding, traffic (bicyclists and pedestrians are integral to overall flow), was twice zoomed by both an “Abuisick” SUV guarded by its aggressive triple shields, and a brutal land cruiser with state plates driven by a soccer mom with kids, which doesn’t much sound like an administrative function for which taxpayers should have to pick up tab. This leapfrog scenario happens as a result of traffic lights, which repeatedly halt motorists with bicyclists catching up, though on uncontrolled stretches operators typically escape into distance.

Scofflaws are hereby placed on notice that bad driving, including pinching off cyclists, could invite a personal retaliation or traffic citation. Cyclists memorize license plates, and might later find that car parked. Why risk deep scratches or flat tires that could become costly damages, time killers, or tows? Why should hundreds of millions put up with a few hundred oppressors causing so many woes? Insurance premium increases do and should target repeat offenders. One is always responsible for own conduct, but that goes both ways.

“Cyclosporter” parasite promoter prez T-wrecks has always had a reptilian lust for taut athletes and teen queens. De Turd's bankruptcies and jealousies incited Tour de Trump, staged only twice with no chance of competing against storied Tour de France, year's most attended sporting event in the world for over a century. Pageant involvement was plagued with molestation complaints. New York Times (behind its paywall, so no link) recently reported his absolute animus against bicyclists, pedestrians, and women through transportation measures that will purge as many of them as possible. His executive fiats violate constitution and numerous federal laws passed by representative legislators on behalf of public, just another reason to despise, impeach, and imprison his diapered butt. Only acts of congress allow changes to earmarked grants or home rules. Such reports go practically unnoticed by anyone, especially bike advocacy nonprofits, who rely on chances that government TIP grants will continue, thus entice charitable donors; otherwise it’s game over.

USDOT’s Sworn Doofus rescinded $100’s of millions in active Biden grants, shifted to car-centric infrastructure planning, and started scrubbing bicycle specific safety regulations from agency standards and websites. What are administration’s lies that try to to disguise these illegal acts? “Bike paths and road diets are ‘hostile to cars’, while bike presence impedes traffic flow, increases road congestion, and reduces vehicle capacity.” Sounds ignorant or insane, no? Should have divulged real reasons: Huge windfalls for already heavily subsidized Big Oil and redoubled kickbacks for a crime family forever on a greedy grift netting billions each term. They’ve already begun to claw back grants, condition funding upon agreeing to strip bike accommodations from approved transit redesigns, and remove existing cycling infrastructure where it occupies space previously used by motorists, although some of these efforts face legal challenges in court from concerned groups, local leaders, and municipal officials, whose job it is to assess, implement, and strategize based on resident demands in compliance with Code of Federal Regulations. New York City already secured court orders against their targeted attempts there. Also too late here; Build Back Better repaved 100 miles of bike paths, good for 2 decades or whenever democracy returns.

Local councils who undid unsustainable traffic planning scored incalculable benefits for everyone in a dozen major cities, as Tom Babin testified last spring. They have the receipts: Better air quality, fewer accidents, less crime, life saving mental and physical boosts, lowered costs, multilateral flow relief, and renewed small business profits. Petroleum exhaust is a primary air spoiler contributing to COPD and heart disease, nation’s #1 killer. Automotive convenience confined in fumes is an obscene and shameful bargain at best, really an inimical but unrecognized danger that has killed more people than warfare over last 100 years.

Go ahead; delete dedicated bike lanes and designated shoulders. Means 70 million bicyclists must take to travel lanes to which they're fully entitled to use. Three times as many motorists can be assured this will limit speed to a de facto average of 12 mph, except on limited access highways distantly apart from actual destinations. Before you go grab a mug of joe to sip in gridlock as slow cyclists squeeze past on mandatory shoulders comparatively saving dough. This can only get worse as more and more road users adopt acoustic and electric bikes due to idiotic tariffs and sick wars that have driven up fuel prices and emptied strategic oil reserves. The real war is how enemies in office implement policies to traumatize three hundred million Americans, who still have to pay for bombproof limos a small cadre of subjugators use to protect themselves against them, though they’ll be sitting in snarl with all motor passengers unless congress reverses. Next, they’ll ban and confiscate bicycles, as did their 1940's führer. Bicyclists discern and emphasize with discomfort and suffering; greed driven narcissists in cars never care.

Such desires, emotions, trials and tribulations fill a director’s palette. American filmmakers have had a century of freedom to expose cruelty, say and show practically anything, and spend literally trillions to entertain, persuade, and titillate with original and outrageous presentations. This bred both bad and good, but served a wide range of needs including entertaining, imagining, informing, and promoting democracy. Many movies set in years since their introduction after Civil War feature bicycles in crucial roles, as seen in examples below.

Urban documentary 1 Way Up (Amy Mathieson dir., 2014) follows two teens, Quillan Isidore and Tre Whyte, who hope to escape one of London’s toughest gang neighborhoods through the Peckham BMX Club on route to World Championships. Though R rated for explicit language and violence, it smashes ghetto preconceptions and racial stereotypes.

In British historical drama The Choral (Nicholas Hytner, dir., 2025), Ralph Fiennes plays Dr. Henry Guthrie, an uncompromising stand-in for town’s chorus master, who joined armed forces for service overseas in WWI. Set in 1916 in Yorkshire Dales, young men ride bicycles that create a stark contrast between carefree innocence and looming devastation on the Western Front. Bicycles represent pre-war era, while conscription of bicyclists represents realities of war.

Australian plus size positive actress Rebel Wilson on a bicycle with a basket and training wheels rides throughout a Noom weight loss spot, Lose for Keeps (July, 2026), while eschewing persistent food temptations. It's not the first time she's been filmed riding bikes.

French comedy Good Vibes Only (Pour le plaisir, Reem Kherici, dir., 2026) is based upon the true story of Bavarian hobbyist Michael Lenke. Inspired by a medical study on scarcity of orgasms among women, Lenke built in 2014 a prototype air pulse clitoral stimulator using an aquarium pump, plastic tubing, and testing by his wife Brigitte. The Womanizer reached a climax in sex tech, which grew taboo since 1922. By 1970 feminist Irina Dunn had already coined the adage, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” In film, married spouses of 20 years Fanny (Alexandra Lamy) and Thomas (François Cluzet) didn’t know what they were missing until Thomas invents a new toy. They celebrate success with a duo bike ride.

French feature film Le crime du 3e étage [The Crime on the 3rd Floor] (Rémi Bezançon, dir., 2026) is deemed a comedic homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window where François Tarnowski (Gilles Lellouche), a writer of historical crime novels, and lovely partner Colette Courreau (Laetitia Casta), a Hitchcock expert, believe they witness a crime through a "rear window" being committed at a neighbor’s apartment behind theirs. Both bike about collecting evidence.

