This is a good message anytime, but it's especially appropriate today--Bike to Work Day. With the many Bike to Work events happening around our state and the National Bike Challenge underway, we hope you're riding your bike!
Showing posts with label Humor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Humor. Show all posts
Friday, May 18, 2012
Friday Fun: Ride Your Bike!
This is a good message anytime, but it's especially appropriate today--Bike to Work Day. With the many Bike to Work events happening around our state and the National Bike Challenge underway, we hope you're riding your bike!
Friday, May 4, 2012
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Confessions of a Maphead
I love maps. Nothing launches me into scheming and daydreaming for an adventure like a good map. Maps reveal interesting routes to destinations near and far. They help me plan a bike tour through Canada’s Gulf Islands, plot a backpacking route into Eagle Cap Wilderness, and navigate my way to a mountain onsen in Japan.
Maps are my friends and I am blessed to have an abundance of them. In fact, I confess that I have a dresser drawer full of maps. I have maps that accompany me on urban bike commutes, bike tours, mountain bike rides, snowshoe outings, day hikes, wilderness backpacking trips, ski tours on trails and into untracked terrain, and road trips.
The map is my co-pilot. It suggests route possibilities, warns me of potential obstacles, and guides me through unfamiliar territory. Maps take a licking and keep on ticking—or something like that. I have spilled beverages on maps, dropped them on muddy trails, used them as notepads, and refolded them all sorts of ways. They continue to serve their purpose in spite of the abuse.
Maps—don’t leave home without one. In fact, carry several. I usually stash an extra Seattle bike map or two with me on my commute to hand out to the lost or confused cyclist I occasionally encounter along the way. It’s a not-so-random act of kindness and a way to spread the map love.
“Thanks!” exclaims the grateful cyclist. “I didn’t know Seattle had a bike map.”
Seattle does indeed have a bike map. So does Vancouver, Spokane, and a host of other communities. There’s even a Washington State bike map. Check the maps section of our website for some links.
I’ve been known to select a destination because I saw it on a map. I hiked to Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground and the Plain of Six Glaciers simply because I was attracted to their names on a map. I camped at Kodachrome Basin State Park because, with a name like that, it had to be scenic (I wasn’t disappointed). I biked the Columbia River Gorge because it looked like an interesting route on a map.
Maps can’t tell you everything, but they can reveal enough information to get you scheming on an adventure in your neighborhood or someplace far away. Where has a map led you?
Monday, November 28, 2011
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a.....
SUPERHERO BIKE LIGHT PARADE!
Totally random and fun, but also educational. On Friday December 2 Bellinghamsters will put on their favorite superhero cape, decorate their bikes with lights and parade through town.
What?
A bike ride/parade celebrating opening day of the Pacific Arts Holiday Market in downtown Bellingham, to coincide with the First Friday Downtown Art Walk.
Why?
It will be fun, and it also showcases lots of different lights and ways to reflectorize yourself and your bike for the long dark winter nights. We will be riding in a lawful manner, that means no more than two abreast and stopping at stop signs and lights. We can have fun on our bikes and still follow the rules of the road.
Where?
Meets at the Pacific Arts Holiday Market, next to the Bellingham Public Market on Cornwall Ave. Ride will take place on downtown streets, one loop is 2 miles, participants can either do one or two loops.
When?
Friday, December 2, meet up at 6:30pm to decorate your bicycle, we'll have a limited number of lights, and reflective stickers & ribbons to give away. Ride leaves at 7pm.
A bell is highly advised, as I predict we will be doing lots of waving of hands and ringing of bells as we parade through town.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Bicycling is Funny Too
Bicycle advocacy is serious business but, every now and then, it’s important to look at the lighter side of life. Last year we ran a post called Bicycling is Funny. Here’s a second rendition with some new bicycle jokes.
