Resurrect Again?

American lives post-WWII seemed a lot simpler because gainful ways were limited. Dads abided some necessary but ordinary job, got paid, and, in turn, paid bills. Moms stayed home and sustained families. They shopped in neighborhood markets and toiled in villages isolated from wide world. Otherwise, they did without and occupied themselves simply. Centuries ago when kings ruled, subjects amassed little; instead they died, fought and worked for food and shelter. Today they say 1% of population holds 50% of world’s wealth and prescribes all policies. That might be tolerable if richest were society's fairest and smartest, too, but that’s not at all true, never has been.

This new global oligarchy with an army of bureaucrats and military grunts would again have everyone groveling subserviently at minimum or no wage. Don’t let them do it to you. You don’t have to, even if it means assessing massive taxes on luxuries, breaking treaties, recalling elected officials, starting own political party that demands a real election instead of a lip service farce, or writing new statutes that outlaw greed. When did this snafu begin? When Nixon and Reagan diverted treasury into pockets of a few pals. Every other crime they did was comparatively innocuous, because rigging the game made millions just drop out rather than waste time competing for what would never be theirs.

Too old to care and unafraid to comment on political campaigns, usually can’t be bothered. However, this time presidential choices seem particularly poor. Clinton attracts middle-aged women, Sanders altruistic communists, Trump belligerent reactionaries, exclusive segments, not mainstream constituents. Rest revealed themselves to be jealous lunatics and likely nazis. None promised to increase chances to earn a living, which will always be an overriding concern for voters. All are beholden to billionaires or billionaires themselves, bound to disappoint, elements of nation’s problem, not serious solutions. Congress is so corrupt almost all members need to be replaced. Campaign financing ought to be controlled by a public task force; Supreme Court justices are already squawking about striking down laws that permit PACs to back their own picks.

Progressives blew their chance to seize power during ongoing election freak show. Any party with a platform of improvement and inclusion could have won support of America’s beset and disenfranchised majority of lower classes. Expectations are so low that just about anything that simplifies governance and strengthens representation would be wildly popular. Forced to file 15 pages of complex forms after not working a single day in 2015, can see tax reform is painfully overdue. But repeated gripes and sweeping generalities don't delve deep enough into life's endless details to do individuals any good.

Skewed to an aged, drug addled, risk averse demographic, you’re never again going to see an all-white electorate, inviolable borders, mid 20th Century postwar boom, or whatever else you wish they’d resurrect. Nostalgia whelms from blood and tears. Billions are struggling to provide innocents with their next meal. Legalized marijuana turns prisons inside out to make streets upon which society’s contributors live their own jail. There’s no promise of a chicken in every pot, just corporate agribusiness that thrives on subsidies taxpayers have to pay whether or not they can. Why can't residents expect government to deport, detain, and try foreign nationals caught carrying or importing weapons? The right to bear arms belongs to citizens only, not diplomatic entourages or illegal aliens. Drug gangs with entire arsenals do daily battle against federal officers because someone was too squeamish about profiling and stopping to check credentials and vehicles. Unfortunately, to do better risks upheaval.

What kind of Congress allows these ongoing threats? Only one bought and sold by formidable factions and rapacious smugglers. Who vets their inane policies before they’re allowed to destroy your livelihood? Clearly, nobody weighs the downsides of bills easily repealed or vetoed if only a few benefit and most lose. Last time anyone questioned giving tax breaks for the wealthy, the myth of trickle down economics was concocted, the most recent in a long string of failed devotions. Democracy is better served when businesses and cabals are not allowed to become too big to let fail.

As it’s always been for millennia, any messenger of truth must expect either to accept exile or be crucified. If you have anything to say about anything, people avoid you anyway. If, nevertheless, you counterintuitively gain popularity, you become a threat to self appointed bosses. Peabody Award winning investigative reporter Mary Mapes was fired from CBS for telling the truth about a seated but spurned president, who was the poster boy for privileged self interest. Conservative media to this day characterize her as a abused daughter with an axe to grind. Likewise, they drove Gary Web, who exposed CIA malfeasance in Central America, to commit suicide by destroying his reputation. Displaced, killed, or silenced, authors run scared, write novels instead of nonfiction, especially since politically motivated denial and spin consolidated incontestable control. They've removed all incentive for good intentions for which anyone of intelligence should be incensed. Despite trillions in global aid and historic projects to open new frontiers, America has become no gentler or kinder, especially if press can’t freely question means, methods, and motivations.

The future lies ahead, not behind. Booms, busts and change are inevitable. Recessions regularly occur. Answers forever recycle. A bicycle may be a conveyance from a bygone age, but, before long, when automotive empire loses its death grip on economy, it’ll regain popularity along with feet, horses, and trains. Bet on another spin by bike to pick up your daily baguette. As crocuses bloom come spring, good to recall sustainable alternatives to pick. Some begrudging choices you decide to make might even stick.

"You can talk about walking the walk... Drive to the store for a loaf of bread; maybe I could have biked instead... Hey, Hey, BP, you’ve got nothing on me... Jumping on my bike, now I’m finally free.” Nate Aronow Nextet, Bikin’ the Bike, Xpression, CD Baby, 2010

What Spines Splain

Sometimes a picture accompanies a post here. Magazines have lots, which would make any website attempting to emulate an e-zine. Readers would've visited Flicker or Pinterest if they wanted eye candy instead of literary art. Unadorned words can satisfy; Academy especially honored script/story writers at last Oscars ceremony. Books don’t have to be read to be collectible or important. Sometimes just bringing them together on a shelf and organizing titles serves a purpose. Minimally, it says something about owner’s interests. Row after row of bike related titles points to a persistent, ubiquitous bicycling culture. However, when you google “bicycling books”, hardly any come up newer than 20 years old even though, in the last few, several have been published beyond ubiquitous gearhead, race and travel titles.

Labann, Bike&Chain Companion Reader (2nd edition, 2016): Spent a month cleaning up book for careless inconsistencies, dead links, and obviated references. Having reviewed, then augmented and updated song list, too, now over 1800 items. Surprises how many links disappear. Youtube if rife with legal squabbles and take downs. Links to own posts were cut when Apple, who hosted original site, discontinued service. Idea that anything posted to internet is indelible isn’t true, rather, web seems sadly unstable. Forget citing e-commerce sites, which change daily. News servers dump old stories, and political platforms shift depending upon who’s in power and what voters complain about. How do you access week-old Facebook posts, what happens to dated Twitter tweets, and who uses Myspace anymore? They even sell a service to erase your presence altogether. At least Wikipedia maintains a page as if a bin or stub, though contents morph over time. Like Labann, other bloggers compile blog entries into books, so maybe some details do endure somewhere.

Another emerging book by Argentinean author Juan Carlos Kreimer, The Bicycle Effect: Cycling as Meditation (Findhorn Press, 2016, 192 pp.), notes the endorphin rush and zen mindfulness that pedaling has to offer, as would anyone who read Labann over last few decades.

Something of interest after seeing recent border crime feature film Sicario is Kimball Taylor’s The Coyote’s Bicycle: The Untold Story of 7,000 Bicycles and the Rise of a Borderland Empire (Tin House Books, 2016, 380 pp.). It’s about a smuggler of illegal aliens who makes a million transporting them by bikes, then suddenly disappears leaving thousands littering roadside.

Matt Rendell just dropped The Death of Marco Pantani (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2016, 368 pp.), a 10th anniversary reissue to his 2006 original. Did not know until now that Lelio Bonaccorso illustrated and Marco Rizzo scripted a graphic novel entitled Gli ultimi giorni di Marco Pantani (The Last Days of Marco Pantani, 2011) chronicling events that led up to Pantani's death and exploring French journalist Philippe Brunel’s conspiracy theory that he was murdered. Pantani, nicknamed Il Pirata for his bald head, bandana, crowd pleasing bravado, and freewheeling ways, said, “I ride instinctively, responding to the moment. There's chaos in everyday life, and I tune into that chaos.” He often upbraided UCI for focusing on his alleged flaws to the exclusion of others, “Rules, yes, but the same for everyone.”

Emily June Street feminist steampunk novel The Velocipede Races (Microcosm, 2016, 256 pp.) explores forbidden teenage passions in a straitlaced alternate reality.

Pedal Zombies (Microcosm Publishing, 2015) with 13 stories is the third in an annual series of slim feminist sci-fi anthologies edited by Elly Blue along lines of Bikes in Space and Bikes in Space Volume II. Volumes III and IV are already being developed.

Trailing behind, travel entrepreneur Charlie Scott would have you Slowing Down to See the World (House of Anansi Press, 2015, 200 pp.), or at least lots of Canada.

