The Experience of a Bicycle

[tomjasz]

I have been totally unsuccessful in growing watermelons. The plants bloom, but do not pollinate until late August. By then, it is too late. The same with cantaloupes. No fancy shaped ones for me.

Hmmm, it is 32 degrees F out and I'm kinda sorta thinking about trying to ride to a store....but I think of the patches of ice still on the road in places.

The sandy soils along the upper Mississippi River grown incredible melons. Easy peasy and ever so sweet. Giant pumpkins too!

 

[PedalUma]

A bike friend, Lisa, moved there to start an eBike rental business on Oahu. She wanted me to go with her. I could see that it would be a sticky kind of entrapment. No thanks. Gotta get out it is 70 and sunny.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

A bike friend, Lisa, moved there to start an eBike rental business on Oahu. She wanted me to go with her. I could see that it would be a sticky kind of entrapment. No thanks. Gotta get out it is 70 and sunny.

There's venus fly traps in NJ too, but the people are far scarier. After all, Snooki lives there.

 

[Gordon71]

I'm feeling like a dinosaur. I like an ebike that feels like a bicycle. It is responsive, fairly lightweight, and I must pedal. The motor is there because we have hills and I don't like get off my bike to push. It is comfortable to ride for miles and miles. I'm not interested in speed, I'm interested in getting somewhere, but getting some exercise also. I've found the right ebike for me.

This forum seems to be going the other way. Most posts seem to be about faux motorcycles and how fast can it go. I find myself coming to it less and less. There are even posts about scaring pedestrians. This is all fodder for the ebikes are too scary group. All this makes me think that ebikes are going to be very heavily regulated soon. I think I'll be safe with my nerdy Gazelle. You?

Not me. I don't care much about speed but I hate regular bikes. My ex like to ride so I bought a bike back in the 90's. Spent $400 for the bike. Had a zillion gears to deal with and, by the time I was down to one that allowed me to ride up hill, snails were moving faster. 90lbs of air in the skinny little tires means I'd feel it every time I rode over a tiny pebble. Give me a 7 speed fat tire Ebike with front suspension and suspension seat post with a plush saddle every time.

 

[tomjasz]

Snooki lives there.

Terrifying

 

[SC00CHB00CH]

There's probably a lot more bike rental places in the islands than there were 20 years ago. The only one I saw was on Maui and that was to climb the volcano and scream down the mountain side. We didn't actually spend much time in the cities when we were there to notice other rental spots.

In west MAUI near Honokowai ,Maui I saw a ton of EBIKES for rent on lower honoapiilani road , all different shapes and sizes

 

[PedalUma]

It felt so good to get out for a ride. I got to talk to people of all ages too and commune with nature. A little boy touched each part of my bike and asked questions. I learn best by screwing up. I tried a new race lube on one bike last week, the petro based stuff. Now it is all gummed up and gritty. It will be a mess to clean it. I have to do it and chalk that up to the high cost of tuition.

 

[PedalUma]

I would rather ride without an addenda than Strava. I am in the present and experience more. Strava is like Peloton, who cares about a data posting agenda. I got to see students examine migrating salmon, and talk to a neighbor in a wheelchair and pet his care dog while running a errand and enjoying the Autumn sun. Spandex mode has no smiles and is not connected to the real moments as unfolding nor is it open to opportunity. This is what @tomjasz is emphasizing. Yes, there are overpriced bikes that are whippy and some people who don't know better are arrogant about them simply because they don't know the good stuff and have never tasted it. Be right brained when riding and you will have more fun. Open to the present.

 

[Cowlitz]

Uh, my Gazelle is not a spandex model. I enjoy a bike that is responsive, and doesn't feel like I'm pedaling a ton of bricks or a bike with square wheels. Riding a fat bike everywhere just isn't what I want. There are places for that, and I ride one in the woods, but around most places, I prefer the feel of Gazelle.

I don't ride for data purposes, or bragging purposes. I carry a phone in a bag, although chances are it won't work where I ride. If I need a map, it's on paper, but for the most part, I know the country around here well enough that I don't need any navigation. Simple is good. I guess that's an important part of my bike experience--keep it low tech and simple.