Q. When is a bicycle not a bicycle?
A. When it turns into a driveway.
Q. What’s gray, has two wheels and weighs 4 tons?
A. An elephant on a bicycle.
A nerd was walking on campus one day when his equally nerdy friend rode up on cool new bicycle. The first nerd was stunned and asked, "Where did you get such a nice bike?" The second nerd replied, "I was walking home minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up to me on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, 'Take what you want!'"
The second nerd nodded approvingly, "Good choice. The clothes probably wouldn't have fit."
Q. What do you get when you cross a chemical with a bicycle?
A. Bike carbonate of soda.
Did you hear about the vampire bicycle that was biting people’s arms off? It was a vicious cycle!
You know you’re a bike geek when a Power Bar tastes better than a Snickers bar!
Q. A man lay dead in a room with 51 bicycles. What happened?
A. He cheated at poker. The bicycles are on his deck of cards.
Cyclist dies and goes to heaven. St Peter greets him at the gate and the cyclist asks if there are bikes in heaven. “Of course,” St Peter replies, “and we can have one custom-made for you.” Just then, another biker flies by them on a custom gold bike, a total blur. “Wow!” says the cyclist, “That must be Lance Armstrong!!” “No,” sighs St Peter, “that's just God. He thinks he's Lance.”
Q. What did one bike wheel say to the other one?
A. Was that you who spoke to me?
A tired cyclist decided to hitch a ride home. A guy in a sports car pulled over and offered him a ride but the bike wouldn't fit in the car. The driver got some rope out of the trunk and tied it to his bumper. He tied the other end to the bike and told the rider: "If I go too fast, ring your bell and I'll slow down."
Everything went well until another sports car blew past them. The driver forgot all about the cyclist and put his foot down. A short distance down the road, they hammered through a speed trap.
The cop with the radar gun and radioed ahead that he had 2 sports cars heading his way at over 150 mph. He then relayed, "and you're not going to believe this, but there's a cyclist behind them ringing his bell to pass!"
Okay, now it's your turn to share a bicycle joke with us!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Can a commuter morph into a roadie?
I ride my bike nearly everyday, although I don't log very many miles. I live about 2 miles from my work, so my daily mileage is around 7-10 miles, depending on how many errands I run, or if I decide to take the 'long way home'. Every once in a while I have to go to a meeting in a neighboring town, if that's the case I may ride up to 25 miles round trip. I do this on my commuter bike. I don't own a road bike, however, I may soon.
During the hubbub of the Tour de France and the STP my brother threw out an idea: "Why don't we try and do the STP next year or the year after". You see, he recently inherited our child bike seat and has been biking all over Renton with his almost two year old. He's been bitten by the bike bug and I couldn't be happier.
I thought about his challenge, the STP, huh? Well, the furthest I've ridden in one day is 30 miles, and that was to go to work meetings, so it was split up. Also, like I said above, I don't own a road bike. As much as the idea of doing a LONG ride (60+ miles) on Fred, my Big Dummy Complete intrigues me, I'm pretty sure my body would be happier with an actual road bike. Not to mention the skinny tires, it'd be so much easier, well as easy as 60+ miles can be.
So now I'm in the conundrum of buying another bike. But I'm a commuter, not a roadie. I don't know the first thing about road bikes. If you've read the book Bike Snob, you can laugh with me about the different types of bicyclists and how they may or may not get along. If you haven't read it, you should, it's hilarious!
A trip to my local bike shop was educational, I learned a lot about road bikes and the different components. I'm still not sold yet, I'll admit. While I can justify spending a lot of money on my commuter bike, we only own one car, I'm getting exercise, it's awesome, I use it every day, etc. It's harder for me to justify spending a lot on a road bike that I will ride a couple times a week. So to answer the question, can a commuter morph into a roadie? I honestly don't know. I like the idea of doing a century, I'm just not so sure about the the spandex and $800+ price tag of a new bike.
What do you think? Can you convince me to do it? Do you have a similar story to share? Do you have tips on buying a road bike?