Also set in Paris, where cyclistes are the rule rather than exception, Hugo (Pascal Bonitzer, dir., 2026) hears Fabrice Luchini (Robert Zucchini) reading passages from his favorite author, Victor Hugo, on stage to packed audiences. His true goal, however, is to reconnect with his estranged daughter as he pedals around The City of Light.

Darkness follows in experimental Italian short Roadkill (Vito Nicoletta, dir., 2026), which displays humanity’s adversarial relationship with natural environment while slowly riding a bicycle past assorted dead creatures terminated without remorse by technological conveniences, such as those preferred by current regime.

Just gets worse with horror short Something Might Be Wrong (Eymen Karahan, dir., 2026), filmed on location in Genk, Belgium but with Turkish dialogue throughout. Teenage cyclist Serdar (Muhammed Kiraz) rides his bike through a local forest, then struggles to distinguish between actual reality and his own auditory hallucinations, as he descends into a fragmented nightmare. External danger may also be closer than he thinks. On own recent isolated ride segment, was more aware than ever how appropriate its tagline can be, “Don't roam the trees alone, because you're never alone.” Doesn’t take a priest or psychologist to explain one’s unexpected enthusiasm in encountering an idyllic open meadow along a road surrounded by tangled understory. Can personally attest to having seen where few New Englanders go strange creatures in abandoned corners, e.g., supernatural entities, supposedly extinct Eastern catamounts, and world’s worst mass murderer, mosquitos. Yet fear 47 with nukes more than Iran's theocrat kooks. 

Or maybe they’re aliens from other planets, allegedly posing as nonthreatening species to study humans. That’s one tenet of summer blockbuster Disclosure Day (Steven Spielberg, dir., 2026). Meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) and whistleblower Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) discover they have paranormal abilities imparted upon them during alien abductions, a truth only they wish to share to the world and worried authorities want to suppress. Of course, they’re involved in a bicycle chase scene that harks back to ET: The Extraterrestrial. Phone home.

Exposing antisocial behaviors, not at all uncommon given 25% of people (esp. crack, meth, and steroid abusers) are aggressively messed up mentally, may have negative effects, such as encouraging more. Tizzy Ent (Michael McWhorter) tries to sort out bicyclist Gary’s allegations against a motorist buzzing by in new Discovery Channel docuseries How to Catch a Dirtbag (Season 1, Episode 3). His frenzied complaint to police lands Gary a citation for disorderly conduct. He could have just reported vehicle’s plate number rather than try vigilante vengeance, though police seldom enforce laws designed to protect bicyclists and tend to favor motorists.

Set for September release, romantic fantasy sequel Practical Magic 2 (Susanne Biers, dir., 2026) revisits the Owens coven 25 years later. Daughter Kylie’s boyfriend, played by Xolo Maridueña, riding a bicycle with a bouquet of flowers gets gravely injured when a motorist slams into him. This tragic event compels her, Gillian (Nicole Kidman), Sally (Sandra Bullock) and their aunties to begin a course of action to rid family of its longstanding love curse. In part 1, Sally's beloved husband, while pushing a hand truck with racks of apples across village's main street, gets suddenly distracted by a phalanx of cyclists, then slaughtered by a tractor trailer, thus fulfilling jinx.

Paine for Germain

When did the fork crotch replace fork crown for forking around? Long before trending among 1990’s hybrid and mountain bikes and today’s gravel style, in 1899 Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Works patented a double arched, non-brazed, welded fork, with sides oval in cross section. What once was always seems to recycle historically, including not only bike technology, but fascism, monarchy, slavery, and sociopathy.

George Germain. Viscount of Sackville, didn't foresee Thomas Paine’s Common Sense becoming a royal pain. Published on January 10th, 1776, exactly 250 years ago today, during its currency this pamphlet was almost as popular as and sold more copies than The Bible within a predominantly Christian community.

Paine’s impassioned persuasion and "No Kings" prototype rallied colonists to cut exploitive ties with English Crown. Just 6 months later they declared independence. However, George III had heeded Germain’s advice to harvest overseas investments through repression and taxes, enforced by atrocities and massacres. Taking farmers and followers for granted, Germain underestimated 13 mainland colonies and veered into Caribbean with military diversions and incursions. Sound familiar? All of their disrespect and intractability practically assured British defeat in The American Revolution (Ken Burns, dir., 2025. current miniseries).

Freedom’s resolve is an unstoppable adversary. Germain was deranked and recalled to England, where, as a noble heir, he demanded a public court martial. Crown obliged and he was dishonorably discharged altogether in humiliating disgrace, never to recover his ill gotten prestige. Odd that Burns didn't highlight him or Paul Revere in maybe his last documentary, given federal cuts to PBS funding. All pain, no gain. Does you no good to complain; just feel worse after, nobody listens anyway, while your reputation circles down the drain.

Right words at right time will cause deranged despots, smug snots, and terrible tyrants to swear, sweat, and tremble. Only fascists fear nonexistent ANTIFA as the baba yaga of domestic terrorism, along with art, commentary, performance, and writing that expose their nefarious dissemble and resist their extremist policies that cost lives, shelter, and wothwhile economies. Can't hide facts of crimes for long, especially ones against humanity televised for The People and their prosecutors to witness for themselves. Privileged situations can turn on a dime. Entire cabinet can be impeached and imprisoned within statute of limitations time.

What do you call this blog? Citizen journalism or clinquant deception? You might complain these posts quickly detour into dark cul-de-sacs. Last entry, before busy holidays, was titled with a hapax portmanteau resembling an overused spice flavor. Anyone can compose hopeful, nonthreatening text to reap praise from self deceiving admirers. Why then do authors or journalists gamble their lives and reputations publishing unabashed truths? Encyclopedias aren’t popular. Wikipedia always begs for funding.

Catering to the affluent who dominate media pays better than heroically standing up for the indigent. Why paddle doggedly upstream? Why pedal honorably upslope? Concerted effort overcoming obstacles is how you succeed, but rewards obviously aren't guaranteed. Lazy methods make one fat, stupid, and susceptible to brain/sane washing and crazy controls that instill doubt and fear. Hard not to recall cool satire of Jonathan Swift while riding cruel streets on a Brooks old school Swift saddle. To ironically add insult to injury, an executive edict just stopped making common cents. Businesses anxious to make change are buying rolled pennies at a premium, $1.40 per hundred; a roll of 50 wheat pennies is actually worth $3.00 to any coin dealer.

Inspired by the michaudine, mankind’s first pedaled bicycle, purloined a French nom de plume, Labann, implying a declaration of intolerance for injustice and an eternal curse against state marginalization of bicycling borne with righteous dignity, versus Batman’s Bane, who presented an existential threat and warranted severest of penalties, as does every traitor and villain. One doesn’t just pluck an alter ego from rare ether. Riding a freedom machine among a brotherhood of equals makes one wonder why anyone would prefer to be cheated, threatened, or victimized rather than assume personal responsibility, learn governance for themselves, resist temptations of comforts, take charge of routine business, and undermine mewling dweebs on a power sweep. Propelling by pedal among millions of others supposedly sharing roads, bicyclists come to fully appreciate equality, fraternity, and liberty of France's tripartite motto, another undervalued benefit to reap.

