Simply Cycle: The old cliche'

Time flys, passes or just plain gets away sometimes. Whether you are having fun or not, life goes on with or without you. Here in the midst of 'Murica, we have been working hard at our local officials. In Kalamazoo we managed to push our city council into passing an ordinance requiring 5, not 3, feet of passing clearance from automobiles. Right on the heels of the city's action, the State legislature finally pushed a package of 5 bike-beneficial laws out of committee and through the State Senate.

The most significant of those are a state wide 5 foot passing requirement and the inclusion of 3 hours of bicycle/motorcycle safety training in driver's education and licensing. Michigan will be the first state to require a 5 foot passing standard. We are moving up the societal ladder from a misanthropic subculture living off the grid, to a misanthropic subculture stickin' to the man.

That's right bitch

"the all powerful bike lobby" has spoken!
We're "begriming" the crap out of you!

In the wake of all the hub bub, I got on TV for a sound bite about it. That resulted in a very nice and unassuming college student contacting me for a brief interview. He is working on a tech thingy to improve cycling safety. He started by innocently asking if I ride bikes for:

A) Exercise

B) Recreation

C) Commuting

D) to save money

E) Environmental reasons.

I immediately said, "Yes."

A little confused, He asked, "Which?" I said, "Yes, all that, and you can add travel as well."

Then he asked if I had ridden to the coffee shop. Cute, right? Anyway, he asked a bunch more stuff about bike safety, especially mirrors and sight and distance and managing all that in traffic. It appears he is creating a cell phone app to replace human vision and intuition. Kids these days.

And, talking about how time passes, I have wavered for years over the idea of a tattoo. I always backed off realizing that I am too fickle to have any one thing painted on me forever. One does grow more mature (I like that better than the O word). Even I have to admit I have reached an age where permanence doesn't matter much,