Strange days for indie cylcists
Topic: RANTING&RAVING
3/13/05 - Noticed a post on the fixed gear gallery bicycle forum (www.fixedgeargallery.com)
about the recent spike in warm weather and felt compelled to make a comment about global warming "scarologists". The result was worth to behold. Several people posted responses, ranging from "the President and Michael Chricton have their heads up their @sses" to touting the melting snows and glaciers as evidence. The most telling was the one statement that we should "forget about" the "hockey stick graph" and look at other studies. The graph in question was produced to show an apparently recent jump in global temperature (hence the name -- it resembled a hockey stick on it's side). The downside was that this graph was based on either dishonest of flawed research; no one attempting to replicate it could get the same results twice. The refutations, however, are dismissed as unmportant or "discredited" because one person involved supposedly worked for the energy industry. But if that's a conflict of interest, what do they have to say about all the scareologists who either work for or receive government funding -- funding they can only attract if they make the problem seem like a immediate and worldwide threat to life as we know it -- and a government that will benefit substantially, in terms of power gained, from any new regulations?

Moreover, beyond prefacing any recognition of the refutations with the word "discredited" (it wasn't but that's what they say) the global warmers also say to just ignore the graph for good or ill and look at "other evidence". But saying to forget about the graph and look at other evidence -- when the graph was *the* most compelling evidence, and all the other evidence is proported to illustrate the exact same thing as the graph -- is like saying, "okay, I'm wrong, but I'm wrong". What's the point? The point is if you are brazen enough about these things people will assume you are correct, sort of an updated "big lie". It may be that the people making these assertions are unaware of the fact that both examples they gave are identical, and so saying to ignore one and focus on the other is like saying ignore both; or, they may be counting on their audience not noticing this.

The reactions also contained examples of begging the question (i.e., circular argument) and other philosophical errors, such as appeal to authority, which was evident in "let's see, 10,000 scientists vs. two media whores" -- meaning the President of the US and author Michael Chricton.
Even *if* all 10,000 of those scientists are experts in climate (they aren't, but let's *suppose* -- it seems the thing to do these days) -- ten thousand people are just ten thousand people. Human beings. Capable of making errors. Like the infamous graph they'd love to forget, which was touted before government meetings and summits by officials from all over the globe, before someone found it was bogus.

The result? Rather than address the errors ? and the ideological motivations that led to them ? they?d rather just forget them and ?move on? to other examples of the same muddy thinking. The terrible irony is that anyone who disagrees with this hard-line orthodoxy of ?global warming? which is so prevalent in the cycling world, so otherwise focused on independent thinking, is attacked as a shill for the Republican party. There?s irony for you ? parrots accusing a dissenter of parroting.

It may be that a NASA study shows one thing, and a study of tree frogs another. But the big picture is that ?global warming? is no more proven fact ? or even a theory ? than global cooling was 30 plus years ago. At best, it is a theoretical assertion. And the burden of proof in any debate is on the one making an assertion ? especially of this magnitude.
Sadly, there is no debate, because no one wants there to be. The bike world is one protected, in large part, from the idiocy to which much of the modern world is susceptible; bicyclists can see the pointlessness of their SUV driving neighbor?s behavior, or of a society that tells them they are sub human unless they own a pair of 200$ jeans and an Ipod. Sadly, on this issue, though, the green trend of the bicycle world ? seen as a sort of ?counterculture? reaction to the sometimes spendthrift consumerism of the rest of the modern world ? is not a rebellion but an ideological iron curtain.

The result is that a theoretical assertion is presented as fact, and any critic is faced with a dizzying array of logical fallacies ? starting with being asked to prove that ?global warming? is *not* real.

In short, in the one area that matters ? ideas ? the bicycling world is stifled by an ideological orthodoxy. Like all orthodoxies, when unchallenged this leads to intellectual stagnation. The sad fact is that were it not for this the world could learn so much from cyclists. But all this sort of lock-step thinking does is make us look like, at best, like ignorant tree-huggers and knee-jerk reactionaries -- and at worst, intellectually dishonest scaremongers.

Part of it is the cultural influence ? despite their status as rebels due to their chosen form of locomotion many cyclists are young and therefore have emerged from schools rife with environmentalist propaganda and politicized science.

One has only to think back to all the predictions some of these "scareologists" (the writer of "the population bomb" comes to mind) have made that were proven utterly wrong. It is a track record typified by the hockey stick graph. Maybe that is why some so eagerly want to forget "the graph" and look at other examples of essentially the same thing: It is the perfect symbol for the global warming industry, and hardly a flattering one.