"It is no longer necessary to go into lengthy detail about the usefulness of the bicycle, because it has long since established itself as indispensable in our national life...A good bicycle...provides just the needed exercise for keeping in good health, and in the most pleasurable way. It means quick and safe transportation at the cost of practically nothing. It enables one, at any time, to take the fresh-air-route all over the highways of health, and be independent of crowded trolley and railroad cars of slow and interrupted service... Many boys and girls get back the purchase price of their bicycles with money earned after school hours, and on Saturdays, by running errands and delivering packages...The bicycle is the safest outdoor sport anyone can take up ...an Iver Johnson Bicycle bought today [list price $120.00], if treated right, will be handed down from father to son...” - J. Lovell Johnson, Iver Johnson Catalog, Fitchburg, MA, 1928

By way of a run-on rant, today’s confluence of artificial intelligence, automotive convenience, corrupt politics, instant gratification, and virtual presence has already arrived at an unsustainable destination. Rather than serving needs of the many, scheme relinquishes control to oligarchs, who, by definition, are a small but vicious minority driven by self interest at the expense of 350 million coequal members of a Democratic society. Masses only acquiesce because they were conditioned to believe that some designated driver rules and they don't. It’s gotten so bad that optics of lavish parties and revenue raids while qualified programs are being unilaterally terminated don’t rise to overwhelming outrage, revolution even. Bullies get away with capital offenses by blaming victims and pitting underprivileged against unhomed individuals. SNAP family kids must go hungry because POTUS and SCOTUS want to lord over public and maximize political leverage.

Average voters already have a profound grievance; imagine how maniacs, sociopaths, and such “special folks" feel with current clown at the head of their class. Maybe white supremacists are proud to see a fellow deviant rise to “Leader of the Free World”. Or maybe they feel uneasy about impending legislation leveled against them. A diagnosis might mean your privileges and rights are forfeit, like operating a motor vehicles or simply mingling outdoors. SCOTUS recently decided they can't own weapons. Severely disturbed people were once imprisoned in asylums until they proved themselves fit to return to society. Felons among them served life sentences or were summarily executed.

Everyone, including those so afflicted, ought to survive if not thrive under world’s richest economy. If you’re sinking or underwater with food and shelter uncertainty, blame billionaires, Congress, and cryptocurrency CEOs, who deny you by keeping wages low and tightening money supply. Soon your foreclosed property, tanked investments, and worthless savings will lead to serfdom under self-made royalty dictating your only path forward. Is dystopia not what you signed up for? Nonconformity and self defense are legal. Nothing can stop encouraged and organized masses. Not deterring invaders, improving lives, and lowering costs, regime is instead lowering standards, murdering moms, redefining citizenship, stripping rights, and taking agency cost avoidances for themselves. After a decade of word salad rife with thousands of demonstrable lies, how can you believe anything they say?

Low frustration quotient? No, low tolerance for willful stupidity, a form of community abuse and consequence of antisocial self interest. Those who lay down and let themselves be subjugated don’t earn a free pass, they get abused all the more, having made easy targets of themselves, kicked to the curb. Sadistic curs given immunity sucker punch the most vulnerable relentlessly, since they so often get away with it. That’s how extortion succeeds; deals dangled can range from fear of being beaten, embarrassed, exposed, imprisoned, punished, or stripped of dignity, freedom, property, rights, or wealth. Often the slightest resistance foils them completely. Just say no to the despicable, few, powerless, thoughtless autocrats, dictators, and tyrants.

B&C is art, the antithesis of AI slop, laden with empathy and imagination, versus generic digital content devoid of emotional appeal and human interest. Bicycling is dark woke performance art when wars are being fought over oil consumerism. Gasoline is no queen. Anthropologists say if only 3% of any constituency raise their voices in protest collectively, chain of command and repressive governance will usually get deposed; that's only 1% more than number who showed for last coast-to-coast protest. With approval polls in every category now at historic lows, any push will renew citizen commitment to democracy and topple delusional rule. Given facts, it took only one pamphlet and residual tea tax from Townshend Acts for fathers to found the greatest nation ever despite destiny and drawbacks.

“Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever I choose... Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing. Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms... Strong and content I travel the open road. The earth, that is sufficient... You road I enter upon and look around... I believe that much unseen is also here... I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.” Walt Whitman, Song of the Open Road, 1856, describes freedom to live fully and joyfully through courage and motility

Punkin’ “Cinemain”

Riding around lately noticing obsessions with “Horrorween” decorations and orange greasepaint clown creations. Are homeowners trying to dodge own anxiety and dread from nation’s walking dead who only vote red? Don’t you adore commentators who endorse Top Ten lists deciding for you what to explore? “Compared to what?” those they annoy might ask. How many films have these pumpkin headed critics seen? Small sample numbers bias opinions and skew perceptions. Labann has viewed tens of thousands, though only a few thousand set within last 200 years actually involve bicycling, mere hundreds in some main role. Among the many mentioned or reviewed never rated any against another, given each have scenes worthy of attention that uniformed punks ignore.

Excusable mistakes in Bike&Chain’s appendix “Bike Obsessed Films” rate a retraction. Long unavailable Les Bicylettes de Belsize (Douglas Hickox, dir., 1968) is a short musical with almost no spoken dialogue about Steve (Anthony May) recklessly riding a Raleigh RSW16 (not a Moulton) sans helmet on location in Hampstead, London, England. Belsize Park neighborhood in title of famous Englebert tune (someone else sang on soundtrack) is never visited. One morning Steve evades 2 broadsides and gets into 2 minor crashes before falling in love on first sight with Raleigh billboard model Julie (Judy Huxtable). Best to review after you actually view.

The Cyclist, aka Peloton (John Lawrence, dir., 2012), depicts down-on-his-luck self-absorbed athlete Nash (K.C. Clyde), looking to resume his racing career while scraping by as a messenger. There’s a contrasting Iranian film under same title, aka Bicycleran (Mohsen Makhmalbaf, dir., 1989), in which a motivated Nasim (Moharram Zaynalzadeh), hoping to pay wife’s medical bill, will do anything for money, including marathon riding in a circle nonstop for 7 days. Both plumb depths to which humans will go when determined to succeed or survive.

Infinitely Polar Bear (Maya Forbes, dir., 2015) depicts Boston biracial married couple Cam (Mark Ruffalo, Avengers) and Maggie (Zoe Saldaña, Avatar) as they try to work around his bipolar disorder and their two school age girls so she can attend Columbia’s MBA program in New York full time for 18 months. Set amidst the 1970’s bike boom, filmed on location in Providence, Rhode Island, in manic mode Cam bikes around in a speedo and embarrasses family. Despite important story and star cast (including cycling obsessed and often mentioned Ruffalo), film didn’t return 25% of its investment.