During the hubbub of the Tour de France and the STP my brother threw out an idea: "Why don't we try and do the STP next year or the year after". You see, he recently inherited our child bike seat and has been biking all over Renton with his almost two year old. He's been bitten by the bike bug and I couldn't be happier.
I thought about his challenge, the STP, huh? Well, the furthest I've ridden in one day is 30 miles, and that was to go to work meetings, so it was split up. Also, like I said above, I don't own a road bike. As much as the idea of doing a LONG ride (60+ miles) on Fred, my Big Dummy Complete intrigues me, I'm pretty sure my body would be happier with an actual road bike. Not to mention the skinny tires, it'd be so much easier, well as easy as 60+ miles can be.
So now I'm in the conundrum of buying another bike. But I'm a commuter, not a roadie. I don't know the first thing about road bikes. If you've read the book Bike Snob, you can laugh with me about the different types of bicyclists and how they may or may not get along. If you haven't read it, you should, it's hilarious!
A trip to my local bike shop was educational, I learned a lot about road bikes and the different components. I'm still not sold yet, I'll admit. While I can justify spending a lot of money on my commuter bike, we only own one car, I'm getting exercise, it's awesome, I use it every day, etc. It's harder for me to justify spending a lot on a road bike that I will ride a couple times a week. So to answer the question, can a commuter morph into a roadie? I honestly don't know. I like the idea of doing a century, I'm just not so sure about the the spandex and $800+ price tag of a new bike.
What do you think? Can you convince me to do it? Do you have a similar story to share? Do you have tips on buying a road bike?
Monday, June 13, 2011
Bicycle Haiku
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| Bicycle kanji |
With tailwind and smileThen I invited our Facebook friends to share their own bicycle haiku, and they did! Here are a couple of them:
I roll through many landscapes.
My bike sets me free!
Fresh smooth roadway calls
Tires gliding soundlessly
Speed and balance sweet.
- Anthony Medina
li'l stardust riderI quickly discovered that bicycle haiku, or baiku as it is sometimes called, is a popular subset of this poetry form and there are websites dedicated to it. For instance, there is the Baiku blog written by a cyclist and poet in Portland. A website called Bike Reader has a page dedicated to bicycle haiku and contains over a hundred bicycle haiku submissions.
swaying with each pedal stroke
six-year-old freedom.
- Claire Petersky
Now, dear cyclist, it's your turn to spin your creative wheels as I invite you to submit your own bicycle haiku. Please follow the standard haiku form of three lines--5 syllables, 7 syllables, and 5 syllables.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Obama's words to me: Keep up the good work, bike advocate!
President Obama made a whirlwind visit to Seattle on Tuesday and I managed to catch him for a quick powwow over a cup of java in Pioneer Square. What an opportunity! Here's a synopsis of my conversation with the President of the United States (POTUS):
Me: Sir, we need a national Complete Streets mandate. Not only is traffic congestion contributing to global warming, but it's ruining the livability of many of our communities. We can't build our way out of this. We only make things worse when we try.
POTUS: Good point, Louise. May I call you Louise?
Me: Yes, sir. May I call you Mr President?
POTUS: Of course. What else is on your mind?
Me: Sir, I'm concerned about our national obesity epidemic and the health of our children. For a variety of reasons, our young people are leading more sedentary lives. We need to find ways to engage them in a more active lifestyle. Incorporating biking and walking into their daily lives is an affordable solution and Safe Routes to School helps us do this.
POTUS: Believe me, this is on my radar screen. Michelle is tackling this issue and she's all over it. Anything else?
Me: One more thing, Mr. President. Your Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, he's a keeper.
POTUS: Thanks. I like Ray too. I've gotta get moving. Patty Murray is waiting for me.
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| "Keep up the good work, bike advocate!" |
And with that, President Obama hopped into his waiting vehicle and waved good-bye. "Keep up the good work, bike advocate!" he said as he was whisked away.....