I'd say for all his media whoreness, Chricton is at least more honest. His books are at least marketed as known fiction. But at least cyclist proponents of the global warming scare are not hypocrites; they ride rather than drive frequently. The same cannot be said of most scarologists. But being consistant about being wrong is not proof that one is right.

In the meantime, it has become so "green" in the bike world these days that, to paraphrase the old Kermit song, it's hard not to be. Hard times cometh for those of independent thought on two wheels.

- Elvis

The Hip -- and the Hipsters...
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: RIDE REPORT
3/13/06 - Today's Monday. Last night I removed the braze ons for the shifter bosses from the downtube of the Tempo. Well, the right side one. Came out a-okay. Will do the other side soon. Saturday, the 11th, I went for a long ride using my new drivetrain... over to Summit, down the long way, and then back around and along Mountain Ave... the harder gear ratio made some of the hills difficult but I kept going!

When I stopped for a cup of java in Summit, I ran into a few locals. One dood asked me, how does a bike without gears work. I explained and he said "ah, it's a fixed gear? I've seen them like that down south," and then he added "it seems to be a trend with the college kids, they can't have gears."

This made me wonder, come to think of it, is it a "trend" to ride? Possibly; most bike companies are now offering a singlespeed or fixed gear bike -- some are even offering track bikes -- and not all those bikes arew intended for the 'drome. Some will hit the streets. Companies like Surly continue to make gear, cogs, and wheels for fixed gear riders. Is this a "trend"?

People think that because something is a trend, it's bad. This isn't always true. Crack cocaine was a bad trend. Fixed gear bicycles might be a good one! Moreover, just because late comers take to riding fixed because it is perceived as cool -- the so-called "hipsters" -- that doesn't remove from the originators of the hip-ness, the original riders, their own motive, which has nothing to do with looking cool and is all about fun riding.

Moreover, trends have a way of lingering. Some are addictive -- both crack and fixed gear riding come to mind. Obviously a crack addiciton is a bad thing -- it interferes with a person's quality of life, clouds their mind, and may kill them.

A cycling addiction, however, is fun, provides some measure of exercise and gets people out of their cars and officer cubicles into the air outdoors where they can relate better to each other and the world around them. It's a good trend, and anyone who stays in the "trend" will not remain a "hipster" very long. Once they see how much fun riding is they will keep it up even if it's hip-ness fades and it is no longer the "cool" thing to do.

- Elvis

FullSpeedAhead!
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: tales from the garage
3/08/06 - swapped out the road width drivetrain on the Tempo to 1/8" track stuff. Surly 17t cog, FSA front chainring 45t, old track chain. So far, so good!

- Elvis

Of stickers and big brother...
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: RANTING&RAVING
3/04/06 -

Word has it a bike parked with a sticker that said "this bike is a pipe bomb" caused a flurry of police activity recently:

"(from the AP article) Associated PressATHENS, Ohio - A graduate student was charged with inducing panic in a bomb scare at Ohio University over a sticker on a bicycle that read "this bike is a pipe bomb," which authorities figured out was the name of a punk rock band.
Four buildings on campus were shut down Thursday, streets were blocked off and a bomb squad was summoned from Columbus after a member of the university police force noticed the Patrick K. Hanlin's bike chained outside an on-campus restaurant about 5:30 a.m. The bomb experts destroyed the bike to find no bomb inside.
University police charged Hanlin, 28, on Thursday after he came forward as the biker's owner, OU spokesman Jack Jeffery said. The charge carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail.
Dean of Students Terry Hogan said authorities responded to the sticker appropriately."

Some folks -- even on the online bike forums, where the benefit of the doubt is normally given to cyclists -- have described the bicycle owner as an "a--hole".


But "a--hole" isn't really a fair description.

But is this REALLY any more "a--hole-ish" than a band named Anthrax -- in hindsight considering the anthrax attacks and scares? True, that band's name obviously predates the incidents but nevertheless isn't maintainign the name just as crass as calling a punk rock band "Bike is a pipe bomb"? I think if we "sensitize" our culture so much and tiptoe around each other we might as well declare a police state right now, or surrender to terrorism, one or the other. This isn't like making a bomb threat orally or leaving a threatening note; it was a sticker, clearly in the same class as those bumper stickers Americans put on their cars every election cycle -- in other words, it wasn't WRITTEN by the cyclist FOR THAT OCCAISION -- as bomb threats are. This was a case of authorities reacting to a bumper sticker, end of story.

How the authorities going ballistic over a bumper sticker, then destroying someone's property, and THEN charging the property owner with a criminal offense (!) can be described by anyone as an "appropriate" reaction is beyond reason. This jem of wisdom from the dean of students is, to paraphrase Bertrand Russell, a view so absurd that only the truly educated could subscribe to it.