Evan Friss, The Cycling City: Bicycle and Urban America in the 1890’s (Historical Studies in Urban America) (University of Chicago Press, 2015, 288 pp.) tracks an era that envisioned a bicycling utopia. American cities once had a richer bicycling culture than anywhere else in planet’s history, though implementation stalled with the popularity of motor vehicles. Since its invention, bicycle tide has ebbed and flowed with each generation. Car use just continually grew until grandparent, parent, sons and their children were all simultaneously plying ever expanding roadnet, which hardly supports bike-ped choices anymore. Bicyclists can’t really cross 4, 6, 8 lanes safely. Yet residents still debate and vision remains unfulfilled to this day. Each city still needs advocates to point the way.

Chris Day self published an e-book, A Speck On The Map: Riding My Bicycle Across The USA (2015, 582 pp.) on spec of attracting others who eye this perennial excursion across planet’s most extensive network of pavement.

In Peter Joffre Nye's biography The Fast Times of Albert Champion: From Record-Setting Racer to Dashing Tycoon, an Untold Story of Speed, Success, and Betrayal (Prometheus Books, 2014, 60 pp.), subject went from setting record for Paris-Roubaix race to founding Champion Spark Plugs empire.

Aussie counterculture/crime author Kim Westwood had novel The Courier’s New Bicycle (Harper Voyager, 2011, 327 pp.).

“If you ride bikes in baltimore then you a soldia'. I got a fat chain it goes around my bike. The cops are hasslin' me, but not too bad 'cause I'm white! Trash Rules Everything Around Me (T.R.E.A.M.)”— Wingnut Dishwashers Union

Irk on Main

As a human, ashamed to admit the following cretins belong to the same species:

Given his limited reasoning ability, Alex Oliver Rigby may have eaten too many paint chips as a child. A classic case of “blame the victim”, he indicts bicyclists for a traffic fatality in a letter to Daily Echo editors. As usual, courts exonerated motorist who mowed down bicyclist doing nothing wrong but exercising entitlement to be present on pavement.

Another insane commentary, vandal who glues locks doesn’t clear sidewalks of bikes he hates, just exacerbates issue, since cyclists then can’t remove bikes upon which they arrived. Next maybe he’ll steal shoes at a Japanese restaurant because they litter entrance.

No humorist but total jerk, Shane Falco (cowardly alias uses name of quarterback of football film The Replacements) hates bicyclists. The extent to which he excoriates hints at homophobia or jealousy, something cyclists on road see constantly. According to Falco, “Motorists own the road.” Well, of course, that’s false, misconception not borne out by legislation. Depending upon jurisdiction, city's, state's or nation's citizens collectively own roads, though everyone is entitled to use and taxpayers underwrite all costs. Motorists alone don’t come close to paying for road construction and upkeep. Even conservative rag The Atlantic admits they don’t, not by a long shot. Here’s an image of Falco role actor Keanu Reeves, known better for his motorcycle fetish and portrayal of Neo in equally unreal The Matrix, draped over a tyke’s bike.

The Atlantic editors pose an asinine question, Should Distracted Cycling Be Banned? Attentive cyclists already are on over 25% of all bridges, highways and streets. Maybe such self serving inquiries should be banned as propaganda. States can’t stop drivers from texting while slinging tonnage of steel at turnpike speeds. They write all sorts of unenforceable laws, but does that deter behavior or only make legislators feel fuzzily warm and possibly re-electable?

An aesthetic matron in Brooklyn, grassroots coalition Restore Transportation Balance, and Seattle loud mouths War on Cars got skewered for vehemently fighting innocuous activities in a Rachel Dovey article. Who pays for these misguided protests? It’s true, rich conservatives, who can afford the price of premium bikes and time to battle bike lanes past their gated communities, get stereotyped as anti-bicycle villains, yet most congressional votes against were Republican. The vast majority of planet’s billion cyclists consists of middle class and poor, which mirrors population in general. In a focused chart Dave Horton ties bicycles with 4 progressive social movements, reason enough for conservatives to hate them. Schemes to Maintain?

A Guardian article by Peter Walker points out some of their failed logic and obvious flaws. Likewise, another article by Minneapolis advocate Lindsey Wallace. Whether growing plants or planning traffic, you can smother with kindness and starve with neglect. Finding balance and losing hysteria are easy as long as planners don't locate everything on Main Street. Jamming it all together irks everyone.

Half way through the WHO’s Decade of Action on Road Safety, motor fatalities have not significantly abated. Every day on Earth motorists cause 3,400 deaths, over a million victims a year, with on average 35 million serious injuries, no laughing matter, one of world’s worst health hazards, worse than war itself. That’s right, these ignorant fools, impatient morons, probably Trump backers, who urge motorists to buzz cyclists and push them off roads and violate existing laws represent a greedy minority that views United Nations as a failed organization, why progress stalled decades ago and regression erodes everyone’s chances of survival. Last year over a million people joined People for Bikes, a grassroots organization that advocates adding lanes and improving conditions. Shed the Monster?

Bicker Constrain

Candidates had an extra Leap Day, February 29th, to prepare for Super Tuesday’s primary elections. None who are running seem very bike friendly, unlike President Barack Obama and Secretary John Kerry, themselves known to ride. GOP front runner Donald Trump, Koch Brothers, Rob Ford, and such examples of conservative corpulence hate bicycles, cyclists and mamil (middle aged men in lycra). How could they not? Besides betraying their campaign donors, they probably believe they are too big (obese) to pedal humbly. Koch Brothers own the factory that makes lycra out of crude oil. Where’s the love?

Bike culture does not flag America’s decline, rather its recovery in mental and/or physical health and riposte to foreign oil imports, down significantly since Obama took office with ensuing reduction in price/bbl. Despite ridicule of gaping jaws, USA still has by far the biggest GDP on planet, rival to entire European Union collectively. But reliance on petroleum constitutes weakness. As China gradually gives up bicycling, so too has their spectacular economic growth faltered. Correlations are not causalities, but they do suggest connections.

Trump, denounced by party core and endorsed by Ku Klux Klan, is also against freedom of speech; if elected, you’ll have to heed his dictates alone while sued for libel, and watch your rights evaporate. Yet Trump’s “telling it like it is”, whatever that means, definitely appeals to egotistic morons, lazy thinkers, and mental defectives who comprise too much of population, so things definitely can get worse. His reactionary programs imitate Hitler’s, resemble how dictators rise to power, and stage little more than a screaming sideshow. There’s already a wall along Mexican border that criminals have tunneled underneath. Party should have sponsored better candidates, not worse extremists who the dullest voters see right through. An Afro-American, or woman, president offers some semblance of affirmative action, not a spoiled billionaire who's part of the problem. Misguided minds welcome a thug in hopes he’ll wipe slate clean and restore privileges for them, but usually this goes bad and levels arena for everyone but those extraordinarily insulated by money and power. Only the strong survive, not penniless slobs who own guns and waste fuel. Not allowing itself to be goaded by pride, nation needs to address alienated allies, deteriorated bridges and roads, homelessness, joblessness, lopsided budgets, maniacal enemies, mounting waste, overfishing, undrinkable groundwater, and whatnot. Can't democracy constrain bicker over insane trivialities that run real issues off the road? Acting responsibly does not make, but might label, you a “LOSER”.

As a way of addressing air pollution, elected officials in other countries plan to pay commuters to bike to work. Why not? Whether or not they are aware, motorists are already assessed fees for fouling it, but nobody knows were money goes, surely not for cleaner air. This program would only produce measurable results if safe routes were provided and scale skyrocketed. They’d only have to close off motor traffic on a few narrow streets through city (neighborhood residents excluded) to have instant infrastructure. As long as continuous corridors from 8 compass points traverse city, it would cultivate bike choice and limit motor vehicle use, but so would denying/repealing driver licenses, impounding fuming vehicles, and targeting industrial and non-vehicular sources such as burning coal, heating oil, or wood, and leaking CO2, gasoline vapors, methane, and solvents. One flimsy solution is never enough, merely political pretense. Easy to construct a pareto chart and deal with key influences, though leaders don’t seem to understand problem solving methods except smokescreens.

Argument versus counterpoint: Neither satisfies when both promote extremes. Saying whatever leaders want to hear brings rewards and serves self. Serving, albeit begrudgingly, a cause or idea, such as bicycling, in everyone's best interests leaves you obscure and poor. Hard to say whether society prefers bitter bicker or foregone conclusions. Seems there’s room for both in America, from baseball games beginning a new season of commissioner crimes and umpire miscalls to candidates continually waging campaigns that leapfrog over each other daily. As long as contested, populace basically approves a process, despite the fact that game is rigged with ending already preordained, and those in power remain entrenched as puppet masters. Big fish do eat small fry, but shoals of compact piranha can strip sacred cows to bones in minutes.

