ULTIMATE Driving Machine

BMW Isetta, Seen at Ocean Shores on April 28, 2018

Two versions of the ultimate driving machine are presented for your consideration. The second one might also fit in yesterday's "Rust Never Sleeps" post...

This Might be Considered a "Rat Rod"

Cycle RAT

Hmm, Where Might this Colorful Tree Be? Annie SAID Bikes had to be Involved!

Back in the day, Rantwick held an annual "Rantwick Autumn Throwdown;" RAT for short. It started when he looked for challengers to "The King of Autumn." The King was a spectacular tree. After a few years, seems it was the third or fourth RAT, Anniebikes took up the responsibility, and now it's just a fond memory. JUST IN CASE, however, at top is my own mysterious RAT entry for this year. It was shot somewhere north of Texas and east of Washington. For those still mystified, the photo at bottom clears up the "cycle" part of this title and also the particular locale.

Tending to the Bikes on an Autumn Tour

Redemption

From My Post, "Still Unloved"

Some know that I worked at Northrop for many years. Nearly 25 years ago, Northrop lost the "ATF" fighter competition to a combination of what is now Lockheed Martin and Boeing. I watched Dick Cheney make the announcement at 1:20 PM on April 23, 1991, live on CNN. It really hurt a lot. We put up signs around the area that said "Will Design the World's Most Advanced Fighter Jet for Food."

Today, we were redeemed.

News announcement in the Seattle Times, HERE. The LA Times announced it HERE. This is the largest contract award in at least a decade and perhaps in a generation.

In contrast to 1991, I did not see anything on CNN about the award, and even HLN had Nancy Grace on.

While I feel badly for Boeing, redemption is sweet. Jack Northrop and TV Jones are probably both smiling from their graves.

Bike Friendly Dallas, Er, Richardson



Richardson, Dallas County Did NOT Ignore Bike to Work Day. Yippee!

I'm going to celebrate "Ride Your Bike to Work Day" this year with more fervor than ever before. Really, riding my bike to work is something that I do every work day, and I'm under no illusions that such events will result in some groundswell of cycling support around DFW, much less the world. However, I send flowers on Valentine's Day and on Mother's Day and those holidays don't change things much either. Instead, they remind us of things we ought to remember anyway. In my case, I DO appreciate the ride to work, despite less than ideal conditions.

In my post, here, I looked into celebrating in Dallas, only to find that Dallas doesn't seem to be doing anything. Instead, its little neighbor to the west, Fort Worth is pulling out the stops and so I'll be going to the ITC in order to score some loot. I'll forswear the ceremonial rides and speeches, since I'm not going to take the whole day off, but I'll think kind thoughts about Mayor Betsy as I drink coffee at work, about the second meeting into a long day.

However, as it turns out, I gave Dallas a BAD RAP. Well, that is, if you consider Dallas as the communities within Dallas County. You see, RICHARDSON, and specifically BIKE FRIENDLY RICHARDSON is sponsoring their very own event. Of all the "Bike Friendly" sites, the Richardson one is among my favorites. Richard W, of "Suburban Assault" is one of the people behind it. Richard was in a TS101 course I helped teach and is now also a CyclingSavvy graduate. While I'm following the advice to "GO WEST" on Friday, I'll be with our Dallas County Richardson cousins in spirit.

As I often say, "YOU GO, GUYS AND GALS!"

PUZZLE for the Observant Rider

Why is This My Most Hazardous Commute Traffic Situation?

Pictured is the situation and road segment on my homeward commute that presents the most collision danger potential for me. In fact, when this same segment formed an element of my v1 commute, I found it called for an exceptionally cautious approach, ready for instant evasive action. In that regard, things haven't improved at all.

The puzzle is, simply, why is this a hazardous, potential collision situation, calling for EXCEPTIONAL caution on the part of the cyclist?

I will give out one hint - the collision hazard is not any motor vehicle behind me, but it IS behind me, though you can see its evidence up ahead. Also, for any out there that think the hazard involves my position relative to the gutter, I will point out that my front wheel is visible in the far lower right hand corner of the photo. Yup, I pulled off to a side street, dismounted, and then went back to the edge of the arterial to take the photo. I'm really not coordinated enough to take photos in traffic while riding. I don't talk on the cell phone while driving either, in case you think this is a bike skill thing. I AM able to walk and chew gum at the same time, however.

The winner gets bragging rights for being the most observant one of all. One need not do more than THINK of the answer to enter. The prize? You get to pat yourself on the back for being clever and perceptive.

Seven Long Miles

Seven Long Miles and Almost Home
Photograph by Steve

Today, RatTrapPress forwarded the following email:

Hey there... this is dogwoodlane,
I saw where the Alliance for Biking and Walking is having a photo contest in order to build there <sic, I just copied & pasted this> photo galleries and you guys came to mind. The prize is a trip to Tuscany, so you know, worth a shot!
peoplepoweredmovement.org
http://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/index.php/site/photo-contest/welcome
cheers, Sally

Based on my experience, here, my first question was whether they're talking Tuscany, as in the province of the COUNTRY Italy or Tuscany, as in a subdivision of
 Italy, Texas. However, I put aside my cynical tendencies to propose the photo at the left. As an engineer, attempting to emulate an artsy fartsy type, I'll title it "Seven Long Miles and Almost Home" and enter it in the "walking" category. It's important for potential bike/walk people to realize that if you start out biking, you pretty almost always have the option to continue by walking, but if you start out by walking and those feet go out, you're SOL.