In “awesome” short Litterbugs (Peter Stanley Ward, dir., 2016), precocious inventor Alice (Leila Wetton) and tween sidekick Stanley (James Grogan) get even with mean girls who’ve bullied them. Riding out to a junk yard on her adult tricycle, Alice scavenges castoff gadgets and mechanical litter then recycles into "robugic" drones to do her bidding. Vengeance!

Mary Poppins Returns (Rob Marshall, dir., 2018) one generation later to a Banks family in Depression Era crisis at risk of losing their home. Mary (Emily Blunt) advises as usual to “go fly a kite”, through which they avert foreclosure and regain youthful outlook. Leader of lamplighters Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda) makes extended and frequent uses of his cargo bicycle culminating in a dance scene with bike acrobatics and Mary spinning wheelies.

Youths who are bicycling sleuths Elliot (Jensen Gering) and Willow (Catherine White) save mom Celine (Denise Richards) and town of Wickensburg (Richard Boddington, dir., 2022) from an unscrupulous nuclear waste disposer. In worse sequel Return to Wickensburg, 2 years later young adults motor about rather than ride, unlike adventurous twentysomething Anathema Device in Good Omens.

Documentary feature Dear Sirs (Mark Pedri, dir., 2022) retraces by mountain bicycle grandfather Silvio’s route as a soldier captured by Nazis during WWII, a wounded patient mistreated in an insane asylum, an exploited slave scavenging scrap metal, and starving prisoner in Sandbostel’s Stalag 10 concentration camp. While in Hamburg, Mark reflects on Nazi inhumanity by citing ANTIFA dissident and Hitler victim Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Silence in the face of evil is evil itself... No man in the whole world can change the truth. One can only look for the truth, find it, and serve it... Comfort the troubled, and trouble the comfortable.” This one hour sobering reminder exposes what occurs when a nation becomes subservient to a sociopathic tyrant and stops caring about entire community. Nazis detained and murdered anyone who wasn’t compliant and white; history repeats itself, both bad and good, so resistance isn't futile.

Anytime (Darcy Wittenburg, dir., 2024) has extreme sports promoter Red Bull celebrating freeride’s elites through sponsors Arosa Lenzerheide’s Bike Kingdom park, Evoc Sports bags, Maxxis tires, and Shimano components.

Another documentary, The Extraordinary Journey of the Bicycle (Michael Kollatschny, dir., 2024), describes how the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia in 1818 and its dust resultant global winter diverted reliance on horses onto mechanical innovations, such as the draisienne. One might argue that chariots were also bicycles; putting cart wheels in line with a pedal push pulley drive reassigns human riders as horse’s asses.

Gold Peak Tea, Real is Gold spot (2024), “Doesn’t need hype or trickery to be interesting,” because bicyclist spokesman breaks away from phony set to tour exotic fascination of tea plantation.

History Honors 250 is a series of PSA spots that History Channel is running through 2026, when America celebrates its quarter millennium as a Greco-Roman democratic republic... if it makes it that far under current totalitarian threat. Of particular interest is one on Women’s Rights first aired on 7 April 2025 that connects their vote with freedom experienced while riding bicycles.

Itinerant bicyclist Cliff Cash delivered The Long Road standup comedy special and destroyed MAGA mythos specifically.

Xfinity Mobil Spot (2025) shows Frankenstein’s creature bicycling around some dark scary backwater, which inspires learning to cook with a pinch of cinnamon like a gourmet chef. Incongruous?

Jimmy Kimmel Live, September 30th, 2025, half way through show, Seth Meyers’ brother Josh parodied California Governor Gavin Newsom bicycling onto stage, cracking up his Brooklyn audience, and reviving stereotypical west coast tropes. Will show survive?

Mocking Ozempic and Wegovy commercials, Comedy Central’s South Park interrupts itself for a “Lizzo spot" with a stop at a bike shop, then resumes ridiculing godless villainy of Pol Prop. Pigs who want it all pop semaglutide pills to avoid exercise and glomb whatever they want. You can simply adopt riding as a lifestyle and so much safer lose chubby blubber, then thumb your nose at first president since Lincoln who didn’t appreciate bicycling and rather make war against bike advocacy in favor of petroleum consumerism.

Out this October, Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos, dir., 2025) is an absurdist black comedy remake of a South Korean film. Two beekeeping bicyclists, conspiracy theorists, and environmentally conscious twentysomethings, Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and cousin Dan (Aidan Delbis), kidnap and torture powerful pharmaceutical CEO Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), convinced she's an alien who wants to destroy Earth.  Maybe they aren't wrong?

Fantasy/SciFi film in development Ghostwriter (J.J. Abrams, dir., 2025) produced on location in both Glasgow, Scotland, and Rhode Island, USA stars Glen Powell (Twister), Jenna Ortega (Wednesday), and Samuel L. Jackson (Avengers, Pulp Fiction). A bloodied Powell was snapped being filmed along Providence’s Lovecraftian streets for supernatural scenes of him cycling on a Specialized.

Rhythm and sounds of bicycling inspire so many songs, some composed over last 5 years heretofore slipped through cracks:

Christian Alexander, Bicycle, single, AMF Records, 2023

Doon Kanda, Bicycle [piano instr.], Celest, wwwomb, 2023

Eric Owyoung & Future of Forestry, Bicycle [piano instr.], single, Sound Swan Records, 2023

Lili Trifilio, Bicycle, Book Club, 1326398 Records DK, 2019 - “I was riding home on my bicycle on the northwest side of Chicago. Then I saw your face in a rain puddle looking back at me from a car window... If you wanna come and see my new place in the city by the freeway, we could ride our bikes at our own pace. If they break down, we can fix them.”

mariek, Bicycle, single, self, 2021

Nevi, Bicycle [jazz instr.], Istanbul Edition, Losen Records, 2020 - Russian and Turkish musician collaborate; no apparent relation to the Italian bicycle brand.

Sarah Watson, Bicycle [piano instr.], Bicycle EP, self, 2021

Xaia, Bicycle, single, self, 2020 - “I don’t have a car... I’m tired of the yelling, I just want to be alone... All I do is ride my bike all day...”

Poli-Urethane

“Father, father, we don't need to escalate. You see, war is not the answer for only love can conquer hate. You know we've got to find a way to bring some lovin' here today. Picket lines and picket signs: Don’t punish me with brutality. Talk to me so you can see, oh, what's going on... Everybody thinks we're wrong; but who are they to judge us simply 'cause our hair is long?” Al Cleveland, Obi Benson, and Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On, What’s Going On, Tamla, 1971 - Protest song inspired by police brutality on Bloody Thursday in Berkeley hit #1 among Billboard R&B singles, made money for Live Aid chartities, and was covered profitably several times.