Bix Demimondaine

How can you not be intrigued by bixi-babes, Liliths from the cycling half-world, suicide tattoo wheel wenches? Demimondaines was what they called girls who accepted bicycles for carnal favors or acted as if marriage meant nothing in pursuit of fun. Before that society cast aspersion with terms concubines, courtesans, odalisques or prostitutes. Then it became “panks” for disciples of Emmeline Pankhurst, suffragettes beaten and raped in their struggle to secure the right to vote. Chippies, femme fatales, flappers, hardboiled Hawksian or modern women followed. These days rap artists reduce women to body parts while vulgar minds label them escorts, feminists, gold diggers, nymphos, porn stars, skanks, and skirts. What of equals, lovers, mothers, partners?

Participatory democracy is a relatively new phenomenon. Only a few men had a chance to vote before suffragism extended it to a few women qualified by age or rank. It’s been one century that the other half of population commenced in Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, and Norway. Though promised, Saudi women are still prohibited; the only other place on earth is Vatican City. Why? Subjugation. Slavery has only been abolished by law, not in uniform practice. Clerics, criminals, dictators and elected officials routinely break laws. People forget the bloodshed and sacrifices forebears endured to obtain rights that, in an instant, can be denied, even eliminated. At NYU, Elizabeth Jose described how bicycling can still emancipate untrammeled womanhood as it did before 1900.

For the first time in U.S. history a woman is running for its presidency against a contumelious misogynist. That alone ought to call entire gender above age to ballot boxes. Suited to serve? Dependency is a human, not primarily female, condition. Trying to remain nonjudgmental and observational, admit lambasting conservatives, dictators, fascists, and nazis who all seek to control and dominate others. Understand it’s the direct result of always being disappointed and never getting heard. Disorganized activities are human and natural since needs vary by individual. You get to control yourself only. To divide for conquerers’ sakes ignores consequential stakes. Enforcing unilateral conformity polarizes populations, results in random losses, and sustains terrorism. Candidates ought to run on experience in office and merit of message. Only one among those running held a cabinet position, negotiated international deals, and once lived in White House. Rest are comparative amateurs.

According to David Byrne, voters live in echo chambers where limited exposure is reinforced by social media, negative opinions are continually fortified, and rational thinking is woefully deselected. To expect everything to fail or go wrong best represents common sense. Must remind you what politically savvy Hunter S Thompson so aptly said, “Anybody who thinks that, 'it doesn't matter who's President,' has never been drafted and sent off to fight and die in a vicious, stupid war on the other side of the world - or been beaten and gassed by Police for trespassing on public property - or been hounded by the IRS for purely political reasons - or locked up in the Cook County Jail with a broken nose and no phone access and twelve perverts wanting to stomp your ass in the shower. That is when it matters who is President or Governor or Police Chief. That is when you will wish you had voted.” Amen.

Creative Demesne

So many are made, not even film critics see every movie. You can find online lists of highly relevant titles, but then you miss independent productions or scenes in others that represent bicycling culture just as well. The more planet’s population grows, the more stories there are to tell. This might make you increasingly selective amidst a vast demesne of what’s expressively creative. Everyone can only stomach so much mayhem, only tolerate cold so often, so turns instead to visual demonstrations of indomitable spirit versus trials both contrived and natural. Working backward from release dates, here are 8 over last decade likely overlooked:

Dark, French, sophisticated comedy Bicycling with Molière (Wanda Films, 2014, dir. Phillippe Le Guay) stars Fabrice Luchini and Lambert Wilson as actors, one trying to lure the misanthropic other out of retirement. Maya Sansa, a bored hotel maid at island’s resort, makes life interesting during offseason.

In American indie comedy Adult World (dir. Scott Coffey, 2013), budding poetess Amy (Emma Roberts) idolizes marginally known but once published Rat Billings (John Cusack). After leaving home, she arrives in Syracuse’s art underground, begins working in a porn shop, and crashes with transvestite Rubia (Armando Riesco). Together on a stolen tandem they remarkably stalk Billings driving home in the snow. Amy is determined to become poet’s protege, but learns that being special is a state of mind and life’s goal is to “fail better” in an Adult World. Positively reviewed, a “smart but wince-inducing satirical comedy” (New York Times) and thoroughly enjoyable, film was barely shown and lost money at box office.

Singletrack High (Pedal Born Films, dirs. Jacob and Isaac Seigel-Boettner, 2012) documents how today’s teen athletes in California gravitate to bicycling, mountain and road, and offers solutions for social awkwardness commonly experienced during high school. View entire hour video.

World documentary With My Own Two Wheels (Pedal Born Films, dirs. Jacob and Isaac Seigel-Boettner, 2011) contrasts the choices made and necessities faced by bicyclists around the globe, and portrays the power of pedaling to improve lives, including “bicitech”, that is, machines made from castoff bicycles that accelerate repetitive tasks for indigenous poor.

Cycling documentary Chasing Legends (dir. Jason Berry, 2010) covers the commitments made by riders who take on challenge of Le Tour de France as seen through eyes of Team Columbia HTC.

German drama Phantomschmerz (Phantom Pain, d. Matthias Emcke, 2009) stars Til Schweiger as an avid cyclist who loses a leg in a hit-and-run only to bounce back. It’s based on life story of Stephen Sumner, who also doubles for Til’s character.

Never mentioned (with good reason) German slasher nasty Blood Trails (aka Gyilkos Hegy, dir. Robert Krause, 2006) about bicycle messenger Rebecca Palmer and her boyfriend Tom Frederic, who go innocently on a mountain biking holiday, only to be stalked by serial killing cop Ben Price, a fellow cyclist with whom she had an accursed fling.

Big “Exchane”

Bicyclists slow due to conditions, hills, mechanics and wind. What can be done about hills? There to stay, going around might take longer than slogging directly over them. A steep climb could be rewarded with a long, luxurious rollout that hurries miles along. Then again, ice and snow intermittently keep you indoors or turn you into a pedestrian. Takes 15 minutes just to assemble and don booties, cleats, glasses, gloves, head covering, helmet, layers, mask and outerwear, as if you needed another excuse not to ride. Bad pavement and motor traffic often interfere with headway. A bike that doesn’t fit you, has fat tires, or performs poorly will definitely impede. Broken spokes, escaped chains, flat tires, or snapped frames stop you outright. Cleated pedals and stiff soles boost range by increasing leverage to propel faster. Hard, narrow tires reduce resistance. Even if you’re not effectively equipped and physically fit, you should be able to average 9 mph. Bicyclists collectively average over 12 mph. Exceptional racers on flat tracks can maintain 30+ mph for an hour. The current 24 hour record holder averaged 21.7 mph. But wind will always be the greatest hindrance. With a gale in your face, you’ll crawl along almost stalled. Such thoughts occupy your mind as winter transitions to spring, yet you'll defy such hassles for a few hours outdoors.

Once believed that writer’s block existed, but oceans of notions flow while engaged in anything physical, especially bicycling, since you’re on balance in the moment and seldom mollified by media. Doubts, experiences, observations, pains, and pleasures while pedaling out there inspire lucid conclusions to share. Engineers design motor vehicles to insulate drivers: bumps smoothed, doors locked, dust filtered, odors blocked, sounds muffled, temperature controlled, touchscreen selected media with which to fill sensory under-load. On one hand, you might enjoy whatever literary artists, reporters and songsmiths want to deliver, whether from internet, over airwaves, or recorded. Books on tape truly make long commutes tolerable. On the other hand, to do so without a chance to respond is tantamount to being browbeaten and dominated. You only need to click on “comments” below to turn any post here into a two-way conversation.

Recently, after reading an interesting article on wealth inequality in staunchly liberal weekly The Nation, wanted to pass along insights gained after writing for decades on that very topic, but was denied because only paid subscribers are allowed. Doesn’t this conspicuously discriminate against those who are the most detrimentally impacted by poverty? Sure, go ahead, pontificate, profit off situation, then silence those whose opinions matter most. Among friend notifications, Facebook mixes in pure advertising pap to which you can’t reply. Corporations pay for opinions when they can get them for free in social media. Recruiters do use posts to profile and rule out candidates. Occupy Movement, begun 7 years ago, was victimized by such tactics. Protesters could be discussed by reporters (after they occupied Wall Street itself in 2011 and raised hackles) but couldn’t voice own views, since media is a big business wholly managed and owned by billionaires, who use such stories in a vain attempt to distance themselves from blame. Both conservatives and liberals exhibit holier-than-thou extremism. Incorporated factories at least churn out goods people need, not necessarily so information spewers. Hard to say what indispensable nugget you might glean from a news story, though surely you’ll have to read miles of columns to find one.