The name of the band may be crude, and the wisdom of the dude parking his bike with such a sticker in these tense times could be questionable, but since that IS apparently the name of a band this is hardly the same as yelling fire in a crowded room. The error is as understandable as the error of a cop profiling the wrong person getting on a plane, if you catch my drift. Understandable, but if you have to blame anybody for the result blame the gung ho cop. I don't look like the stereotypical terrorist but some homeland security prick opened my suitcase last time I flew, found the Turkey we were taking to Grandma's for Thanksgiving day, and, unsure of what to do, announced "dead animal!" In seconds we were surrounded. Surely there was a bit of panic but whose fault is it, is turkey-packing a crime?

More direct comparison: Years ago my car had a tiny sticker in the window I printed up to deter thieves. It said, in a rather James Bond-ish fashion: "Vehicle Alarm triggers self-destruct mechanism". No one broke into my car -- probably cause it was a POS -- but I didn't get surrounded by coppers either.

The irony here is that while authorites closed off the street, destroyed someone's property, and charged a man who is perhaps guilty of no more than bad taste and poor judgement with "inducing panic", there are very real crimes going on out there. As any channel-surfing newswatcher could pointedly advise, the riots over those Danish cartoons have already claimed too many lives -- and may soon find their way to the US. Similar "outrage" from the self-righteous following Rushdie's infamous book int eh 1980's led to the bombing of two American bookkstores. But while these religious fanatics are inciting very real violence and panic, the focus is not on the dead victims and flipped over buses -- nor the potential threat for the violence to hit American streets. Rather, the auhtorites are concentrating -- like a rather megolomaniac Inspector Clousseou -- on a college grad student's punk rock sticker. With protectors like these, who needs enemies?
- Elvis

And art mirrors life...
...or so the old saying goes. So after a hiatus of more than a decade I tried my hand at painting. Last time I did this I was a kid but it turns out drawing wasn't visual enough to show the things I wanted to capture... tiny snapshots of soul, including, of course, the bicycle.

This evening did a small one of an old barn I used to frequent, the owner of which used to have a bike shop of sorts. Guy had all sorts of old junk... centrepull brakes, inch pitch chainrings, old cruisers and roadframes..... mind you, none worth much, I bought some stuff off him but the most important thing to me now, over four years later is looking back at a fun rainy afternoons pent mulling over the treasures of old bikes in a musty barn. It's gone now, they tell me -- some guy in a truck took the whole lot, but I still got that memory and this kid in a candy store feeling it came me to see all those old bikes stacked there, find somethin' I thought I might like, and ask the old bird "what da'ya think it's worth?"

The pic below is a pit of the one a did tonite (distorted by the process of copying a few times and shrinking to fit these margins), might post the whole thing on another page of the main site if I feel like it...

- Elvis

Small minds....
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: RANTING&RAVING
2-22-06:

As I ride my Schwinn Tempo fix around town I notice a good many cars nearly running me over. They have gotten used to seeing me at the stoplight, in the left-hand turn lane, or heading down the street and keeping pace with them through traffic. However some still can't figure it. Why do I ride in the cold?

The first part and result of our automobile culture results in a focus on oil. You hear the antiwar frewaks say it all the time -- "we went to war for oil!" Actually all wars are destructive, if they only realized how much oil was expended in this war -- and it isn't over yet -- they'd shut up, because, as the old sayin' goes, better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than speak only to prove it.

Recall that picture in the newspaper of a soldier in Iraq heatign a cup of coffee over the exhaust of a Tank? Probably the most expensive cup of coffee ever made considering it costs hundreds if not thousands to gas those suckers up. Where do the shells they fire come from? They have to be shipped -- more oil expended. And manufactured, which -- due to America's stunted nuclear power industry -- usually means more oil wasted... And these guys think that war is about profit? The only ones who ever profit from war is the undertakers. And so they keep on saying it, and I laugh because I ride my bike so I don't really use a lot of oil. But the guys (and gals) saying these sort of foolish things do. The term "limosine liberals" is pase'. Now the thing to do is put that John Kerry bumper sticker on your Humvee (after the electiuon, of course) and then complain mightily every chance you get about how Bush is going to war for oil. Oil that you are wasting in your bumper sticker covered Humvee, an I correct, mon ami?

