BicycleMonth2016
Introduction/Definition/etc
So, this is supposedly bicycle month, with Bike To Work Day, and parties, involving drinking, but some reality to add into it, kind of like Thanksgiving and the soup kitchens...
Body
Catchup
A few updates before getting to the meat of the document/ page...
Food required as fuel... Not just as
OdetoaFarmersMarket
mentions: Chocolate, Caffiene, Nicotine and ETOH...
No forgetting yesterday, Chuck's not bad music for riding to, but done safely...
Back To Bicycles
I've wondered, for a while, about stuff bikey...
Personal Bicycle History
I'm claiming this type of bicycle history:
Bicycled as kid, and even took a maintenance type class before the rents got divorced, we moved, a few times, etc...
Had a three speed internal hub for a while, but getting senile, and may need some help remembering it. It had a chain going inside the hub, but eventually graduated to a 10 speed, with external gearing/ derailier, front chainring etc...
Basically ran away from home from preteen to teenager mostly on weekends getting out and interesting, possibly sometimes abusive family situation(s), running away, but going back home each night, after wandering around on a bicycle for a while, seeing other stuff, getting exercise, sunlight, etc and came home tired and hungry, mostly...
Movies like Breaking Away, and other stuff, as sport and culture...
Had a bicycle in college, got bent when left over a summer, returning to it's destruction, sold a brown steel framed, to college kid(s), a guy who fixed it up for his girlfriend, iirc. One of the only ones I've been able to part with...
Commuting to $Work
Had access to a shower at work, and mostly had to adjust schedule to get back sometimes, staying severely late, to 7 pm, but other issues as need quiet to think/work/interact/exist... Exercise helped deal with stress and thinking, but other distractions existed too...
10 speed Peugeot (sp?)
White special alloy frame, but I broke the frame while going downhill, rear rack, on the rear triangle near the left side crank/chainring... Had I kept the frame, might have been able to get another one free? (lifetime warrantee (sp?)? but don't think they make them anymore...), learn compatibility, and to transfer parts over, have a nice fixie, historical bikes, more mechanical experience, etc...
Later got another cheaper frame, but fixie not happening, finding replacement 27' road/ track wheels, different rim sizes, compatibility, project procrastination, etc...
Decade(s) later,
While in a homeless shelter, bought a red mountain bike from a thrift store? and it was stolen at a bus stop and library, just going in quickly for checking book sales, didn't lock it, didn't register it (not all good, says where you live, going, whom you are, etc), and lost it... Confirms my likely faulty reasoning that red bikes get stolen (too cute/attracts attention, jealousy, bike envy, etc)
Graduated college, got a graduation present of a mountain bicycle, and I got back on a bicycle after taking likely wrong/bad psych meds (as someone else's biochemistry experiment for social problems too) and lifestyle that kept me oppressed, sedentary, requiring buses/ cars/ etc to keep me passive, in line, and paying through the nose for transit, that was rude, many times dangerous and just plain exploitive, a lot of times...
Lost 50 pounds by changing transit means, and some of my food intake processes..
I gained a lot of that back, with other issues, but still working on it...
First beginner maintenance kit with chain whip, spoke wrenches, with Doug, actually from here, and learning some more about it... Some necessity, some not wanting to wait for service, leave your bike when you are are commuter, not really an option, kind of like holding it hostage, afaict...
WeldingBasics2013
mostly too far to bicycle to and from class, but did a few times, camping in Manassas area campground between classes and/or returning around 2-3 am after 3 hours of riding following an evening class...
Hope to build stuff with tubing like bicycle frames, pipe class didn't really help that, as 6 inch steel pipe with stick is not 1-2 inch space frame tubing...
Brazing is not welding, but similar, kind of like soldering...
Touring
Our Journey Experiences
Tried some statewide mental health events by bicycle (OnOurOwnMD's turned into
http://DancesWithCars.CrazyGuyOnABike.com C&O Canal Tour
Training in Madison, VA
and/or with a bicycle/ in line wheelchair accessibility device...
AVeteransSonLaughsAndSpitsAtMe2011
HippieClownCamp2011
ComeOutOfTheSewingCloset2011
Some of which is multi-modal, some not...