As it has ever been throughout history, the focused practitioner, frontier explorer, separate entity, small man, or system outsider offers best insights, so must be encouraged to speak freely. Civilization would have advanced faster if Hittites didn’t extend Bronze Age by keeping iron a secret for centuries. Without open exploration and shared discoveries mankind would be doomed. Sticklers don’t take enough chances to learn through failures, rather conform or rely on experience and knowledge of movers and shakers. So why limit communication to a one-sided monologue? Conceit, massive egos, narcissism, and sociopathy hand down laws, “Do it MY WAY or hit the highway.” To quote self from decades ago, “Authorities without ethics driven by greed are your children’s role models.” Because most aren’t motivated to filter raw effluent, they expect “experts” to do it for them, lest something crucial goes unnoticed, but even professionals and scientists get ignored. Every exchange in ideas can potentially propel innovation, yet people would rather act like jackasses than admit they don’t know, maintain nominal than move forward, spin in place than welcome in world. Like a bicycle undergoing a chain drop, progress crashes to an abrupt stop.

The most important yet mostly neglected areas for betterment in this millennium involve ethics, governance, and politics: How people treat people. When a pope calls you or your candidate unchristian, maybe you ought to listen. When will humans collectively dismiss mental defectives mad to rule? Freewheeling debate collapses their power base. Beware of every instance where they seek to stifle, or shout each other down. Elected officials and those society rewards make all the trouble. How stupid is everyone else? Always asking, “How are we doing?” instills doubt and sounds insincere. You have to really care enough and reciprocate accordingly so this question need never be asked. But society must bring itself to a big stop, examine values, exchange demands, and mend fences before forward movement can proceed. To do otherwise beckons revolution or war.

Bottleneck Duane

Media! They say movies are the greatest entertainment; over a century trillions of dollars have been invested in them. Films capture and compress culture and history, thus play an integral role in education and progress. Though denied by the guilty, much of what folks do follows screen examples: how to express intimacy, imagine innovation, protect against enemies, react in conflicts, and stop stupidity. Films marshall acting, costumes, dialogue, music, plots, settings, sounds, special effects, and visual imagery. Prestigious awards are given for exceptional examples. Anyone who directs or produces them agrees the single most important element to success is superior sound. You have to hear what’s being said while music sets an emotional tone; one cannot obscure the other, rather, balance and clarity must be achieved, even though noisy action usually dominates.

A book of fiction takes longer to read than watching the same story on film. Although something will always be lost in translation between each medium, movies might even bring new perspectives and improve upon themes. Like bicycling, the key lies in time you save. Conversely, documentaries, nonfiction in film, can often be inferior to reading, convey simple but useful reality dragged out over strained imagery and stumbling interviews, and minimize layers of input, such as action or music. Books efficiently collect gospel truths, jurisprudence canons, personal testimonies, or science texts. Religions are founded on books that lay down laws. All media fill niches along a continuum from waste of everyone’s sweat to well worth your time. Which you choose is up to you.

Through songs bishops and clerics exhort congregations to behave. Muezzins melodiously call muslims to prayer 5 times a day. Music supposedly soothes savage souls; assuredly, certain chords stimulate neurons in weird ways. Even more than books and films, songs decode meaning, encapsulate events, represent culture, and take only minutes to hear. They suit attention deficits and audiences enduring contemporary stress. Sometimes merely bundled memes, tunes become neatly packaged commodities sold for basic monetary units, a buck each. They'd even be called d-i-y currency if not for the facts that billions of them discourage scrutiny and only those in demand temporarily posses value. Songs are more like ripe fruits than safe deposits. But interdependency among books, films and songs elevates each to an invaluable portal into the unknown.

Had he not died at 24 years old in a motorcycle crash in 1971, Duane Allman might have enjoyed his 69th birthday and fulfilled a promising career. Despite playing on only 3 Allman Brothers albums, though scores of others including Derek & the Dominos’ platinum certified Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, Duane gets rated among the best rock guitarists, second only to Jimi Hendrix. Duane never completed high school, majored in guitar instead. Influenced by B.B. King, Elmore James and other blues and jazz greats from his Southern roots, his style featured slide, which he produced by sticking his ring finger into a Coricidin bottle. A subsequent Allman Brothers album was dedicated to him and named for his reply to an interviewer about his involvement in counterculture, “Revolution? Evolution... When I’m in Georgia I’ll ‘Eat a Peach’ for peace.” While not about bicycling per se, these Allman lyrics signify, “Well, I’ve got to run to keep from hiding, and I’m bound to keep on riding... the road goes on forever... I’ve gone by the point of caring... but I’m not gonna let them catch me, no, not gonna let ‘em catch the ‘Midnight Rider’”. Far too many die on roads, so cyclists ride warily. Camera assistant Sarah Jones working on the Allman Brothers biopic sharing that song’s name (never released) was killed while shooting alongside a railroad. Labann dumped a motorcycle, as do many who foolishly replace pedal bikes for speedy scooters, and played guitar in bands, so naturally appreciates Skydog’s celebrations of life and ethereal licks from nearly a half century ago as reminders of how timeless gifts from the universe will always be.

Do care how songs influence bicyclists and listeners worldwide, so recently united those listed in book with those mentioned in blog followups. This new directory of over 1,850 titles [2330 a/o 5/2025] constitutes the most comprehensive yet of recorded bicycling related songs and includes countless corrections and updates; applied plethora of details that since became available over internet. Readers should still consult blog and book for caveats, explanations, links, quotes, and references. This amalgamates and salutes all the work done by scores of researchers worldwide, for example, The Wheelmen Organization, who traced sheet music back to 1868's Velocipede Galop, possibly the first bike song ever, because that's when Michaux's pedal contraption instigated original craze. Although sound recording began in France 150 years ago (1860's), Edison wouldn't invent a repeatable method until 1877. Dacre’s "Daisy Bell" was the very first bicycle song to be recorded, reputedly sung by Dan W. Quinn in 1893. On a video clip, an 1894 cover by Edward M. Favor leads notable tracks through present. Didn’t overlook the fact that Dacre’s ditty forever objectifies women. Did include a few early covers and many newly found (if not so new, French have long adored Le Tour) originals. But, ever wary of those who pad lists and what they lump, removed any that didn’t align or pass examination upon hearing and studying further, some existing only as on-line videos.

Bicycle related songs released by year, 1990 - 2015

Hundreds of indie songsmiths were empowered by a worldwide web, which became popular as a whole new egalitarian medium around 1990. Of songs indexed where origin could be determined, 81% were released after 1990, 68% after 2000. Annual numbers steadily grew (click on graph above to enlarge) from 1990 to 2006, when it reached a peak of 129 titles, then declined. A trend makes one wonder why. Was the bicycle-built-for-two-or-you honeymoon over? Have gasoline prices again become bearable? The years from 2001 to 2009 do enclose double zeroes, which resemble a pair of bracketed wheels and won't happen again this millennium. Awareness of sustainable practices grew while state economies around globe collapsed, so many chose cheaper/cleaner transportation alternatives. Coincidences realized, 2009 was aptly called the Year of the Bicycle. But did all this signal a real movement or retro fad?

Intended to neither deceive readers nor downplay/exclude artists or groups, though they are legion. Like a bottleneck, an author can only present a snapshot of facts collected and crosschecked within a timeframe. Was also handcuffed by attempting to be accurate and informative, though that classifies anyone as a know-it-all to be feared and hated. Filling out, formatting, and proofreading table was an exhausting task for midnight riding through cyberspace in winter downtime, yet worthy of cycling champions - Anquetil, Armstrong, Bartali, Contador, Coppi, Gimondi, Indurain, Hinault, Merckx, Pantani, Poulidor, Taylor - who've been celebrated in media.

Bicyclo Decane

Having studied organic chemistry and recollecting bicyclic molecules, up to now resisted mentioning their nominal similarity to term “bicycle”, only in lame but long continuation of post names that rhyme with Bike&Chain. Yet, derived from methane, bridged ring molecules do smack of a frame combining a pair of hexagonal wheels. Bicyclists sometimes use alkane, aka paraffin, to lubricate chains. Other linear alkanes include familiar butane, ethane, octane, and propane, as well as over a dozen other hydrocarbon chain names and hundred of isomers that also rhyme but won’t be referenced. Cyclohexane makes nylon-6 for bike bags and jackets. The fact that brainy sapiens can whip molecules into meeting mankind’s needs is nothing short of amazing given general population’s usual incompetency, yet mistakes have been made because things that were possible weren’t simply let go. Remember chlorofluorocarbons? Nearly destroyed protective ozone layer.

Organizing humans to achieve a goal is fraught with misgiving. Emotion and intuition, not logic, drive most decision making. For math and science to make sense, society needs to make an enormous commitment to them, not just as a haven for antisocial nerds, semi-autistic geeks, and sociopathic philomaths. All this is beyond what the supposedly ruling majority understands. Not everyone is capable of comprehending complex idea systems or their practical applications, not even those who do grasp industrial, pharmaceutical, and transportational uses of bicyclo decane (structural skeleton shown). Labann has no clue, but respects those who do, as long as they properly label and store bottled gases, buckets of toxins, and slimy solids oozed out of decay.