 

[tomjasz]

“Now and then, teaching may approach poetry, and now and then it may approach profanity. May I tell you a little story about the great Einstein? I listened once to Einstein as he talked to a group of physicists in a party. "Why have all the electrons the same charge?" said he. "Well, why are all the little balls in the goat dung of the same size?" Why did Einstein say such things? Just to make some snobs to raise their eyebrows? He was not disinclined to do so, I think. Yet, probably, it went deeper. I do not think that the overheard remark of Einstein was quite casual. At any rate, I learnt something from it: Abstractions are important; use all means to make them more tangible. Nothing is too good or too bad, too poetical or too trivial to clarify your abstractions. As Montaigne put it: The truth is such a great thing that we should not disdain any means that could lead to it. Therefore, if the spirit moves you to be a little poetical, or a little profane, in your class, do not have the wrong kind of inhibition." - George Polya's Mathematical Discovery, Volume 11, pp 102, 1962.”
― George Pólya, Mathematical Discovery on Understanding, Learning and Teaching Problem Solving, Volumes I and II

War, prejudice, and religious zealotry are profane. Bullshit is just common. But if described scientifically snobs will accept the use of Bos (Bovine) Faeces, here after BF, for the terminally inane.

 

[Djangodog]

“Now and then, teaching may approach poetry, and now and then it may approach profanity. May I tell you a little story about the great Einstein? I listened once to Einstein as he talked to a group of physicists in a party. "Why have all the electrons the same charge?" said he. "Well, why are all the little balls in the goat dung of the same size?" Why did Einstein say such things? Just to make some snobs to raise their eyebrows? He was not disinclined to do so, I think. Yet, probably, it went deeper. I do not think that the overheard remark of Einstein was quite casual. At any rate, I learnt something from it: Abstractions are important; use all means to make them more tangible. Nothing is too good or too bad, too poetical or too trivial to clarify your abstractions. As Montaigne put it: The truth is such a great thing that we should not disdain any means that could lead to it. Therefore, if the spirit moves you to be a little poetical, or a little profane, in your class, do not have the wrong kind of inhibition." - George Polya's Mathematical Discovery, Volume 11, pp 102, 1962.”
― George Pólya, Mathematical Discovery on Understanding, Learning and Teaching Problem Solving, Volumes I and II

War, prejudice, and religious zealotry are profane. Bullshit is just common. But if described scientifically snobs will accept the use of Bos (Bovine) Faeces, here after BF, for the terminally inane.

There is a big difference between Albert Einstein using a crude reference to make a point and someone being vulgar because they can’t seem to express themselves forcibly by their wits. Part of teaching is to make an important point stand out so that people will remember it.

I was seventeen and our platoon was directed to a chapel for use as an air hall. A captain stood at the pulpit with a cross below him. He took the opportunity to dress us down for some small infraction, (I don’t recall what it was, probably nothing). The experience of having my company commander standing there in a chapel with the cross below him and screaming profanities left an impression. The dressing down didn’t bother me. The disrespect for basic decency did. A chapel is not a place to be vulgar, and neither is a public forum.

I was no stranger to cussing and being a soldier, used profanity daily, but this was different and seemed obscene. A couple days later, I was shooting pool. Framed on the wall were the words, “Profanity is the effort of a feeble mind to express itself forcibly”. Those words hit home and have stayed with me.

If you can’t make a point without profanity, that says a lot about you. The profanity doesn’t offend me, but it does tell me a lot about you. You were making a fairly good point until you couldn’t resist the urge to add the last sentence.

 

[Cowlitz]

We CAN control it too. I ended up on a fire crew and what was supposed to be a short time out, turned into a 3 week long endurance feat. By the last week, we noticed we had become massive potty mouths. Someone seriously spoke up and pointed this out and also pointed out that we were going home and would need to control that recently acquired vocabulary. We did just that.

It can be changed, but don't run chainsaws. I didn't cuss much until I had to run a chainsaw at work.