Bike&Chain exists because of marginalized bicycling culture, and recognizes “Fertilization Administration” has declared war on citizen cyclists, independent women, and public servants, so any program that supports lane designations, reproductive rights, or safety nets is now forfeit unless they unite to fight. Not to justify latest tirades to youths, culture inseparably intertwines with politics, though often authors won’t admit it. Small shop owners as Aaron Johnson of GoGrava must react to de minimis shutdown and new tariffs. Seems politics at its core tries to score through biased polls, deliberate lies, and varnished truths. David Nyberg debates, “Deception appears to be normal... a workday attribute of practical intelligence,” though ethics advise elsewise on sticky evidence. Mucilaginous polyurethane dries into several bike components including apparel cloth, bar tape, helmet inserts, inner tubes, pump gaskets, saddle shells, and such accoutrements. You're not a thane just because you back a baby daddy dictator politically, have assets worth billions, and want to be called a doge or minister; you must get elected first to govern or represent nation's constituents.

Bike Radar compiled a list of Best Cycling Books 2025, and said it’s for “cycling bookworms”; instead, most titles would only appeal to endurance athletes and wannabe racers rather than poli sci majors. Even James Hibbard’s The Art of Cycling (Quercus, 2021, 320 pp.), previously reviewed, has nothing to do with art or culture at all, rather what’s in it mentally for you, though more recently published than bulk of titles they recommend. By assembling citations and specifying contexts you elevate importance of items probably beyond their worth. Not surprisingly, Labann’s noncommercial volumes were again overlooked.

Zachary Mooradian Furness, Put The Fun Between Your Legs! The Politics and Counterculture of the Bicycle "(University of Pittsburg, 2005, 228 pp.) - Peer reviewed doctoral dissertation includes an extensive bibliography and short filmography, and touches upon all historic points of bicycle advocacy. “My analysis is focused upon the politics of cycling in the United States... largely based upon a critique of car culture, and with it, the ideological assumptions that inform our labor practices, consumption habits, uses of technology, and our relationship to our material world... important to analyze because globalization has resulted in the mass exportation of American culture and economics to other parts of the world.” Dicatators hate that, so VOA was just silenced. Must’ve been something in the air, since Bike&Chain also had been written by then.

Treatment equality among bicyclists, motorists, and pedestrians has been federal law since 1990, but same old culture war persists after decades. Federal Highway Administration officialy reaffirmed in 2010, "Because of the benefits they provide, transportation agencies should give the same priority to walking and bicycling as is given to other transportation modes." Federal regulations prohibit planners from impeding bicycling or severing routes bicyclists use during new construction; bridges must accommodate bicycling and walking. Despite long established guidelines, mounting lawsuit losses, and repeated court injunctions, new regime bullies onward, defies constitution, and ignores observance. But such criticism assumes normality and precedents one hopes, not criminality and disobedience from public servants. Charity directors, law enforcers, and school teachers who witness incivility may sometimes turn into misanthropes. Government officials are supposed to work for your reciprocal cooperation and toward your best interests. Seems cabinet of April fools, Mad Hatter, and March Hare rather make millions of resentful antagonists. Better consider what they do, not believe what serial liars say, to those they harm.

Ken Avidor, Bicyclopolis (2017, 98 pp.) - Intricate bike-centric graphic novel 17 years in the making was self published by this Minneapolis based cartoonist, first mentioned in March of 2011 while still being developed. Through a time travel theme, Avidor predicts where demented environmental and political abandonment lead. Amidst a global climate crisis, it’s not the time to shutter NOAA or withdraw from Paris Accord.

DeFranzy, Cycling is Freedom [German pop], single video, self, 2018 - Just so, suffragette, and when they begin to infringe upon basic motility, call it what it is: verboten slavery, vicious repression, or vote suppression. In a democracy, everyone gets a vote, women in majority foremost, unless theonomic ideology of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaiden’s Tale comes to pass as a direct consequence of Project 2025. Can’t happen here? Read Genesis 29:29. Already has with sex slaves, toxic bros, and worse offenses upon horizon.

Adonia E. Lugo, PhD, Bicycle / Race: Transportation, Culture & Resistance (Microcosm Publishing, 2018, 192 pp.) - Cultural anthropologist defines “mobility justice”, and discusses racial discrimination and sustainable transport. Gets Labann thinking of how bicycles are stolen and vandalized less often than cars, with a huge black market for catalytic converters, quarter panels, and wheel rims to fulfill. Bicycles don’t suit lazy thieves, who'd rather plunder US Treasury, world's biggest target. "Infrastructure neglect" is just another tactic to funnel funds their way. Senator Booker's filibuster set record straight: American people are in charge.

“In mid-2018, women in Saudi Arabia gained the freedom to ride a bicycle, and the efforts of women’s activists such as Baraah Luhaid played a part in this, as she established Spokes Hub... We often see the bicycle just as a form of transport, but it’s much more than that; it’s a classless item that billions of different people across the globe own.” Zain Hussain, The bicycle: a symbol of unification, Medium magazine, 2019 - So, Saudi women are bestowed this right a century later than Americans and Europeans? Wow!

Ken Avidor, Courier, single video, self, 2019; short animation related to a future dystopia where bicycle couriers have to deliver food to front line battle zones instead of Door Dash, Grubhub or Uber Eats after petroleum paradigm crashed. First in a series where sabotage hero poses as a bicycle courier.

Avidor Family Singers, My Bike is Freedom, single video, self, 2020 - Short Ken Avidor animation with an original song. Bicycling is the fifth freedom, along with freedoms from tyranny and want, and of religion and speech, all of which are at risk under authoritarian attack.

Max Whittle, Cycling is Freedom, single video, self, 2020
It’s a sentiment that adheres longer than orange facepaint, more like steadfast shellac.

Peter Cox and Till Koglin (editors), The Politics of Cycling Infrastructure: Spaces and (In)Equality (Policy Press, 2020, 261 pp.) - “Physical infrastructure is currently posited as the primary key to unlock cycling’s potential as a primary mode of sustainable transport... Governance mechanisms that provide for and respond to citizen voices... recognize the need for and implement change... Infrastructure is never neutral and always inherently political.” Most articles in this anthology based analyses on European cities. In USA, conservative congressmen aren’t even holding public forums anymore.

Some American mayors brazenly act out their bicycling abhorrence. According to Jody Rosen’s article The Bicycle as a Vehicle of Protest, (The New Yorker, 2020), “N.Y.P.D. has a long history of hostility to cyclists... police have used questionable, sometimes violent tactics to sweep up participants in Critical Mass, the guerrilla group rides that aim to promote cyclists’ rights... Transportation issues are social-justice issues... American bike riders [are] of all races and backgrounds, but... The term ‘invisible riders’ has gained currency among critics who decry the marginalization of black, brown, female, and working-class cyclists by establishment activists.” Bike boom at the time kept reluctant bus riders moving alternatively, minimizing recession effects of pandemic quarantines.