America has yet again engaged in a presidential election cycle. George Washington, independent candidate and only unanimous electoral vote winner ever (twice), cautioned Americans not to replace a king with a tyrant when he declined a third term, thus establishing a precedent that’s now law. His oppressor, Mad King George III, called him “the greatest character of the age”. Current candidates for POTUS recycle cartoon characters. Having to pick among an Alaskan bimbo, billionaire buffoon, Bluto bully, conservative bigots, damaged celebrities, Doctor Evil bent on world domination, feces flinging simians, foreign interloper, goose-stepping nazis, immigrant despisers, Monopoly’s Rich Uncle Pennybags, Mussolini impersonator, older sibling, Olive Oil CEO, partisan stooge, Popeye populist, or Wimpy governors insults your intelligence. At least Bachmann and Romney wised up before wasting everybody’s time again. Congress creates policy, runs agencies, sets budgets, and writes laws. Chief executive serves as nothing more than a scapegoat for all of society’s ills. Really, who'd want the job except for a masochist or sociopath? Blame Dubya; ever since this dumb as a doorpost dolt snuck in on history’s slimmest margin, everyone thinks they can easily divide loyalties and grab power. Also blame GOP, who've ushered in this revulsion of governance by political gridlock and threats to close down agencies and entitlements. All debate so far excludes everything but name calling, pushing buttons, reveling in issues, and using unrest as a bully pulpit to secure privileges for the few. Cries against elitism merely betray their lack of discernment or leadership. But caucuses and primaries will thin herd from a dozen wannabes to a few possibilities that you’ll have to hold your nose over while voting.

Beyond cynical rhetoric lie innovative ways to resolve issues. Campaign process ought to address cures for real problems, such as drugs, guns, immigration, innovation, jobs, murders, shrinking middle class, unfunded liabilities, wacko enemies bent on apocalypse (al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS, and those who thrive on candidates' lies about Western weakness), and waste. Merely recognizing issues doesn't cut it. Candidates ought to plainly state where they stand on them, but then those stuck on splinter issues pick whoever supports theirs and remain blind to entire platform. Economy would be much better if politicians didn’t stuff pockets with tax revenue or write self-serving policies for entire planet through thoughtless endowments of your dollars. Sensible talk and statistical analyses draw big yawns and blank expressions. Citizens don’t much care how government is run as long as it is. They grant a license to steal, which is how America became an oligarchy despite elections. Chapter “Millennium Bug”, written 15 years ago, already suggested alternatives to recycling quadrennially the same names, ostensibly done to avoid corruption that typically accompanies long spells in office by old men. Note nation’s youngest president was its most innovative. After a decade of Congress countermanding your every initiative, anyone would lose hope and react in fear or out of spite, not in country’s best interests. But constant change can only be a mixed blessing at best. Wouldn’t a 5 year term, possibly doubled (decane), provide more time to force through good legislation? At only 4 years, senators just await an administration’s conclusion to get what they want, some newcomer to hoodwink or hose.

Directed at bicyclists, none who could make any difference would read this blog and restore balance. Still believe that notions must be incanted and made available lest they disappear or perish. If you don’t water plants, they die. Words water relationships. Maybe those clinging to outmoded ways can’t emotionally process or don’t want to face another winter of discontent that demands more. They can barely stand slogans that flatter, molify and pander. Any intelligent coalition consisting of 10% of population could apply its knowledge to form a new party and take over governance permanently. If theocrats can, why not progressives? Instead, people you perceive as really smart bicker among themselves instead of bridge cooperative rings. Aren’t elections about chemistry? Without question, those who produce hydrocarbons get a free ride: corporate welfare, tax breaks, and unprecedented profits all at the same time. You’ve got to vote for whoever Big Oil doesn’t support, though that doesn’t simplify choices, since almost everyone running kowtows to them, GOP unanimously. Where did you think their limitless campaign funds come from?

Distaff Refrain

Perhaps fallout from Women’s Year, 2013, this oblation of assertive books published in the last few months by women bicyclists, having eclipsed spinning classes and met incredible challenges, truly impresses. They evidence gender equality that suffragettes over a century ago would have gratefully cheered.

Anna Brones, The Culinary Cyclist, 2nd Edition, Illustrated by Johanna Kindvall, Microcosm Publishing, 2015 (96 pp). Speaks to caffeine capers and vegan lifestyles. Brones will also release Hello, Bicycle: An Inspired Guide to the Two-Wheeled Life, Ten Speed Press, (192 pp) in late Spring.

Anika Ledlow and Elly Blue, Cycletherapy: Grief and Healing on Two Wheels (Journal of Bicycle Feminism), Elly Blue Publishing, 2016 (128 pp). Sociologist Ledlow teams with Portland, Oregon activist Blue for an inspiring series of self help essays. Focusing on nonfiction, Blue adds to her past titles, Bikenomics and Everyday Bicycling, and publishes other feminists.

Emilie Bahr, Urban Revolutions: A Woman's Guide to Two-Wheeled Transportation, Microcosm Publishing, 2016 (192 pp). Activist and urban planner in New Orleans shares joys of getting around by bike.

Helen Lloyd, A Siberian Winter's Tale: Cycling to the Edge of Insanity and the End of the World, Take On Creative, 2015 (262 pp). If you ever wondered what it takes to ride frozen wastes at -50°F, ask Helen. Imagine chains would freeze solid, so bikes must be belt driven.

Juliana Buhring, This Road I Ride: Sometimes It Takes Losing Everything to Find Yourself, W. W. Norton & Company, 2016 (208 pp). Buhring shares her story of setting the Guinness World Record for fastest circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle, 18,000 miles in 152 days.

Kasia Szewczyk, The Ride to Read, self published, 2015, (180 pp). Memories of a charity ride that was aimed at raising literacy awareness.

Lucy Roberts, Bicycle Odyssey - Around the World in 800 Days, self, 2015 (308 pp). Intrepid vegan author begins a group bicycling adventure and ends alone after 30,000 miles.

Marie Madigan, A Slow Tour Through France: From Avignon to Saint-Malo by Bicycle (Mostly), Wood Sorrel Books, 2015 (242 pp). Author survives misadventures across French countryside.

Réanne Hemingway-Douglass, Two Women Against the Wind: A Tierra del Fuego Bicycling Adventure, Cave Art Press, 2015 (121 pp). Trek with the only women ever to bike the 300 miles across one of planet's least known and most dramatic landscapes.

Sarah Hallenbeck, Claiming the Bicycle: Women, Rhetoric, and Technology in Nineteenth-Century America, 2015, Southern Illinois University Press (240 pp). Scholarly discourse examines historic gender struggles.

Selene Yeager and Stacy Sims, ROAR: How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong, Lean Body for Life, Rodale Books, 2016 (256 pp). Coming out this summer, title says it all.

Suze Clemitson, Ride the Revolution: The Inside Stories from Women in Cycling, Bloomsbury Sport, 2015, (320 pp). Voices of women who’ve triumphed riding bikes.

Chartreuse Sea-sane

Forget such insane seasonal traditions as The Vigil of Seven Fishes. Darkest days of winter are prime time for citrus fruits and green leafy vegetables. Grapefruits and oranges blast bowel fat, fight cancer with flavonoids, impart Vitamin C, and lead a list that includes clementines, kumquats, lemons, limes, mandarines (cuties, halos), minneolas (tangelos), pomelos, and tangerines. For greens, kale appeals, but arugula, chard, collards, lettuce, mustard greens, rabe, and spinach are also loaded with antioxidants, fiber, minerals and vitamins that fight cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Parsley is nature’s highest source of Vitamin A, though other fresh herbs offer attendant benefits. Iceberg lettuce commonly plopped on burgers probably isn’t worth including; however, it does, like better greens, contain Vitamin K, which avoids artery hardening, helps clot blood, and protects brain and heart. Those who take blood thinners or worry about kidney stones may want to minimize eating oxalates in chard and spinach and Vitamin K. But such late-season sources of nutrients as broccoli and cabbage are rare and welcome, though they cause gas, which, if distressing, is mostly harmless. Whether shades of chartreuse, mindaro or nyanza, fruits and veggies are good eats as long as other nutritional needs are met.

For some people it can be a recreational pharmaceutical, but to say yes to food is to embrace life. Spices have been used as medicines for millennia. Surely, moderate intake is a must, moreover potable water. Focus ought to be on what sustains, such as whole grains, rather than empty calories from processed items, sugar, and white flour. While humans, omnivores by genetic necessity, can survive on them, various diseases directly stem from malnutrition and monotonous diets: anemia, beriberi, diabetes, goiter, gout, hypothyroidism, osteomalacia, pellagra, rickets, scurvy and whatnot. But only a person knows what agrees with her/his constitution. Carcinogenic additives, diarrheic fats, insecticides, parasites, preservatives, prions, protein bacteria, putrid meats, and tainted oils will turn anyone off beef, chicken, condiments, fish (particularly escolar and sardines), lamb or pork. Athletes and bicyclists are well aware, since they suffer demonstrably when deprived or infected. Out of touch with their bodies, couch potatoes stuffing themselves with chips and slop seldom notice until too late.