 

[Mulezen]

This thread needs more love
”I passed my hand with unintended tenderness—sensuously, indeed—across the saddle. Inexplicably it reminded me of a human face, not by any simple resemblance of a human face but by some association of textures, some incomprehensible familiarity at the fingertips…I knew that I liked this bicycle more than I liked any other bicycle, better even than I had liked some people with two legs…How desirable her seat was, how charming the invitation of her slim encircling handlebars, how unaccountably competent and reassuring her pump resting warmly against her rear thigh!”

 

[Gazzy]

as @JedidiahStolzfus mentioned, cars are heavily regulated, and in many areas it's rarely enforced. there's plenty of people driving tuned mitsubishis and chipped diesel trucks that are technically not street legal but that hasn't stopped any auto parts store from carrying parts for them. the idea that an entire mode of transportation is going to be regulated into oblivion is silly. we should urge people to be responsible yes but fear mongering for or against e bikes is a futile endeavor, they are here to stay.


the gazelles are such clean bikes. quietly pushing just enough power through to make you feel like a world class cyclist instead of someone who eats too many sweets like me lol. it's a bummer they are so expensive i too would love touring on one.

Yes, my Gazelle (Ultimate t10+) is a sweet, sweet machine. Solid, well-made, great features.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

It can be changed, but don't run chainsaws. I didn't cuss much until I had to run a chainsaw at work.

If all you cussed about on a fire was chainsaws you were doing pretty well. We cussed about improperly stored equipment, clueless ICs, being fed MREs, and disorganized logistics. And that was on the good days.

 

[Cowlitz]

If all you cussed about on a fire was chainsaws you were doing pretty well. We cussed about improperly stored equipment, clueless ICs, being fed MREs, and disorganized logistics. And that was on the good days.

Nope. I didn't cuss a lot until I was out "sodomizing" (sanitizing or cleaning up) and thinning trees. I think I set a record for hanging up trees in one place. The knock it out of the standing tree by aiming another tree at it was not working that day. Lots of snow was melted by foul language. Another time I learned that if you kick a chainsaw off a rocky bluff, it hurts your foot and you have to eventually wander down and bring the saw back up the hill. Chainsaws are inherently evil.

 

[tomjasz]

Id hate to go back to a life where bullshit is profanity. Sexually charged words, yes, a big no to sexually charged words but bullshit hardly qualifies as profanity. And best describes the blather from the eBike purists demeaning others rides. Throttle bashers, kit bashers, mileage braggarts and their ilk are bos faeces extraordinaire.

 

[indianajo]

I like riding my bike. It is smooth, comfortable, capable, not much more difficult into a 25 mph headwind as on a calm day. Hasn't thrown me on my chin in 4 1/2 years, as the MTB's and cruisers did many times. Great visibility, easy on and off. Carries enough tools & supplies to get me home without help most of the time. Supports up to 5 day excursions to my summer camp in the woods. From it I've seen cows, horses, sheep, goats, llamas, rabbits, squirrels, groundhogs, raccoons, weasels, coyotes, deer, chipmunks, hawks, crows, eagles, bluebirds, prairie chickens, ducks, geese, woodpeckers.
I used to enjoy hiking, but US Army knees by age 62 put the end to that sport.

 

[PedalUma]

I used chainsaws daily for four years. They are vulgar. The danger and vibrations are constant. It is stressful. In a calming mode, I went for a ride this morning. It was crisp and sunny. Afterward I stopped for coffee and a snack. The French Mushroom Herb soup has brie melting in it. And I had a half-hour conversation with two of the most lovely women visiting from Nice, France. They are each 1.6 meters tall. I will see them again on Saturday. They are very into bikes and ride daily. Nice is the place with palm trees and red tile roofs along the Mediterranean and backed by the stunning Alps.

 

[tomjasz]

If all you cussed about on a fire was chainsaws you were doing pretty well. We cussed about improperly stored equipment, clueless ICs, being fed MREs, and disorganized logistics. And that was on the good days.

As a consulting arborist and trainer chain saw training was the biggest PIA (profanity?). Every other tom dick and harry were clueless. I approved very few gardeners to run chainsaws. YouTube videos of chainsaw users demonstrate just how clueless many macho men are idgets with chainsaws. My approved staff wore helments, faceshields with chaps and vests that snagged chains and shut the saws down. Ear protection is a must.