Chris Watson, The Bicycling Guitarist, pedals beyond politically correct into some sort of unbalanced chauvinist rant while playing original tunes, poising himself and his Stratocaster guitar, and riding his 1977 Schwinn Sportabout 10-speed in circles.

The Bicycling Guitarist fea. Chris Watson, Repoman, Elektra’s Room, self, 2020 “Oh, Repoman. He likes my band. So I guess my Schwinn is safe from being repossessed. That means it was possessed more than once. Possessed and depossessed, then repossessed. But, fortunately, fortunately it's an ‘exorcise bike’.” Among a half dozen albums, this oddly appears to be only song that directly references bicycling.

American cycling team gets Trapped Inn (Leah Sturgis, dir., 2024) at a remote European mountain lodge; teammates then start unexpectedly dying. Taps into contagion angst. Peloton protagonists Connor (Matt Rife) and Greg (Robert Palmer Watkins) compete to solve this otherworldly mystery. Horror film genre merely mirrors and woefully understates what's now actually occurring because of DOGE meddling in earned benefits, established services, and foreign aid.

Heartfelt 2024 testimony from Claire Pomykala of Living By Bike declares that bicycling at all is a political act. “Resist capitalist forces and lifestyles that sit, to fight status quo, to reconnect with nature, to recognize our ignorance: bicycling is inherently political... Bicycling is revolution.” Battle hardened Claire has bike-packed from Atlanta to Oz through Europe, learned hands-on loads of lore, and taught self a myriad of truths through living vulnerable to what world provides. New US administration believes it can rescind visas. restrict travel, and strip citizenship from anyone who opposes their goal to control, because laws only apply to you, not them. Bicycling is human, not conservative, liberal, or partisan; all demographics ride except abject invalids and beer swilling, coal-rolling, extreme right, fossil fuel addicted wimps, who may or may not notice X's tweet logo now includes a sieg heil salute despite billions in stockholder losses undermining temporary victory. As in all crime syndicates, fraudulent DOGE forwards same fascist agenda yet insulates felon POTUS from prosecution. Unless you're a multimillionaire, you'll pay more taxes and suffer loss of services.

Montreal, Quebec has enjoyed better bike accommodations since Claire Morissette’s advocacy in 1990’s. Yet after decades many residents still don’t get it. A short Oh The Urbanity! documentary, I Went to an Anti-Bike-Lane Revolt (Patrick Murphy, dir., 2024) shreds local misconceptions about alleged bike issues of ableism, ageism, school safety, and such notions adopted without regard of indisputable evidence to the contrary. Everyone is mistreated, some more than others, though goal is to avoid egregious examples. Bruised egos can be self inflicted, so too close to exercising personal freedoms to cure. Roads mistreat bicyclists who nevertheless ride and tolerate them.

Wes Marshall, PhD, PE, Killed by a Traffic Engineer (Island Press, 2024, 424 pp.) - A professor of civil engineering whistleblower contends that AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) guidelines aren’t wholly based on inclusive safety or sound science. “There wasn’t nearly as much science behind the numbers as the 1,000-page manuals make it seem.” No sh*t! says Labann, who spent decades battling bull and writing manuals. Since 1899 when they began counting vehicle crash fatalities, 4 million Americans have died, many times that globally, more Americans than all military conflicts in which they fought including founding revolution. Best laid plans of Three E’s - Education, Enforcement, and Engineering - are rife with shortcomings among texting, tired, and twisted motorists, planners, and police.

“Asking Americans to sacrifice their beloved cars is not a winning political message, but helping them rediscover something they love more can change the world.” Steven Goodridge, The Conservative Case for Walking and Bicycling, Medium magazine, 2024 - Informative article appends a nice bibliography. Could continue with citations and contexts, but do conclude politics concern cyclists. It's too easy to round out paragraphs with so many asinine, bizarre, criminal, and despicable executive fiats signed daily, then immediately struck down by courts as illegal and unconstitutional. Forever forward, forge past onto next spin session and subsequent post toward velorution.

Spilt Champagne

“President he’s got his war; folks don’t know just what it’s for. Nobody gives us rhyme or reason. Have one doubt they call it treason. We’re chicken feathers all without one nut. Goddamn it! Tryin' to make it real compared to what.” - Eddie Harris, Gene McDaniels, and Les McCann, Compared to What, Swiss Movement, Atlantic, 1969... album certified gold and song covered by 270 other performers.

Le Demi-Fond was once a 100 kilometer velodrome event where “the big motor” paced “the stayer”, that is, motorcyclist created a slipstream for drafting bicyclist running huge chainrings to reach speeds up to 124 mph. A popular spectacle from last century, it was inherently dangerous with track competitors and spectators killed and maimed until officially banned in 1994, though something similar is still how bicycle speed records are made on salt flats. Somewhat echoes e-bikes today, which quicken pace so each ride averages 3 to 5 mph faster. Riding bikes used to mean mere spinning; with e-bikes that becomes e-moting, because you frequently have to react in a panic and try to spin faster than motor boost, typically paused at 20 mph, to conserve charge for final segment on tired legs. Although sprayed champagne celebrates podium wins, spilt wine portends disaster. There’s no glory in top speed to which a cyclist strives, just a blur among crowds desperate for fresh air and smidgeon of exercise as Spring season finally arrives.

Level of being admired at zero percentage, aggregator Labann generously marches on never wanting to address attention needy POTUS insanity and wishing current term to be over permanently. Tired of turds dominating words downing out every voter democratically. “Halfway through”, demi-term election might overthrow oligarchy advantage. News used to be idea provoking specifics, not obviously vicious lies, gamely negotiated politics, not gas lit by wise guys. Where’s public outrage upon this perilous stage? Witch hunts describe going after officers doing their jobs who stood in your way when you committed a crime. If you keep misapplying and violating laws, you will be impeached and indicted every time. Whence and whither congressional counterbalance? Court rulings can only compel law abiders; marshals are their sole contempt enforcers if judges take a stance.

American People for nearly a century have long been the bulwark against wanton homicide and a stabilizing influence worldwide. Amagastan dupes don’t inherit this reputation. Christian Nationalists say, “Be charitable to yourself first,” in other words, stuff your pockets at someone else’s expense, even to where others perish or suffer for your greed and predation. They don’t know recipes for stone soups. Homeless beggar Christ amassed no coinage as a carpenter and fisherman, performed miracles and served strangers for free, for which he was crucified and interred penniless in donated linen and tomb by way of example on how to live divinely. To opposite extreme, Mango Mussolini is marching an army of mercs and orcs out of his lair, Mordor Lago, to murder mankind, spill blood, and wreak havoc. Slashing cybercrime mob surveillants, law enforcement agents, inspector general operatives, and national security staff leaves both them and you less protected against megalomaniacal psychopaths who’d burn planet and torture infants for a laugh.