What--you don't believe me? Well, maybe it wasn't quite like that, but I assure you it was close. I mean, I'm sure that's how it would have been had the President and I actually met.
Ok, so I was walking to the coffee shop Tuesday morning when I noticed dozens of motorcycle cops and hundreds of onlookers lining the street. I walked over to check it out. Unimpeded, I stepped right up to the intersection just in time to see the President's motorcade approach. A rousing cheer went up from the crowd as his vehicle rolled by and President Obama waved to the bystanders, including me!
And I swear I heard him say, "Keep up the good work, bike advocate!"
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Bicycling is fun(ny)
Just for fun:
If there isn't a source then it's a joke from a friend or original wit.
Knock knock
Who's there?
Isabell
Isabell who?
Isabell required on your bike?
You know you're addicted to cycling when you have more bikes than the days of the week.
Q. Why did the lion chase the cyclist?
"I've really had it with my dog: he'll chase anyone on a bicycle."
"So what are you going to do - leave him at the dog's home? Give him away? Sell him?"
"No, nothing that drastic. I think I'll just confiscate his bike."(source)
Q: Why did the boy take his bike to bed with him?
A: He didn't want to walk in his sleep.
You know you're addicted to cycling when the surgeon tells you need a heart valve replaced and you ask if you have the choice between presta and Schrader.
Q: Why don't bikes stand up by themselves?
A: They're two-tired!
You know you're addicted to cycling when you catch your self using turn signals while navigating the grocery store isles.
Anyone else have a good bicycle related joke?
If there isn't a source then it's a joke from a friend or original wit.
Knock knock
Who's there?Isabell
Isabell who?
Isabell required on your bike?
You know you're addicted to cycling when you have more bikes than the days of the week.
Q. Do you know what is the hardest part of learning to ride a bike?
A. The pavement. (source)
Q. Why did the lion chase the cyclist?
A. He heard that bikes are good for you. (source)
"I've really had it with my dog: he'll chase anyone on a bicycle."
"So what are you going to do - leave him at the dog's home? Give him away? Sell him?"
"No, nothing that drastic. I think I'll just confiscate his bike."(source)
Q: Why did the boy take his bike to bed with him?
A: He didn't want to walk in his sleep.
You know you're addicted to cycling when the surgeon tells you need a heart valve replaced and you ask if you have the choice between presta and Schrader.
Q: Why don't bikes stand up by themselves?
A: They're two-tired!
You know you're addicted to cycling when you catch your self using turn signals while navigating the grocery store isles.
Anyone else have a good bicycle related joke?
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Turn Right at the Fork in the Road
A couple years ago I was driving my bike to work with my daughter on the trail-a-bike. We turned left and nearly ran into a fork in the road. Someone, perhaps a drunk college student had put a fork in the road between some cracks so that it sat upright. It just so happens that there were some construction workers near that intersection so I biked by and told one "there's a fork in the road back there, no really, someone put a fork in the road and it's sticking straight up"!
We rode on laughing at the funny sight. I pass by that spot nearly every day on my commute to work, and I can't help but smile to myself when I remember the funny situation. My daughter will sometimes remark "remember when there was a fork in the road" and laugh out loud. Of course I'm laughing even harder since she has no idea that 'fork in the road' means something else.
Being closer and more in touch with the surrounding environment is one thing I love about being on a bike. Had I been in my car it is unlikely I would have seen the fork.
What is the funniest or most random thing you've seen while on a bike?
We rode on laughing at the funny sight. I pass by that spot nearly every day on my commute to work, and I can't help but smile to myself when I remember the funny situation. My daughter will sometimes remark "remember when there was a fork in the road" and laugh out loud. Of course I'm laughing even harder since she has no idea that 'fork in the road' means something else.
Being closer and more in touch with the surrounding environment is one thing I love about being on a bike. Had I been in my car it is unlikely I would have seen the fork.
What is the funniest or most random thing you've seen while on a bike?
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