by 
R+E is not open yet
but if it was I’d go in
and ask an obscure question
about obscure parts
and dream of a new Rodriguez tandem
Now a hill. Down we go
carving turns around car spaces
Happy I still have this little bike
I’m out to show you my favorite places here in Seattle
at least the few that I’ve seen.
It’s an urban explorer’s heaven.
R+E cycles is a great place – home of Rodriguez handmade bicycles.
I love urban school lots
reminders that things are still good. With the kids out playing, there’s a quality
with the kids not there, there’s a quality
Let’s ride through and find the way around
past a playground, and more raspberries.
Tucked away behind dignified trees
an old concrete chute.
So many circles, I’ll never see them all
trails and stairs and bridges too
even in days of grey gloom, there’s comfort
in their discovery. But today is perfectly sunny
and today, quite possibly, on this perfect day…
It is, indeed, all about the kit.by 
LJ,
every so often when you’re not being pedantic & obsessive about something, you surprise the shit out of me.
Excellent post!
Something eerie about that second-to-last photo. What is that thing? It reminds me of this theme park that used to be in Jersey…they had these wheeled sleds that you would bomb down a concrete track on. Looked just like those guys.
D2,
we have them down here too, called Luges & are great fun
Iuge…I couldn’t think of the word. Thanks!
It’s draaaaaainnnnage. Drainage. Eli.
Hypocrisy.
To wear a helmet for fear that a child can’t experience risk nor learn to think outside the box.
Hypocrisy.
…bet this is gonna get controversial but i’m w/ gnomer, 100%…
…teach kids there’s a consequence for any & all actions they take, but let ’em have the opportunity to learn through experience…
…a coddled kid is a kid who’ll have a harder time finding their way through life…
…just sayin’…
Yeah. Providing positive examples of risk management for children is a bad bad idea. While we’re at it, let’s get rid of seat-belts for cars. If people would just drive smarter and be aware of the consequences then their children will behave accordingly and they won’t need seat-belts. Maybe then the child will think about the innovative decisions they can make while being jettisoned from the car by some schmuck’s shitty driving. That’s how to make them “think outside the box.” Cars are coffins after all…
One of the definitions of a kid is that they’re not of age to always make competent decisions about risk. So what if they crack their head open cuz they ain’t got a helmet? They learned their lesson.
Good on ya’ LJ. I’m in Seattle and would prefer my kid to see folks riding around the city wearing helmets. (That whole Cowen Park Ravine area is the ropus dopus.)
I have never understood the people who argue against helmet use. The same guys who do that on a regular basis wouldn’t dream of playing without a jock. I guess it just shows what they think is their most valuable asset.
Kids need to fall down and eat dirt, and our society is overprotective of kids, but a kid can still learn that it’s o.k. to scrape their knee while still being protected from a head injury. I used to be one of the riders who would always wear a helmet on a “ride”, but never when I was riding around town. Until I got hit and a helmet is the only reason that I am here. I know it’s not cool to show up at the bar with a helmet, but hypocrisy is not wearing a helmet when it’s not a “serious ride”, even though you’re putting yourself at the same risks…
I fell out of one of those luges one time, it was a very bad experience. Wear leathers!
And el jefe is spot-on with his observations on helmet use. I was just dinging around on a little footpath awhile back and didn’t see the “improvement” some kids had dug, just on the other side of a little rise. Topped the hill, front wheel dug in and down I went. Cracked the foam right the way through on my helmet, but my melon was fine. Saved me a trip to the ER at the bare minimum. If it can happen to me, I guarantee you it can happen to anyone.
helmet-deniers are an odd bunch. I have a dear friend who skis about 100 days a year, quite fast and in the trees, but he refuses to wear a brain bucket because “he can’t hear.” This same guy always wears goggles, even on hot days, “to protect his eyes.” There’s a logical conundrum there, I don’t know how he manages to ignore it.
Then, when Washington state emasculated its motorcycle helmet law, a buddy of mine rushed right out and bought a stupid little non-DOT beanie to look cool on his Harley. Yeesh.
You all must live in parts of the country where biking is less mainstream, what with quotes like “bringing a helmet to
the bar isn’t cool.” it’s so accepted here in Seattle that it’s bracing when you see someone riding without one. The thought immediately comes to mind that they are a poseur of some kind or other. When someone rolls into the bar or to coffee with a helmet, most just find it to be a conversation starter: “staying dry?” or “how’s the riding today?” I mean, people can think all sorts of things aren’t “cool,” but it seems like here people are as likely to snicker at someone’s shoes or pants as they are a helmet. It’s just another piece of attire.
lj, step back from the cliff and meet me at camera two…
… see, your not helping yourself. Just let it go. You don’t need to be right every time, and if you don’t grow a thicker skin, you’re going to pop a gasket. Who cares what a bunch of random yahoo’s call you? Did you have siblings? Telling someone to stop poking at you is like telling us to stop pressing the shiny red button you are holding out for us…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jjN-H62U64
Ease up off the gas there brother…
Gotta say this has all gotten very junior high. LJ shows a weakness, a vulnerability (yes, a temper and a sensitive nature to your comments is just that), and you all fuckin poke and prod until you get the desired reaction. No one is innocent, but some of you could step up the empathy a bit. Fuck. Especially those claiming to be the elder statesmen. I’m looking at you, “bikesgonewild” (“…”). Christ alfuckinmighty.
lj, hey before you go attacking me, I was supporting you dumbshit.
little-postal-worker-has-heart-in-a-jar-of-vinegar….