Ruining how agencies run creates dissatisfaction meant to pave way to privatization, falsely reputed to improve efficiency. Taxpayers, which excludes many billionaires who evade paying, have invested literally hundreds of trillions in buildings, equipment, infrastructure, and workforce training. Consider post office with facilities and vehicles (Bezos drools), or military with jets, munitions, tanks, vessels, and weapons (Dumbo tools). Social Security (nobody’s fools) has $3 trillion in a trust fund you amassed. Fort Knox stores your tons of gold treasure, increased in value to $300 billion, enough to reduce public debt if liquidated. Unelected villains want to hand it all over to cronies to exploit for profit, leave citizens impoverished, raise service costs, and rob you blind. You’re already paying millions to El Salvador to inter a few hundred deportees not even indicted while stateside prisons remain full of convicted perps. Tariffs have nothing to do with encouraging domestic production; champagne only comes from France, as do thousands of other goods impossible to copy and only made abroad. It’s all a reality show for the cluelessly gung-ho, not sensible policy for vast majority.

Administrative decisions of late have been met with abject horror among three quarters of population. Not one campaign promise has been fulfilled, and vile edicts are being carried out despite federal court injunctions against. Conservative congress decided to cede their power as a coequal branch of government and let Felon 47 do his damnedest to destroy democracy, exploit war power act to deport without due process and stay in office, and target potential domestic enemies including political opponents and press reporters. How can half of supposed representatives support such unconstitutional injustice? Cowardly congressmen listened to advice not to answer questions or conduct forums. That’s admissible evidence of their violating oaths of office to stand for constituents. A quick fix would be to recall them individually from state to state, which would reverse curse of a slight GOP majority. Investigative journalists hold public officials accountable and shine a light on acts unlawful; otherwise, democracy dies in darkness.

When SCOTUS ruled in favor of Citizens United, it enabled billionaires to buy congressional seats among both major parties, call shots as they please, and determine all policies. Before oligarchs seized control, government had sustained many popular participant programs - Affordable Care, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Supplemental Nutrition - that a succession of Republicans since Reagan wanted to crush and divert funds from held accounts into hands of the richest few. Temptation to smash and steal was just too strong for self indulgent legislators and their stink tank lunatics. Brian Tyler Cohen argues, “This feels like betrayal... We are desperate for fighters... If this crop of elected officials won’t, then people are going to elect new ones who will.”

Make great again for whom? Criminal kleptocrats, crypto schemers, goon squads, greedy oligarchs, privatizing congresspeople, shrewd whores, storm troopers, white supremacists, and yes men. Everyone else will be banished, deported, or targeted. Better watch your back and pack a go-bag when you have to escape, especially congressionally appointed judges forced to follow constitution who block autocratic playbook, or dissidents and opponents to unitary executive rule. “You don’t impeach judges who issues orders you don’t like... Debate makes this country great,” said senior senator Bernie Sanders. Unless as slaves, there’ll be no quarter for Asians, Blacks, Indians, Latinos, seniors, or women. Sorry, MAGA-mob, you were literally sold a big perverse joke and a pig in a poke. Have to have faith they’ve miscalculated effects of mistreating military veterans and public servants, two groups who own lion’s share of nation’s war tactics and weapons expertise. Would not want to take on these patriots in any fight, especially ones that threaten their families.

Voter remorse? “I been a bad, bad, bad man... Remember the time when I eat you up? Yeah, I was a lie that you can't give up. If I was to cheat, oh no, would you see right through me? ...How you like me now? How you like me now?” The Heavy, The House That Dirt Built, Counter, 2009

To whom do you turn? Liam Turner (Robert Timothy Smith) ineptly scribbles a dyslexic Dear Santa (Bobby Farrelly, dir., 2024) letter to North Pole, but transposes characters and winds up with a visit from Dear Satan (Jack Black) from North Lope, who offers him 3 wishes for his soul. Black’s character turns out to be a demon on probation, not Prince of Darkness himself. In another such switcheroo, you got a convicted serial con man instead of a Leader of the Free World. “Slow down, Lance Armstrong,” says school crossing guard (Cate Freedman) to nemesis teacher Mr. Charles (P. J. Byrne), whose midlife crisis has him riding a racing bicycle about town on Christmas Day. They agree to go together for Chinese food, though he rethinks asking her to sit on his back rack, so they stroll instead.

Not all romances conclude happily ever after. In favorably received Netflix series One Day (Luke Snellin, dir., 2024), Episode 13, Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall) and Emma Morley (Ambika Mod) are an engaged couple in 2000, 14 years after they met in Edinburgh at their graduation ball. Having crossed paths for years, they are now planning their wedding. Dexter looks to open a café. Emma’s is about to publish her fourth novel. After a spat, she leaves Dexter an apology note, saying she still loves him and that she'll be five minutes late for their realty appointment to view a honeymoon house. On a rainy Saturday, Saint Swithin's Day, a careless motorist knocks Emma off her bicycle, and, despite wearing a helmet, she dies; foul weather must follow each day for next 40, according to folklore and screenplay.

Bicycling culture among contemporary Navajo Nation is the subject of documentary In The Dirt (T. C. Johnstone, dir., 2023) in conjunction with New Mexico non-profit Silver Stallion, where youth learn bicycle handling, mechanical repair, personal empowerment, and specialty coffee skills.

Dick Wolf’s scripted drama Law&Order: SVU, Season 16, Episode 4, Holden’s Manifesto (Jean de Segonzac, dir., 2014), portrays bike messenger and ignorable incel Holden March (John Karna, shown), who avenges his narcissist ego by murdering women he’s convinced wronged him by ignoring his awkward advances. Detective Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) and Sergeant Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) have to ferret out and take down this serial slayer. Story is based on real life case Elliot Rodger's Retribution resulting in Isla Vista Killings of same year. Over 25 years, program has won 46 awards including 6 Primetime Emmys.

Pivotal scene in blockbuster musical Wicked (John M. Chu, dir., 2024) has fondling Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) and Prince Fiyero Tigelaar (Jonathan Bailey) by bicycles spiriting off a lion cub in a basket that Oz (Jeff Goldblum) wants to cage along with all other animals. Harks back to original when Ms. Gulch put Toto in her basket. Creature mistreatment sets her on course to becoming Wicked Witch of the West. Though cut off to be continued before story concludes, this Wizard of Oz prequel was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won 2.

Big budget sci-fi bomb The Electric State (Russo Brothers, dirs., 2025), beside being among the most expensive movies ever made, takes on dystopian interface between artificial and human intelligence, but wastes many acting talents. Foster teen Michelle Greene (Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things. shown) channels previous role while battling evil tech CEO Ethan Skate (Stanley Tucci), bicycling about to muster a posse, and bringing back her comatose genius brother during a civil war instigated for profit in data memories. If not for bad character development and weak plot, you’d think audiences would identify with made-in-China “Tesler” boycott backstory, and react to EV insult reversal as hypocritical irony. Not masochistic enough to enjoy fiction so close to current events?