Advocacy
(Basically in parallel with other sections above)
While trying to learn more about advocacy, besides Mental Health, tried bicycle advocacy in a neighboring and in between jurisdiction, and some closer to home, with not much success (hills added to maps?), but that is possibly more discrimination, back to M.H. and money issues...
Links
In addition to above:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycles_Peugeot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Brown_%28bicycle_mechanic%29
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobst_Brandt
http://www.avocet.com/wheelbook/wheelbook.html
AfricanAmericansDon'tBike2011
BikeCulture2011
BikeTechWheelBuilding
3FootPassingBillFailed2011
4WheelsBad2WheelsGood3WheelsMaybe
AroundTheWorldOnTwoWheelsByPeterZheutlin
BambisOutToGetMeAndSnakesInTheStore2011
ThreeCupsOfTeaByGregMortensonAndDavidOliverRelin
(war on oil? other cultures?)
DCtoRichmondBikeTour
CriticalMassDC20110701
DCDMHItsNotOurPolicy
NoPlaceForBikesAtDMV2012
DryAmemoirByLUSHAugustenBurroughs
(drinking and issues related to lifestyles)
PatrickAsSaint
(decided to buy a folding after he died, I was going to join him, but invested in more bonus time/equipment, instead...)
COS Transportation
JerrySpaceIdea
FeetInTheStreetFortDupont
FortDupontSummerConcertSeries2010
FortDupontSummerConcertSeries2011
BFF10
BicycleFilmFestival2011
BicycleFilmFestivalcom
TheBikeHouse
TheBikeHouseCoop2015
DownGradingVeloCityCoop2010
VeloCityBikeCoop
PhoenixBikes
RacismAnonymous
MickeyMouseIsARegisteredRepublican
Herding Turtles report
IcedGreenTea2014
GreedCorrupts
ADA19thAnniversaryProclamation
ADepressionVideo
GoogleAnnoyances2014
GoogleEar2014
GooglePlus2011
DarwinPlusOne2015
AdvMotoRally2015
ArlBAC20120507
OneWetDyslexicsBikersExperienceAtTheNationalBookFestival
WeldingBasics2013
BikersAndDrunks2015
AmbushBaitBike2016
BikeBikeHosting2015
PedalCarts2015
SpokesongsByWillieWeir
WABAAnnualMeeting2011
WABAs50States13ColoniesRide2011
and many more, maybe 12+ according to a quick search with Add Link but can't get to all of them easily, so you too can search this space, maybe easier, than moi... Full text search capabilities, may be something that costs more in hosting, idk at the moment...
While you may not see the relevance of each of the links, it is also a Forest Gump type special interest in bicycles, kind of like hearing him talk about shrimp, chocolate, etc... Basically a motion kid, grown big, old, but still kind of dumb and kid like in some ways, but not in others...
I might get around to showing the relations better, say after sleeping, and getting past the rain today, and the last couple of weeks, which might keep some in, but I find the pollen isn't as bad, when it rains, so I sometimes feel better, instead of worse, plus it provides cloud cover, and less sunburn (to the old classic rock tune of Rock Lobster (B-52's?))... Visibility, stopping time, etc issues still exist, and likely extra/synergistic...
Conclusion
Summary of experience or similar
So like Thanksgiving and other holidays where people PoP in and want to report on stuff they don't do all year round, posing/ pretending and other problems of fake/ hipster lifestyles, doing it regularly instead of just weekends, when the trails are very busy, rush hour actually, and one lane, most of them, as if the Interstates were just one lane,
instead of Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Sweden's VisionZero (deaths due to transit), we as a nation and capital area have a long road/way ahead to go to take people and bicycles, even motos' seriously, as far as safety and lifestyle(s)..
Discussion
A place for feedback on the page presented
What experience do you have bicycling?
Walking?
Crossing the Street(s)?
Advocacy for same/similar?
Are you ignored because, young, poor, minority, abrasive, smelly, in a wheelchair, cane/ crutches/ etc and not in a business suit, etc?
What can you do to make it better?
How to peacefully (read non-violently) make that happen?
License
Creative Commons Share and Share Alike, Non Commercial, Non Derivative, for the whole site's contents unless otherwise explicitly stated
Page History
20160517 Jerry
- Jerry created this page to push pedals, and a green like agenda, before it gets too hot/steamy/etc...
Page Statistics
Page Views: 
since creating on 20160517
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.