You can figure it all out by deciphering the following:
Life's slow when the family has left on vacation, you went to downtown Dallas, you didn't bring along any spare tubes or a pump, you have a blow out due to not using "hook bead" rims, and it's too nice a day to call friends to come and collect you - especially since you know they'll give you a hard time the whole way home anyway. Yup, I've got my "walking" entry. Submitted it tonight...

Hopefully, Lizzylou feels better about her batteries. Sometimes our advice is based on dumb stuff we got caught on ourselves!

Greed Can Make You Stupid

Click on images for larger version if you want to read the details

Money for Bike Commuting Four months after I started my new commute to FW Alliance Airport in April, I got the email above. It caught my attention because it announced a “Commuter Challenge” based on tryparkingit.com, which happens to be the site I use to log my commute.

I read the flyer, partly reproduced below, and saw there was CASH INVOLVED! I’m willing to be bribed for bike rides already logged. Call me weak – I went down the proverbial garden path with no prompting. A review confirmed I’m rolling up twice as many miles in 2009 as I recorded in 2008. I could see myself claiming to my wife that Buddy was getting amortized quicker than planned, opening up the way to guilt-free bike stuff purchases. My chances seemed strong, since we were well into the competition, My confidence was increased knowing that tryparkingit severely limits retroactive mileage logging; ensuring no carpetbagger could sneak in at the last minute.

Waiting for the Envelope I patiently waited for the invitation to the Awards Ceremony. I updated my profile. I thought about endorsement contracts and book deals. I scoped out eggbeater pedals. When the announcement came out about the Awards Luncheon, I bumped up the “proactive factor.” This prompted the email thread below:

Snookered and Snippy This is how it works? A steenkin' committee of suits evaluating nominations from people that probably wouldn't know a bike from roller skates? How the heck is someone on a bike supposed to compete with someone running 10 people in a vanpool up from Waco, much less a telecommuter? Why didn’t you just SAY “bogus?” And so I found out how Commuter Cyclist awards get made. Perhaps, in return, I helped the clean air folks make a little forward progress. I hope so.

Three Observations
• Awards aren’t always as they appear, especially when one's greed causes 1+1 to equal $250
• Try to be civil, even when in a snit. It's not really worth it to do otherwise
• My correspondent was polite, and note how quickly my emails were returned. Kudos!

What IS a “Best Bike Commuter?” Personally, I don’t think mileage should be the only criteria for such an award. I tip my hat to anyone riding every day, in all weather; lugging in clothes and equipment. I tip my hat to anyone that gets a major bike commuter effort going. CommuteOrlando comes to mind. Someone finally got bike racks put on DART buses. I’m sure each reader can think of other examples. Honestly, looking round the back of area restaurants, I’m not sure "Best Bike Commuter" makes more sense than “Best SUV Commuter.”

Still, those eggbeater pedals WOULD have been nice for cyclocross season. Sigh...

The Fastest Route Home

The fastest route home is not the smoothest, nor is it one with motorists waving at you to speed you along. The fastest route home is not the most scenic, nor shadier than most. The fastest route home doesn't wend by Starbucks, nor does it encourage waving to the neighborhood dogs. Sometimes, it's not even the shortest. The fastest route can have tough traffic.

I almost never take the fastest route home, but I did today. Sometimes you just have to throw all the frills aside when everything's right.

One hour nineteen minutes - on the way home - on Buddy. Clean bikes run fast. The north wind helped a little, too...

Contest WE HAVE A WINNER!

Doohickie & ChipSeal are out of luck, Rantwick has scored on the main two. He didn't guess the jurisdiction, but that's only a tiebreaker anyway. Per the rules, shipping isn't included, but I may waive this one if the prize is his heart's desire...

Anyway, click HERE to see the little gem in its wild state. I'm sure you'll agree, this one, though bigger than most, is no enemy to cyclists, particularly in the rain. Any cyclist hitting it has bigger problems than a bent wheel or a simple diversion fall. A more distant view, along with the Cannondale, may be seen HERE.

Crimeny! Almost forgot to milk a good graphic. To see it, click here.

Contest - With a Prize - and now a WINNER!

Well, this is my very first contest. The quiz question is "What was that lovely yellow object part of before it left its home?" In case of a tie, the tiebreaker question is "In what jurisdiction was it found?" Extra credit if you can spell the object's name correctly.

Prize - You win the lovely yellow object. Shipping not included.

Rules - Doohickie and ChipSeal are NOT eligible, though either is welcome to the object if there is no legitimate winner, and either may post misleading comments. Addition on Friday - My daugher Abbey isn't eligible either. She's seen a picture of the object in its native home. Second addition on Friday, "erinbear51" is another one of my daughters and is now ineligible as well. She's been talking too long with Abbey...

Hint - For the particular object in question, neither ChipSeal's nor my horror stories are true. And no, I didn't hit it, though somebody else did.

Friday Hint added - These little devils remind me of barnacles for the road. In the interests of fairness, I also included an extra "secret hint" in my second comment here. Follow that link or your ears might drop off...

Saturday Hint added - Like barnacles, these little devils can be slippery when wet. Besides the attractive yellow, they frequently come in basic white. I've heard tell of blue ones, but I can't recollect actually having ever seen one of those.

Sunday Hint added - Some in Texas would regard these as "Infernal Yankee Contraptions," even though they've spread like Kudzu throughout Texas.

Monday Hint added - Clarification, for those with narrower definition of "Yankee," as in many "innovations," these have California roots. This precious item, in case you're really literal, has nothing whatsoever to do with the California Yellow Cab Company.

Check it out. Ranwick scored big time, missing only the opportunity to guess the jurisdiction. That was only a tiebreaker. FOR A REAL TREAT, SEE IT IN ITS NATIVE HABITAT HERE.