…this is water…
…this is a duck’s back…
…this is “water off a duck’s back”…
…this metaphor is not for the benefit of either water or ducks…
…it was devised as a simple analogous word picture to help human beings utilize their natural ability to shed that which they don’t need…
…is it easy to do ???…
…not necessarily so but it’s a damn good rule of thumb…if you have the opposable kind…
Oi.
If only I could write like this whilst drunk and doped out.
Best I can muster is…..well…
No one has pissed me off recently so I’m all good right now.
Sorry guys.
I am drunk so ya know.
Day 1 is tomorrow. As usual
Obviously a nerve has been struck, and I will back off (although I thought that “This was actually a good post, and in this case I don’t quite understand why everyone is coming down on you” should have clued him in that I wasn’t attacking him…)
please… someone out there keep little-francis away from the fireworks tonight… he’s wound up like a carbon fork.
I actually like Francis better when he was a drunk.
Stay classy, Joe.
Oh. My. God.
@ danimal – i cannot stand cyclists who judge other cyclists for not wearing a helmet. whose business is it really? not yours! poseur? really? i never wore a helmet until last summer. usac didn’t require in races them until 2004, right? whats the big fucking deal if a cyclist doesn’t want to wear a helmet? lemme ask you something – do you ever go out and have a few drinks and drive??? do you think im going to tell you not to do that because i don’t drink (and drive)? fuck no. dominic never ever ever wears a helmet. and i know for damn sure he’s no fucking POSEUR.
there sed it.
Um, it’s the law in Seattle to wear a helmet. What is wrong with following the law?
judy (xc or sl)…
i must say that i’m sick and tired of you always plugging “dominic” into every single one of your fucking posts. can the dude speak/write for himself?? also, enough body images of yourself and don’t get me started on the tired old line of your former drug addiction. you sure are one self (and dominic) centered individual. what else you got?
Also the law in NZ.
Lately there’s been a groundswell of people not riding with helmets down here, (Fixies, hipsters, frocks on bikes etc) & the the police have pretty much said that they have far more important things to do then pull over helmetless cyclists.
My take ?
Same as when I rode & raced motorcycles, I don’t care if you ride without a helmet but I damn well care when it’s my tax dollars being used when you suffer a truamatic head injury.
They should be used for better things than paying for the consequences of your selfish choices.
Big Note. I am not pointing the finger at anyone here, I fully believe that everyone has the right to make choices but then should also be prepared to suffer the consequences when they turn out to be bad.
Jesus, Team,
this started out being a nice post by LJ & it’s turned into a hate fest!
We’re better than this & I really think that we should draw a line under this one & move on.
Just my 2c.
Take care out there.
Littlejar: I still like you, man. Don’t stop posting on the blog. Maybe just chill a bit. (No sarcasm in this one.)
helmet good. i’m with that. but yeah, yeah, yeah. i’ll keep my laws off your body. whatever. see you in the vegetable patch.
…hey fatbob…take the dick out of yer mouth when yer talkin’ to a lady…
…& if you don’t think judi’s got a right to reference her past addiction, what the fuck have you accomplished that makes you so self righteous as to bag on her…
…as far as dominic, whatta you jealous ‘cuz judi loves her man & is proud enough to talk about him ???…they’re cyclist’s for fuck’s sake & this is amongst “other things”, a cycling blog…anyway, we should all be so lucky…
…clue fucking nada, fatbob…you wanna whine when gianni talks about his family or gnomer posts a foto of his family unit truckin’ through time & space ???…
…sad, dude…
Indeed, Obese Robert, you’ve crossed a line.
Looking at this thread, you’ve contributed three posts & they were all to pour shit over people.
That’s really not what this blog is about, (my impression, I may be mistaken & if I am I’m out of here).
I really think that a deep breath & an apology would be a good thing.
Judi dear, not to stir the pot or anything, but you might have picked a better analogy. Of COURSE wearing a helmet or not is your business. But I felt a sickening chill when I read its comparison to drinking and driving.
Me fall down, go boom-not likely to hurt anyone else. Impaired person guiding a two-ton missile-Well, I’d rather not even think of the potential for harm to folks who had no part in an individual’s choice to drive drunk.
Just sayin’.
After letting the comments continue to roll without me, I turned on my computer with dread, as I don’t have the self control to just forget about it.
For the record, I am not attacking anybody. I’m defending myself, or at least this strange online version of myself… which clearly I have too much of my energy invested into to be healthy.
I have a big problem with joetheelectrician, whoever you are. He lurks on this blog and fills the comments with a preponderance of naysaying and shit stirring – and not to mention cyberbullying now, with him being the only one continuing with this francis joke, which I no longer will bear the brunt of.
I’m going to ask two things, as a reasonable person might ask:
1: No more francis – he’s not me, I’m not him, it’s a stupid movie. You’ve done your damage now. Sensitive and expressive I may be, but psycho? Not appropriate. Not meant to stick. If it sticks, I’m OUT of this scene.
2: joetheelectrician – I ask that you STOP commenting on MY posts, everyone else may not care, or maybe they are tired of you too, but this is a room, and it’s OUR room – and it’s got an open door — but you’ve clearly become an intolerable, obnoxious presence, stinking it up with negativity and constantly so; you’re not welcome in this room as long as I’m in it, and if you don’t leave, I’m going to find a way to remove you. Or ‘change your avatar’ and be a better person when you do. I don’t care – but you gotta go, Joe.
Soyer… it’s you…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrllCZw8jiM