Why are sports so compelling, anyway? There are a dozen things wrong with them few want to discuss. Broadcasters and spectators wantonly waste fuel, for one. Any NFL team is worth $2 billion, the Dallas Cowboys $4 billion according to Forbes; such a huge investment neither cures diseases nor produces durable goods, though it provides minimum wage temporary jobs and several thousand overpaid positions as one of the nation’s most exclusive employers, thus spreading the gap between poor and rich. Scheduled match-ups and tournaments are totally arbitrary. League executives encourage intensity, ignore consequent concussions, and punish winning with inquests over ill written and trivial rules. Sports mine xenophobia, fear of strangers, and promote hate crimes and them-us dichotomies sometimes triggering riots. At least $100 million is spent on advertising during each televised game, which is charged directly to consumers in inflated prices. Consequently, 1 hour of play takes 4 hours of viewing, so hundreds of millions who've tuned in sit unproductively for 3 hours while subjected to harmful brainwashing and operant conditioning, so they’ll value things like beer and toys which inflict illness and limit participation in sports. Time would be better spent bicycling around or preparing fresh food from scratch; instead, pizzas are ordered and provided by motorized delivery. A huge amount of attention and emotion gets invested into lost causes, while outcomes could be rigged, for all viewers know. In the end, there are legions of abject losers and depressed fans. Lose or win, productivity suffers and profits flag.

All such shortcomings are routinely forgiven for their entertainment boon. Vicarious thrill of victory will inevitably inveigle. Watching athletes dance on ballfields, courts, gridirons and rinks surpasses ballet and other performing arts. Remarkable accomplishments only result from endless repetition and ensuing muscle memory. Devotion and effort garner praise, unlike what usually occurs, and increase a sense of community, service, and teamwork, as if some morality play. Most compelling is nail biting surprise and suspense, not knowing outcome until it’s finally over; that’s hard to fake though billions of dollars have been made and spent on films that feebly simulate this effect.

Everything on this plane of existence is imbued with agony and ecstasy, color and gray, dark and light, gain and loss, good and evil, joy and pain, polar opposites pitted against each other. For every bureaucrat, general, governor, judge, legislator, martinet, priest and terrorist, more than scores of kind and supportive neighbors offset the suffering those who grasp at power impose. Clerics can try to put a burka on Pollyanna, but a female in denial will fight back by frustrating puerile desires, the sport that underlies all life’s struggles. One must accept that mankind both competes for comfort and seeks social approval, a campaign forever fraught with conflict and failure. Accumulating and chiseling have habitual, harmful, hateful consequences, though individuals can altruistically and sanely choose to transcend them through sacrifice and self control exemplified by teamwork. After Superbowl 50, can green rebirth of spring and renewed season for bicycling be far behind?

Melodically Unchain

Recent, or recently discovered, song releases reinforce the notion of an ongoing bicycling culture, haunting but not at all ghostly. Such a persistent enthusiasm, oh my darlings, you're likely to see garden planters and lawn ornaments that resemble bicycles, though why someone wouldn't just use a flea market bargain instead mystifies. Owners sometimes leave them on curbs for garbage collectors, too, the source of many "ghost bikes". When not hanging on his Harley soft tail hog, the late actor Patrick Swayze was known to ride a vintage Schwinn on set of The Beast, a 2009 television series set in Chicago.

Big Sweet, The, Bicycle Nights, Bicycle Nights self, 2013

Craig Morrison, Pedaling Home, Cityscapes, self, 2013

Davine, A Bicyclette [French, cover of Yves Montand song], single, self, 2015

Derek Bishop, Bicycling in Quicksand, Bicycling in Quicksand, Perryville Rec., 2015

Dieselcreek, Bicycle Ride, Bicycle Ride self, 2013

Don Peris, Bicycling [guitar instr.], The Old Century, Badman Rec., 2013

Ghost of Monkshood, Bicycling in the Pitch Dark, Lift, Dualtone Music Group, 2008

Kristin Allen-Zito, Pedaling My Bike, The Atlas, self, 2010

Laurel Zucker, Bicycling Uphill for Flute & Double Bass, Journeys, Cantilena Rec., 2011

Mari Rosa, Bicycle Wheel, Bicycle Wheel EP, 2015

Natalie Jeane, Bicycle Song, single, self, 2015

Piotki, A vélo [French], á toi de voir, self, 2015

Renton 7, Handlebars, Handlebars EP, self, 2015

Roey Fitzpatrick, Bicycling Down Boulevards [Aussie], Diamonds and Rain, Star Hill Studio, 2014

Troty, Rowery [Polish], single, self, 2013

Acid Rain

Don’t suppose you saw William Shughart's dopey opine "Recycling is a charade". He claims Waste Management dumps bottles and cans they collect into landfill. Why, then, do they hurry to collect recyclables and leave garbage to fester? They make money off them! A bigger issue is land, no place to put garbage residents make. If you have to keep buying more property that costs millions and worrying about groundwater contamination, line on nickels spent on recycling becomes moot. At core of their complaint, conservatives begrudge steady minimum wage jobs for pickers. Nowadays, lone drivers also run hoists that shake refuse into trucks, so no tax chiseling picker hangs perilously off back of vehicle anymore. You might figure this doubles number of trips, but even that’s untrue. Fuller trucks must frequently make distant treks, so targeting trash keeps gas guzzlers in neighborhoods longer, thereby cutting fuel use, which, you can be sure, they’ve ground to a logistical nub. Hating that, Big Oil has deep pockets to pay for junk science appearing in such disguised and dishonest articles.

All solids you bury eventually emit toxins into air and water supplies. Alternatives to burying include burning (toxic and wasteful), dumping in ocean (already killing reefs), or gasifying (could supply methane). Sometimes residents don’t sort correctly, which messes up process and results in consignment of a few loads to landfill. But recycled bottles and cans don't figure in those; separating waste doesn't cost more and has potential. Many states have enacted Zero Waste Programs. Leaves, wood, and yard clippings are already composted and spread on state lands to increase oxygen yielding foliage, though they could be combined with food/human waste to produce methane. Many electrical plants are being built or have already been converted to burn natural gas, the least toxic carbon based fuel. Though it can be directly reused once sterilized, glass is mostly ground up to improve asphalt and concrete used in road construction. Recovering aluminum from cans and jar covers saves tremendously over extracting from bauxite or smelting alumina. Plastics can be tricky, as sorting them for granulation remains labor intensive; since much consists of food wrappings that can’t be recycled because of bacteria, best to minimize their use whenever possible.

All processes involved with human inhabitation of planet involve a release of carbon dioxide and/or monoxide. Animals leak methane to atmosphere. Automobiles, household practices, and industrial operations release nitrogen and sulphur oxides, as well as volatile organic compounds such as benzene, methylene chloride, or perchloroethylene which undisputedly cause cancer. Another bad effect of burning coal and petroleum is acid rain, that is, precipitation (fog, rain, snow) whose pH is so low it poisons soil, stunts plant growth, and upsets ecosystems. Amphibians and fish in eastern lakes die because of stack emissions from midwestern steel plants. Almost as bad is how critics of sustainable practices rain acid comments against as if they were exempt from pollution's detrimental effects and not purely delusional. In the face of such insanity, can you blame protesters for going gaga or grabbing headlines?

It’s hard to estimate how much pollution bicycle makers and users cause. Components and frames are made of aluminum, steel and titanium. Lesser amounts of fabric, graphite, plastic and rubber are also used, but nearly all can be recycled. These materials collectively represent 200 times less by weight than an average SUV (0.5%). Twice as many bikes as cars doesn’t come close to automakers' expended energy in assembly. Food is the fuel that powers bikes. While food production and shipping both use fuel, motorists and non-motorists alike also eat, so you can’t hold that against bicyclists. Seven times more people walk than bike. Motility is a basic human necessity; bicycling is 4 times more efficient than walking, which probably balances negatives and clears slate. How dare critics target cyclists when huge parking lots defoliate with noxious pavement? If you're so worried about revenues being wasted, why not question the totally unsustainable $1 trillion spent every decade on nation's highways?

Taxes Your Brain

This blog has only ever given thoughtful analyses. If information had any value, Labann would minimally be a millionaire. Instead, not one cent was ever made during decades of blogs, book, comments on websites, and letter writing to officials. No compensation was ever expected or requested. It was done as an exercise in connection and experiment in unique expression. The enlightened few who follow B&C get this. Majority hates to think, so they run from anything that might tax their intelligence or patience. Most resemble needy zombies who want to eat your brain.

