Butch Cassidy

and the Sundance Bicycle?  What goes through the mind of a person who spends too much time thinking about bicycles...

In the classic film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) with the ever wonderful Paul Newman and Robert Redford, there is, besides shoot outs and daredevil horseback riding, a bicycle scene.  Most of the attention it gets derives from Catherine Ross as Etta Place being perched on the handlebars of the bicycle... but that is not my reason for writing this.

There are a number of people who are very dear to me who love to point out historical inaccuracies in films. And so I endeavored to discover how accurate is this bicycle?  And so a casual observer deduction follows...

As near as a I can figure from the literature, this film is supposed to take place in the late 1890s. So should this bicycle have a fixed cog (as most all early, rear-drive train bicycles did)?  When watching as Paul Newman does his own bicycle stunts! One would of course notice this bicycle has a freewheel (he doesn't have to pedal constantly).  When were freewheels invented?  As best as I can ascertain, the early 1890s.  How quickly did the freewheel spread to the Americas?  Quite quickly (according to some vague statements on Wikipedia and not very thorough sources)... and backward pedal brakes followed shortly after.  (Caliper brakes came years later.)  The bicycle in the film has the proper sort of geometry for the time, to my amateur eye.  It has no handlebar brakes.  Even the saddle looks like the nightmarish contraptions that passed for a saddle back in the day.  As far as I can tell, set design person and prop master: job well done!


Where did this post come from??  The seed of an idea: There was a well known screen writer doing an event at my place of employment this week.  He asked me on one of the rainy mornings earlier this week what made me laugh or smile that day?  I told him about riding my bicycle in the pouring rain in my father's old blue raincoat and feeling, in general, like a blue whale due to all the gear (and of course, Charlie is blue too).  And laughing at myself.  He said that would make an excellent scene in a film, and then proceeded to regale me with a tale of an interview he did with Paul Newman, specifically about this scene.

Room for Improvement

Dear Mr. Tractor Trailer Truck Driver,

While I understand very well that your esteemed colleagues and yourself drive long hours to the farthest reaches of the country at ungodly hours in even the worst weather, under a deadline, and that most of us would not have access to almost all of the things we take for granted every day without you; really no matter where you are in this fine country, and as far as I know, everywhere else- a red light means stop.  And while I understand that I am, on this bicycle or not, always much smaller than you, that does not change the fact that the red light still means stop.  You probably spend more hours on the road than most, I would imagine you would know this very well.

Now we cyclists, as diverse a bunch as we are, get a bad wrap as folks to run lights, stop signs; cut off pedestrians, cars, kitties crossing the street, well- you get the idea...  Anyway even though my bicycle has no engine and only two wheels to your eighteen- as far as the law is concerned I have just as much right to the roads as you do.  And just as much responsibility to obey traffic laws.

This morning when I came to the Boston end of the Mass Ave Bridge to the light with Beacon Street and the light was red, I stopped.  You did not elect to make that decision.  Several seconds after I stopped, on the stop line too! mind you... Here you come and slow down enough to stop, but do you stop? No...  first you bump into me with your front right wheel casing and then begin your right turn, and due to the lovely turn radius of a trailer then hit me with your trailer as you turn.  Perhaps I now come off as daft or insane?  Yes, it is legal to make a right on red in Massachusetts, don't get me wrong; but into oncoming traffic, cutting of cars that have the right of way? Really?  I did get off my bicycle and got out of your way and I wonder if you heard me yell: "Thanks for stopping at the red light!" at the top of my lungs, probably not considering the rain...

Today you have done your profession a disservice.  Growing up with a father who was a mechanic, he worked almost exclusively on big rigs, in my youth I always had an awe of big rig drivers.  As a job in high school I worked at a car garage.  These same guys were some of the most considerate folks who came in. Having been aided by truckers when in stranded automobiles my esteem was not diminished.  But today when you almost took my life my consideration vanished.

My point is that I should not have to wonder if I'm going to be run off the road or run over when I act under my legal obligation to stop at a red light.  Really it's not that complicated.

So the next time you see a bicycle start through a light a little early, it may not be some lazy jerkface- maybe it's a person with a burning desire to live, trying to preserve their own existence.

These worlds do not have to be at odds.  They do not have to be mutually exclusive.  My father worked on big rigs, but he also built bicycles and rode them with great enthusiasm.  He may not be alive now to comment for himself, but treading on another human being this way is never okay.

Signed the feisty girl on the blue bicycle who likes vegetables and takes on buses daily, and now tractor trailer trucks... apparently

Charlie's Summer Vacation

Charlie would like to share some pictures various humans have taken on various adventures this summer, some feature other friendly bicycles:

This is from a trip to visit Mint in Charlestown. I, and this is Charlie by the way, had never been to Charlestown before, but I got to go past the USS Constitution, Old Ironsides! I'd like to go on a boat soon...

This is Betsy. She is my cousin. Well, she's my human, Jessie's cousin Watson's bicycle. She has a beautiful Raleigh mixte frame. I'm not sure how old she is, and you never ask a lady her age.

Sometimes we go to visit her by the coffeeshop in Inman Square when Watson is there. Here we are!

We also spent a lot of time with Jenny this summer. She did not know how to ride a bike so we spent time with her and Victor, Victor Junior, Victor the 2nd, (all from Cambridge Bicycle's rental fleet)- learning how to ride!