The second part of our auto-centric culture is a rejection of the bike. Regular people, we are told, shoudl drive or walk. The bicycle, on public streets, is ridden only by, A- Someone training for a triathelon, and therefore Superhuman, or B- A bum whose license was revoked and therefore has lost his privledge to drive, and hence, is Subhuman. Most cyclists are niether -- I am certainly not -- but the facts don't stop the bias. The joke is that the guy on the bike, who doesn't waste oil, is thus frowned at by the humvee drivers. Though I'm no liberal -- although perhaps I could be considered at times a student of "classical liberalism" -- I inadvertently, when on my bike, embody most of the supposed virtues of the left, without intending to; environmental awareness/lack of pollution/not using gas or resources/ rebelling against "the system". Yet I don't ride for any of these reasons. I just do it for fun.

The liberals (and conservatives, to be fair) in their tank size vehicles that nearly run me over are obviously guilty of small minds in addition to short attention spans (the only explaination for them nearly killing me on a roads several times). How else could they make the arguments they do and then get into their cars on a daily basis just to travel two blocks -- while angrily fuming over the "dood on the bike" who is in "their" space?

The only war over oil is taking place on our streets. It seems the more of it some people use, the less they use their manners.

- Elvis

Cold Tempo....
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: RIDE REPORT
2/21/06:


Schwinn Tempo fixed gear, 165mm cranks, 42x18 gearing.

Been riding this lately in under 35 degree weather. Enough said.

- Elvis

Snow days....
2/17/06 - The Blizzard of '06 dropped like two feet on snow here in NJ this past Saturday-Sunday. But it was all good because I had my Fixed Gear Mountainbike. The Fix performed admirably in snow that went almost up to the hubs of the wheels at times; indeed, wading through deep snow was easier than negotiating the tiny deltas of packed slush that built up in the middle of many driveways downtown from car traffic. Only one place was smart... Benhams Garage was plowing the stuff clear across the road into the curb, out of their driveway.

A fix makes a good snowy day bike because cleaning is so simple, and cleanign is important in winter during snow, as road salt can eat away paint and frames and seize up stems and seatposts. Lack of shift cables etc. make it easier to clean off the frame -- and by extension, the rest of the bike. Meanwhile, the Tempo roadfix is rolling good. It embodies the same simplicity.

So what makes a good cold weather watch that goes with such a simple bike?

Skx175 with customized bezel. Been wearing this for the past few weeks as I ride. Now with the custom bezel, like my fixed gear, it takes on a simpler role.

- Elvis

Life and bicycles
2/08/06 - The world is still in a fit over some cartoon a Danish guy drew. thousands of Muslims have responded by rioting and threatening to kill people. It calls to mind the case of the filmaker, a descentant of Van Gogh, who was killed while riding his bicycle for making a movie some religious fanatics found offensive.

In the bike world some are too cliquish... you got track racers, road racers, commuters, mtb'ers, singlespeeders, bmx riders of all stripes, messengers, recreational riders, tri geeks... Funny when you think we all got two wheels. Well guess what, we are all riders and its different strokes for different folks. You wanna ride a brakeless track bike or a full touring rig? Fine by me, enjoy it and be well. By and large despite their differing ideas of what makes their bike better, most cyclists all get along. It could be a metaphor for life.

The alternative involves lots of fanaticism and flipped over buses. And it ain't cool.

- Elvis

Stuff and upgrades...
Topic: tales from the garage
2/02/06 - The other day I redid the lug work on my "black bomber" -- the Schwinn Tempo road fix. Yellow spray paint applied with a brush where b4 there used to be gold-brown auto touch up paint. The lugs of this black bike are now outlined in yellow.

I also tweaked the brake - it now runs front brake only, hooked to a Shimano aero lever, with silver Fizik grip tape on the tops of the bars. And the newest addition -- a "carbon" seat. I got to, can't decide where to put the other one. They are this yet comfy, light yet wide enuff for my bum -- and still ride like decent road seats. $14.99 not bad...

All of this raises the question in one's mind of "Stuff and upgrades". At what point do you go from saying "I added 'stuff' to my bike", to "I upgraded my bike"? Nonriders look askance at spending $ for bike parts, or time on rebuilding, so riders are often compelled to explain that such-and-such is an "upgrade", thereby justifying cost, or time, to those who would not necessarily understand.

By definition, an "upgrade" is the replacement of one part with a "better" part -- but better is so subjective. Better how? Looks, feel, brand name, affordable price, weight?

Ultimately it sounds better to say "I upgraded". "Stuff" just sound lame... upgrade, official. Important. Yet, when you get right down to it, new parts -- whether "stuff" or "upgrades" -- or both -- both serve the same function; improving yer ride. And if a new seat, different brake lever, or some other gizmo allow you to more enjoy your bicycle, than that part is an "upgrade" by definition -- even if it doesn't look as nice, or cost as much.

- Elvis