Sharing self seems too much an imposition to those who just don’t care. This explains why selling art has become so difficult; public doesn’t want to know the artist who produced it or what motivated it. Meanwhile, companies pour billions into worthless data and opinions. Therefore, the ultimate in commercial art is convincing corporations that reports, spreadsheets and standards are crucial, though nobody reads them including auditors and regulators. Nevertheless, an elegant cell, ironclad imperative, and spicy gossip sell. The letter of law rewards lawyers, legislators, and middlemen at the expense of consumers, innocents and taxpayers.

On the other hand, quality assurance relies on facts, metrics and polls. All design begins not with greed but with an attempt to meet an expressed customer need. Survey narratives are gold in pay dirt requiring a huge effort to sift out. A company’s worst enemy, especially since the advent of social media, is someone who doesn’t want what they offer and vocally denounces what they deal in.

In that spirit and in time for holidays, Labann presents Labann Says~ Loose Essays, a slim volume that chronicles all extraneous writings completed since the publication of B&C in 2008. Click link for free download. While you can’t deduct charity extended in reading it, you won’t have to pay any fee or sales taxes, either.

Wrap in Cellophane

A joint Coca Cola and Walmart commercial buys a boy a bike, what he "really" wants for Christmas, 2015. Displays self sacrifice and sharing among family members. Collaboration or corporate tag team? Advertising almost always focuses upon an individual company, so wonder whether viewers noticed either. Reminds one of the 10000 Maniacs video, Trouble Me, in which angelic Natalie Merchant rides a bike and shoulders concern for the elderly. Can’t imagine it was very popular during the 1990’s. But at least then people could still afford to be kind.

President Obama spoke several times lately for sharing the responsibility of rooting out terrorists and working in solidarity with Muslims, who figure as citizens in business, sports, and such roles. It’s as clear as cellophane that the world’s richest people foster terrorism, particularly media tycoons and Saudi sheiks whose empires are built on human tragedy and wasteful practices. Don’t forget religions, too, spread through exclusive ideologies and intolerance for the slightest difference in arbitrary customs among themselves.

Been studying conservatism for a long time. It appeals to clerics, cynics, knuckleheads, morons, schemers, terrorists, and whoever has given up on humanity altogether. The Unabomber was incensed by socialism despite the fact he couldn't even define it. Conservative media fuels their rage, while it isn't actually reporting on anything other than how others lead nonviolent lives that don't support their extremism, made obvious by name calling and saber rattling. Conservatism attracts isolationists, jihadists, John Birchers, neo-nazis, NRA, religious fanatics, white supremacists, and whoever is so bigoted or prejudiced they'd rather kill than suffer you to exist. They believe in fascism and final solutions, as did Hitler. They oppose decency so much because cultural fusion requires thinking, something for which they are woefully unequipped. About 25% of population is insane, and mental incompetents gravitate to this packaged hate. Don’t suppose they see the irony of listening to billionaire Rupert Murdoch, himself an immigrant recently retired from Fox News, who staunchly advocates immigration and market economy, and villainously opposes collective bargaining, public service, social security, welfare, and whatever provides a safety net for the vulnerable, for example, those he enslaves. Press profits when there’s blood in the streets. People getting by by working cooperatively isn’t newsworthy.

Only cooperation would work, because trying to fight terrorism would take more might than any nation alone can muster. You can bomb a location back to the stone age, but many terrorists are cavemen anyway. Any such approach would be costly and pointless, play right into their hands. Less than decisive approaches only appear weak, but they are really how solutions forestall crises, probably the best you can do in a complex world. Never forget how Dubya inspired and orchestrated a war that ended in global recession and perpetuated terrorism. He did Americans no favors, though he favored the few who make a killing from death.

GOP only succeeds in elections when voter turnout is light, when only crazies show up and majority stays home. But unless worthy candidates step up, why vote? Some tenets of conservatism have merit in small roles, like dog catchers and quality inspectors. One must learn to stomach it. It never works with international policy, though; instead it destabilizes treaties. Terrorists themselves are intensely conservative. Despite their impassioned rhetoric, don’t subscribe to their holy war against each other, because they’d rather you die fighting it for them. They'd gladly sacrifice a family who can barely afford to get a kid a $50 bike as well as the kid who rides it. Worst of all is how they suck whatever merriment and mirth remains from an already stressful season.

Divine Warplane

Recently viewed The Wind Rises (aka Kaze tachinu, Hayao Miyazaki, dir., 2014), a Studio Ghibli anime about the life of Jirô Horikoshi, who designed the Japanese Mitsubishi Zeros that attacked Pearl Harbor on what FDR called “a day of infamy” (December 7th, 1941) three quarters of a century ago. America responded with faster, stronger aircraft which led to victory in the Pacific. In part an apology for aeronautical death and destruction, meant more to show how progress plays leap frog, film excels at depicting culture in a pre-WWII Japan struggling through fire storms and global depression peppered with folks on bicycles. In a typical still, a contemplative Jiro sees a cyclist while clutching his slide rule. Doesn’t connect his imaginative wing designs to bicycles, instead inspired by the curve of mackerel bones.

Japan has a well established jitensha culture with songs by Ore Ska Band (concludes Naruto Shippuuden anime), Shonen Knife’s famous Cycling is Fun, The Saboten, and Titan Go Kings. Makers include world class brands: Fuji, Panasonic, Shimano and Univega. Indeed many Schwinns were made there. As mentioned, Honda slapped a motor on a bike and the rest is history. But recent events and trends raise alarms: Earthquakes, nuclear accidents, tsunamis, typhoons, and with them the same desperation that led to WWII aggression. There’s also been a crackdown on cyclists behaving badly, with new ordinances carrying hefty fines. But blame USA, 1 of only 6 countries that after 23 years haven’t signed the Kyoto Protocol, for not shouldering environmental leadership. Nothing was done to address during disastrous Bush administration, and it took Obama until now to produce Climate Plan as a last ditch effort to garner a lame duck legacy. Of course, many signees haven’t enacted legislation to slow global warming, either, rather follow in America’s lazy, wasteful, but wildly profitable if unsustainable ways.

Not all scientific theories have a single answer or uniform resolution. Different locations face own issues. That's why they poll scientists and test theories. Humans do generally impact environment, causing extinctions of species and killing seas with pollution, just as other factors affected atmosphere over eons. There is no counterargument that justifies conservatives pillaging and raping nature, only ones used to forestall acting proactively and prudently. For a country so dependent upon the sea, Japan decimated its fisheries and warrants criticism for continuing its whaling operations. Japan remains the 5th largest emitter of air pollutants, having higher dioxin levels than any other G20 nation, that no divine wind will dissipate. Failure to conserve now resembles Kamikaze Tokkō Tai missions of old, remnants of honor and loyalty of the samurai Bushido code, which kill whoever delivers along with bystanders and targets. Better to pursue peace and ZPG policies. Tokyo is so overcrowded, people pay a lot to sleep in geki-sema, really just lockers. They even cram bicycles below ground.

Whether Vain

Egocentric cyclists seek an epic trek. They only earn bragging rights if they trained on countless routine runs. Scenery, while pleasant, doesn’t matter, though free traffic flow and fresh air do. Ocean views and ridge vistas, where hills and wind severely slow, tempt some of the hardest riding. Spins out to a park or reservoir grant a destination to breathe in for a few seconds before struggling back. Dull outings can be improved by choosing a different return route. Or you could opt for intermodal to make that a single leg, though you’re “all in”, as poker players say, and must complete, why it’s wiser to plan figure-8 loops which you can quit at intervals.

Looked at a map and noticed several city and state parks within a 12 mile radius, so set out to visit them all. Got to furthest one but was disappointed by bare oaks that signal autumn’s conclusion. Flags and weather vanes say southwest winds that bring warmth have been supplanted by northwest chill. Skipped the rest and took to an old commute route toward bikeway strewn with leaves and home. Was disgusted to compare smooth streets elsewhere with own they’ve dug up and patched repeatedly. This pavement disgrace proved dispiriting; ordinarily come home from riding emotionally boosted and pleasantly tired. The truth about bicycles is that they combine elation and pain, joys and sorrows. Brings to mind a couple of recent films with similar themes:

Irrational Man (Woody Allen, dir. 2015) - Philosophy professor Joaquin Phoenix, who was so effective in Inherent Vice, discovers the world outside his mind as he and his seductive student Emma Stone ride bikes. Not the first time Phoenix was filmed cycling, his character Lewis McBride, while on Malaysian vacation in Return to Paradise (Joseph Ruben, dir., 1998), riding with two friends foolhardily on one bike, and run off road by a truck, was so disgusted by damage he hurled bike off a cliff. During an interview he once compared his passage into intense acting to kids who get their first BMX bike, then go into extreme sports. Stone was famously featured on a yellow peeler banana bike for a GQ spread (August, 2010 issue).