Jenny is a prodigy and was riding under her own power in about 2 and a half hours on the first day. Other training adventures included Memorial Drive on a Sunday when they close it to cars, Bicycles win!! And these are from our Minuteman Bikeway trip, all the way to Arlington Center! Not bad for your third time on a bike Ms. Jenny!

Here are some photos from that trip:

Here we are in Arlington Center! Time for humans to get iced tea!

This is Jenny and Victor by Spy Pond, we all went bird watching. Also it is very important to watch out for small humans, children I think they are called, they do not keep consistent vectors or trajectories....

And here is Jessie, hoisting me into the air. I'm still not quite sure why humans do this with us but it sure is fun! Wheeeee!

And this is a car that I'm friends with. I don't have a lot of friends that are cars but sometimes I meet this one places. It belongs to Jessie's boss, Jennifer.

Looking forward to more adventures!

Countdown...Reflections

The countdown is on, this was bound to happen eventually and now it approaches- we are nigh onto 5,000 miles!

On this day last year I was in the scramble to complete a goal of:

(quoting from last year)

Goal: 2,200 miles by 9.24.10

Miles ridden to date: 851

Miles left to goal: 1,349

Days left: 23

Now I'm clocking in at ~4,849 miles since Charlie and I have been together, meaning we've gone about four thousand miles in the past 365 some odd days. (I haven't calculated a standard deviation and my calculations are based on Googlemapping where I ride every week (not sure what their margin for error is), perhaps I should get one of these? )

Looking back: Those first months as a bicycle commuter were tough ones. Not only in the physical aspect but also in how much I had to learn about bicycles, what to pay attention to, what tools to carry, etc. I still have so much to learn, but it is a rather exciting thought, indeed.

The present: Charlie's back wheel started to wobble a bit, but rather than waiting until the popcorn sound returned we stopped by the shop. And once again they were wonderful (thank you! thank you!), coaster break was tightened, headset needed a little help in that department too, and we're off!

Looking forward: It'll be time for another tune-up soon (it's been that many miles already?!), before winter. The front tyre is looking like it may need to be retired. I've pulled hunks of glass out of that Gatorskin enough times now (hurray for kevlar!) that it's starting to show... And we will be revisiting the flip flop hub situation... more to come with that in time.

Strictness of Cause and Effect

Cause and effect are very strict, when you dislike something, even if you thought you didn't show it, it's there. When you like something, even if you think you show no partiality, it's there as well. You make a cause either way and the consequences show up in some form or another along the way. Sometimes they're great, like when your bicycle shop is good to you for being a good customer. Sometimes it's bad, and you don't like what you have to face. So then what?

Face the facts and deal with it.

The only problem is (well maybe not the only problem) is sometimes we don't know what the facts are. Sometimes we only have a vague intuition of a tenuous situation because the parties involved "stand upon the edge of a knife" (Thanks Galadriel...although I do believe Celeborn says this in the book, Tolkein's genius), as it were, and we're all tiptoeing through a field of broken glass in the dark. Far off glimpses of light shed a twinkle, then its out and you don't know where to step, where to turn, how to proceed.

That's where dialogue comes in. Some people will tell you exactly what they think without prompting, sometimes that's great, sometimes not so great. Some people expect you to know, or see something that may be immediately apparent to them but perhaps not to you. It is so obvious why would they need to state it? So they do not speak, not until it is too late, when they can't stand it anymore, then the edge of the knife is quite painful indeed.

These scenarios happen at work, in families, in relationships, you name a relationship - it can happen there.

So what to do? What's this dialogue thing anyway? By having open communication you can learn, you can deal, things can be addressed - even if it isn't news everyone wants to hear. Some people are patient, some inpatient, some tolerant, some not- and on and on - dialogue allows us to bridge those differences so that we do not have to suffer for our differences. And instead can use them to foster a new kind of solution.

A new way forward.

Versatility

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. -Henry David Thoreau, Walden 1854

So Charlie and I are going to the woods. Charlie is not exactly a mountain bike, he is a road bike, and he is not exactly set up for where we're going, but we're going to learn how versatile we both can be. Can you pedal up mountain roads on a single speed? We'll see... This is not a tour or anything, just a side dish what is generally a rather stationary camping trip.

Charlie's going to see pretty sights:

He will be far from the concrete of home, onward to the next adventure!

(P.S. maybe he'll take a photo at a scenic vista or two?)

Tighten Up the Slack

"The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit. "
-Morihei Ueshiba

Or in this case tighten up the saddle...

Charlie's got one of the Brooks classic saddles, the B17. The inestimable, brilliant, guru-of-all-things-cycling, late Sheldon Brown tells us that one shan't tighten one's Brooks saddle or peril shall come to thee, and a ruined saddle too. But, after approximately 4,289 miles in this saddle things are looking a little saggy in that department.

Having been, prior to this bicycle and this saddle, someone who always had some sort of vinyl or plasticy sort of seat - the Brooks was a big change. And for the better. If you want an exhaustive listing of the benefits of a leather saddle, read Mr. Brown's article. Or if you're an equestrian you already know the answer.

Just riding the bicycle contributes to a person in all those ways Ueshiba-sensei mentions above (although he was a martial artist but maybe he rode a bicycle at some point?); but the riding of the bicycle does the opposite to the bicycle. So Charlie's going in for tightening of saddle, chain, and brakes to name a few.

Keep on rolling...