Thursday, October 26

Jeez, the weather has gotten really cold. I finally broke out the gloves - too cold to ride without them. A friend of mine just got doored last night. The attached picture is of the victim. Thankfully, she's OK. In case you're not familiar with the phenomenon, being "doored" is when someone in a parked car whips open their door right as you're approaching, or passing the car. It can be fatal, or can involve everything that comes before "fatal" (broken bones etc etc). She was lucky and got away with scratches and bruises. I was doored once, but I was going so slowly at the time that it was more of a Three Stooges move. Here's a good piece from Common Ground mag about being doored.

Thursday, October 19

Had a near miss today that goes in the top three. I was blazing down Beacon St right before Kenmore. There was a long line of traffic backed up at the light, and suddenly a car that was making a left through the stopped traffic into a parking garage appeared right in front of me blocking my path. For a split second I plotted where I would make impact on his passenger-side, then jammed on the brakes. At the last possible second, he saw me and gave it the gas. It was a very close call. The gentleman was around 90 or so, and appeared to be very surprised that someone was actually riding a bicycle on the street.

Weather has been great for riding these past couple of weeks. Front tire was losing massive amounts of air two days ago so I replaced both tube and tire in about a half-hour. No troubles at all. Now I'm all set for next week's Critical Mass ride.

Friday, October 13

Weather is getting a little nippy. 50 degrees today, but sunny.

Wednesday, October 11

Gloomy day. 56 degrees, windy, overcast. I commented to Stanley, the company janitor, that today was gloomy. He said "Why?" (as if he didn't know). I brought up the clouds and temperature and the wind, and he said "Well, you can't have the sun out every day, can you? You have to look at the overall picture...and the overall picture is pretty good, isn't it?" I brought up North Korea, thinking that I'd sink his happy-go-lucky ship with that. Nope. All he said was that he thought Iran was a bigger problem than North Korea.

Tuesday, October 10 - Monk's Birthday

Another beautiful day - 61 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. The weather has been spectacular these past few days. Blah, blah, blah.

Rode on the sidewalk down Mem drive today. Some days I get a skittish feeling if it seems the drivers are being a bit more unruly than usual. I started off on the road, but moved to the sidewalk/bike path about a quarter of the way down. You can see by the photo of the outcrop right before Land Blvd that things get a little tight if you're riding on the road. Blah, blah, blah.


Today is Thelonious Monk's birthday. He was born in 1917 - the same month and year that the Bolsheviks took over in Russia. October is a big month for birthdays. Dizzy Gillespie was also born in October 1917. My mother was born in October, my wife was born in October, my sister-in-law was born in October. It's really just a month of parties.

It's also a month of bad news. I got the news that the division of the company that I goof off for will be closing at the end of December. But as Stanley, the company janitor, says "Hey, at least your alive. You're here, and that's good." Crazy. He's always saying that, no matter what's going on. If he was thrown in a Turkish prison with nothing to eat but rats, he'd still say "Hey, at least I'm alive, I'm here, that's good." One of these days I'm going to tell him that every day isn't necessarily a good day.

Friday, October 6

Only 55 today, gusting winds in the face the whole way - a harbinger of things to come.

Friends, how do you like the new logo? I'm going to take this thing to the next level. A little ways down the road suicidebicycleride.com will be a website where ANYONE can post their own ride report for all to see. The site is in the beginning stages of development now. And, yes, there will be SBR merchandise - simple things at first, like black rubber SBR bracelets, t-shirts, and maple billy clubs for those unruly motorists. Then I'll move on to SBR sporstwear, ball gowns, formal wear etc. So until the time that you can post your own "Heston!" story, stay tuned, keep reading, and stay out of my way!

Wednesday, October 4

Beautiful morning - 67 and sunny.

Got honked at twice today. A guy honked at me on Memorial Drive and pointed out his window at the sidewalk - telling me, I gather, to ride there instead of the street. Well, as they say during the Critical Mass ride, "Whose streets? My streets." The problematic thing about harassing a cyclist in the city is that often times the cyclist can catch up to a car quite easily and call them on their bad behavior. I have done this on several occasions with mixed results. Today I was able to catch up to the fellow, and was in full swing with my U-Lock, about to take out his rear driver side window, when the light turned green and he was off. Too bad. I love it when the U-Lock hits the window and sends a hailstorm of auto glass into the back seat, while the driver stares in wide-eyed, uncomprehending horror at what you have just visited upon them.

I'm just kidding, of course. It's a beautiful day and I am not angry. Speaking of anger, it's Charlton Heston's birthday today - he's 83. I'm not going to get into the whole NRA thing, but I will cite this interesting piece of trivia I found on Wickipedia about Heston: "In Greece, his name is written as "Charlton Easton" because "Heston" has scatological connotations in Greek (χέσ'τον = 'shit him')."

So, from now on if someone honks at me, I'll simply shout "Heston!" at them. Little will they know that I am cursing in Greek.