Thanks for Sharing (Stuart Blumberg, dir., 2014) - Mark Ruffalo, who plays Bruce Banner in the latest Marvel Avengers action blockbusters and routinely bikes around Manhattan, stars in this less ambitious melodrama. He and other recovering addicts ride bikes. Josh Gad, trying to get into shape and shun temptations by biking, avoids getting doored only to crash into side of a van. Critics panned it for its depiction of “first world” problems. Ruffalo himself, however, is on the Board of Director for The Solutions Project, a global clean energy initiative, and Water Defense, a nonprofit aimed at preserving water supplies from contaminants. Ruffalo is currently costarring in sex abuse drama Spotlight (Tom McCarthy, dir., 2015) based on Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Award winning investigation and called by reviewer Ryan Painter, “One of the finest-acted films in recent memory.”

These days aliens, altruists and strangers are usually met with violence by the selfish and vain. Shakespeare never said, “Vanity, thy name is woman,” though vanity fits better than “frailty”, since anatomically women can endure more pain than men, something patriarchs have used to rationalize their mistreatment. Sharing is an alien concept, for sure: implies bringing and taking, giving and receiving, sometimes introducing people or playing host. Everyone in America is either an immigrant or scion of one, whether arrived last week or millennia ago. The Mother of Exiles promises, “Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free/The wretched refuse of your teeming shore/Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me/I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Twelve step programs encourage sharing your feelings to solicit support as a way of breaking your sexual, substance, weapon or xenophobic addiction. Native peoples were historically generous. Qu’ran demands hospitality to guests. Yet, in a war weary world, refugee issues defy resolution and draw press.

There is little difference among conservative, jihadist, neo-Nazi and terrorist hatred. All are convinced that their extremism is the only way. What made America a global magnet for countless dispossessed was its reputation for tolerance. As long as you don't cause deaths or losses, you are welcomed with open arms to act however and believe whatever you want. Foreign terrorists may infiltrate, but domestic serial killers are worse. Millions of Moslem citizens unequivocally contribute to economic diversity and productivity. It wasn’t always that way, and will revert if everyone doesn’t do their part. Moslem countries Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey opened refugee camps. Maybe they’re better suited to handle needs of Syrians with aid from industrialized countries. It would shorten the long journey to freedom many endure, some aided by bicycles. Yet the sheer number of refugees is staggering, estimated in the millions. By forcing people out of their homes, you exert control, keep them weak, and seize their assets. The only true riches are what accomplishments these people are capable of, given better circumstances.

Willie Nelson may claim there’s plenty of room for immigrants in America, but East and West coasts are overcrowded and INS quotas are maxed. Canadian and Mexican border towns are likewise overrun with waiting hopefuls. Perhaps Willie was thinking of Alaska’s bush, Montana’s expanses, Nevada’s desert, urban blight, or Wyoming’s mountains, because all the places natural born citizens want to be are already taken. At the Hotel California, they are, “...programmed to receive. You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave.” The motherly embrace personified by Lady Liberty stands for America’s core decency, but immigration can only proceed orderly, under control, weeding out undesirables exiled by foreign governments who don’t follow international laws. When citizens are treated worse than undocumented invaders, tolerance wanes.

Why does anyone want to come to America anyway? Past reputation? Life expectancy is the lowest in industrialized world. Cities are going bankrupt. Crime is rampant. Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes frequently threaten. Fisheries are fished out. Hunters can't trust game not to be toxic. Loess loss has nearly ruined remaining arable land. Logging and mining are severely limited. Per capita prison populations exceed worldwide counts. Politicians are corrupt, determined to drain every last penny from taxpayers. Public debt means each resident (man, women and child) owes over $150,000. The disparity in wealth between have and have nots is greater than ever in history. America has been called the worse place to live if you are poor, though that seems exaggerated compared to Sudan, Syria, and war zones. Green carders have more rights than citizens, while policies allow offshoring jobs and union busting. If conservatives who oppose immigration (affordable health plans, collective bargaining, drug interdiction, gun control, planned parenthood, separation of church and state, tax reform, and voter registration) get their way, as usual, both social security and welfare will end, so there will be no safety net. Social Security was intended to protect workers from failures caused by government policies; without it murders and thefts would make life unlivable. It's time to make some really tough choices. Forget handouts paid by taxing the dwindling middle class and growing poor.

But who are these refugees? Many are no-threat women with children. Recently viewed previously mentioned Saudi film Wadja (Haifa Al-Monsour dir., 2012), where Waad Mohammed in title role tries to earn enough money to buy her own bicycle against society's will. Film exposes the hypocrisy of Moslem practices subjugating female half of population, who insecure men treat as inferior. The vain do not share power or wealth. Wadja rides to the end of her street and surveys horizon, which seems more threatening than welcoming.

Zane Grey’s novels Riders of the Purple Sage and The Rainbow Trail were both against Mormon polygamy and for woman rights. Set in pre-suffragette 1870’s Utah, bicycles don’t appear, despite suggestive titles. Moab, where film was shot, however, is the mountain biking capitol of the universe. Grey's popular books still resonate a century and a half later because same issues continue unresolved. Why should the underserved majority demand so little from diplomats and leaders and tolerate that?

Golden Volplane

When was it that getting a bicycle no longer reigned as the greatest gift a kid could get? This year marks 50 years, a golden jubilee, since a wide-eyed Labann found a brand new bicycle beside the Christmas tree with a bow and sticker unbelievably attached with his name, a forest green Raleigh replete with fenders, guard over chain, and pump on frame. Nothing would ever be the same. Until then only rode borrowed bikes and hand-me-downs. Couldn't wait until Spring. Rode for awhile farther and wider than deemed feasible, then began taking it apart to improve speed and learn how to make it work better. Led to a lifelong career in engineering, so scolding by dad wasn't really warranted. Abused the heck out of it as anyone who’s gotten anything for free would. Treated it like another chemistry set or scientific toy, something upon which to experiment. Wasn't until the self earned Captain America Schwinn that carefully maintaining began to register. Common 3-speeds seldom got stolen, but you couldn’t leave 10-speeds unattended. Chain necklaces wore heavily on shoulders for what little they did to deter theft.

Streets back then were lined with trees that formed foliage tunnels. Leaf/leaves, loaf/loaves, sheaf/sheaves: funny how some words form irregular plurals, preserve mispronunciations, and retain vestiges from other languages. Come fall, maples down a line made for a golden tube, yellow above and below shaded in slanted rays, for arm-spread daredevils to dive into, rather an aeronautical volplane rapidly descending, exploring how papery leaves parted like frothy seas upon a macadam bed. On side streets back then few cars were around, off elsewhere or parked in garages, to impede curious kids on bikes. However, a block down was US1 with frequent spurts of cars and trucks, so you actually had to look both ways to cross. Flip calendars 50 years, cars race through 4-way stops at every back road intersection, while youth stay indoors playing video games.

You should honor any commitment to a nation by how well its policies treat golden agers, impressionable youth, and vulnerable citizens. Surely something can be done to ensure fairness, harvest experience, and provide opportunities? Fitzgerald lamented, “There are no second acts in American lives.” Nobel Prize winner Peter Higgs, whose surname precedes the elemental boson, said he'd never be offered a position in these days of academic productivity. They only kept him on at the University of Edinburgh because his theories might be proven right, which CERN scientists recently confirmed, though he voluntarily retired before the 20th Century closed. Even laureates feel like vestiges that hung on so long nobody knows what they mean or why they exist. Meanwhile, paint fades and flakes on a girl's pink bike ridden into destiny on a jejune mural. With no jobs for a new generation, are there even first acts in America anymore?

There is no requirement to read books or newspapers to know the truth in current events. In fact, all media does is feed you countless lies. You need to conduct your own research, just do things, so you know how things are supposed to be done. Only then you can comment with authority. Too bad your hours on earth are so few you can't know much. Worse, you're forced to act and decide on false information and scant input. Not much point giving advice. It will be misapplied, probably fail, then reap retribution instead of thanks. Anyway, all can be distilled to, “Do it yourself or do without.” Anything else will anger some, disrespect those who are acutely dependent, and get ignored by majority.

If you hold others to high standards you must act exemplary yourself. Recriminations evoke anger, especially when you're the victim. Saying, "You didn't fight hard enough," lets abusers get off scot-free. Identifying where transactions went wrong should be a step in improving next, if ever there's another chance. What's ideal is to glide headlong into damaged societies and reap lessons of their being mistreated and mistreating others. Thereby, social photo-essayist Sebastiao Salgardo and you are simply exempt. But that's not what typically happens. You're greeted with suspicion, often attacked without provocation by the Salt of the Earth. Takes tremendous courage to care, which is one reason why what's really going on is so seldom reported.