Hanker Sane

“They say that, ‘Patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings.’ Steal a little and they throw you in jail; steal a lot and they make you king. There's only one step down from here, baby. It’s called the land of permanent bliss. What’s a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?” Bob Dylan, Sweetheart Like You, Infidels, 1983

None can predict what might occur with certainty, though irrational behaviors often bring harm and ought to be avoided if possible. Don’t expect genius decisions from brains afflicted with dementia, parasites or syphilis. Legally and politically, ignorance is no excuse, but insanity does provide a lame defense. Madmen can be entertaining, about the only reason anyone nowadays acquires a name, evades blame, gains fame, or stakes a claim. One ought to hanker defining reality over sane washing absurdity. But as a criminal regime dawns, exemplary service in society’s interests secures yawns.

Andrew Wyeth (1930 to 2006) watercolor on board; artist is known for painting scenes from native Maine to Pennsylvania brimming with intense surrealism and magic realism.

“The truth knocks on the door and you say, ‘Go away, I’m looking for the truth.’ and so it goes away. Puzzling.” “When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion.” Quality maniac Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (HarperCollins, 1974, 448 pp.), 50th anniversary

Before 2024 election, couldn’t get enough of Strike Force Five and their hilarious criticisms of sick cultists in diametric contrast, and sparkling wits such as John Stewart and Tim Miller (shown below in parent’s basement flanked by bicycle posters). Now they are too sad and tragically targeted to merit same attention. Entertainers and journalists who champion truths and expose lawmakers will always be the enemies of tyrants.

Compulsions to create authentic content instead spread fallacy pollution. You can read lies daily in salacious headlines drawing audiences to another dull presentation meant to meet deadlines. Social media uses artificial intelligence to score influence, and, since purchased by privileged immigrants, sift out disloyal or dissident participants. All you can legitimately do is avoid trolls, boycott nonsense, buy nothing, ignore clickbait, and resist despots. Meanwhile, the exact opposite coexists, modest titles fronting indispensable testimony, intangible religiosity, and nontaxable charity.

Robert Isenberg, Mile Markers (Last Picked Books, 2024, 220 pp.), “A bicycle isn’t just a piece of sports equipment or a fun hobby. It is the purest innovation, a tool of liberation, the antidote for a million human woes.”

Complex phenomena come from random insufficiencies. Situations greatly vary. Seldom does one size fit all. Ice Road truckers don’t benefit as much from bicycle transportation as crosstown office commuters. Bicycles are labor saving devices compared to walking, but not while hauling tonnage. Who wants to be forced arbitrarily to do something more difficult than necessary? Jacques Derrida warned of torturing poets on a Procrustean Bed which sacrifices context for conformity. Old farts who plot violence and proceed unhinged against those they swore to serve will themselves, “Be hoisted with their own petard,”poetic justice of ironic outcomes, unintended suicides during terrorist bombings, not to be confused with pittards, leather gloves that protect well until outdoor winter trips trigger frozen fingertips.

After a year in America that saw historic investment in bicycling infrastructure and reciprocal equipment purchases, you’d naturally expect books, films, and songs to acknowledge and celebrate, and a dozen sparked recognition. Never underestimate the power of visual stimuli to shape perceptions and sway behaviors. Pick for yourself which one promotes prudent conduct. 

Alcoholic divorcee Michael (Brian Stillar), known locally as Bike (Terrance Odette, dir., 2024), resorts to collecting bottles, raiding dumpsters, running errands, scrounging beers, and stealing bicycles. One assignment has him arduously messengering a mystery envelope up a steep escarpment. His one hope, to jumpstart a relationship with his teenage daughter, runs into a detour when he witnesses a drive-by shooting.

Camera Corner (Josh Weinberg, dir., 2024) documents Wende Cragg’s archive of thousands of photos of early mountain bikes and Marin County’s MTB community circa 1974.

In uplifting fact-based feature film Hard Miles (Daniel Hannah, dir., 2024), social worker Matthew Modine ushers juvenile delinquents serving soft sentences on an epic bicycle tour to Grand Canyon, aided by sag driver Cynthia Kaye McWilliams and wrench tech Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee in LOTR). Everyone tumbles at least once on first attempt at using cleats.

Heretic (Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, dirs., 2024) follows Mormon sisters Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Paxton (Chloe East) blithely biking about, imposing their beliefs door to door, while seeking converts, until they arrive at the home of atheist psychopath Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), lock up bikes, and shuffle indoors. Resembles empty promises and fraught visits on political campaigns. This grim film received 2 dozen award nominations.

Rebel Ridge (Jeremy Saulnier, dir., 2024) shows ex-special forces marine Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre) run afoul of corrupt police in rural South. After they knock him off his mountain bicycle and confiscate cash with which he was planning to bail out his cousin, random Rambo mayhem commences.

Souleymane’s Story (Boris Lojkine, dir., 2024, in French) is portrayed by Abou Sangare, who delivers food in Paris by bicycle. To qualify for asylum, he must prepare an autobiography prior to a state inquiry. Was nominated for 10 awards and won 7.

Tess Parks - Some Days: The Bike Song From Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros. Pictures, Tim Burton, dir., 2024), “I don't like anything, but I love everyone some days... when the sun is out and good people are about it restores my faith.” Lydia Deetz’s psychic heir Astrid (Jenna Ortega) avoids colliding her bike with carelessly driven trucks but crashes through fence into the yard of Jeremy Frazier (Arthur Conti), who secretly designs her unsolicited destiny for his own expediency. Despicables dupe innocents, especially during elections. Living free is wondrous, withstanding afterlife monstrous. 

We Are Rock n Roll (Justin Balog, dir., 2024) is a documentary of the American Criterium Cup, a series of up to 10 races for points for purses totaling $500,000.

Bicycle Film Festival is currently and virtually presenting BFF Classics, short films previously introduced during its 25 year history, through 31 March 2025. There will also be physical exhibitions of new works at various global locations including Copenhagen.

Pandemic doctor Daniela Schwendener gets revitalized by gravel bicycling on her Days Off (Liam Higgins, dir., 2022), an overlooked short from a few years ago promoting Cotic Bikes shot on location in England’s Peak District National Park.

Project A (Jackie Chan, dir.,1983) casts himself as Sergeant Dragon Ma Yue Lung and performs in martial arts battles including a frenetic bicycle scene set in Hong Kong alleys. What’s the goal of that silly slapstick sound at every kick?

Patricia Taxxon, Big Wheel, Bicycle, self, 2024 - Rambling aural experiment eventually gets around to lyrics: "The big wheel in the sky, he arcs o’er miles and miles... We can see the whole town from up here, feel the wind sail past our ears, the whistling noise it makes, so frigid and so fierce.”