Bike Writing: Purify the colors... purify my mind


What an interesting irony (?) that this bike is Merckx orange, and being used for this... BTW, this was someone's trip to nursery school. Not us, but we have...

A few words here and I'll get into more pictures. I was at restraint training (no, not to teach ME restraint- though I could use that...) today and managed to convince myself to get back on the bike. Was running a little late, couldn't see a bike rack so just locked it to a tree near the door. Asked someone who looked like a teacher, and he said it would be fine. And it was. Sort of.

Came down at lunch to just check with the lady that sits at a table near the door. "That's my bike- is it okay there?" Oh, she says, you're lucky it's still there! "Why?" I said, "do they not want it there?" Oh, no, she says, most people would put it in the teacher's lounge. What? Why? I asked again- do they not want my bike there? I didn't see a bike rack... Oh, no, she says, there's no bike rack. I'm thinking, well, then....

Then she takes me in and shows me the teacher's lounge and points to a closet, clearly too small for my bike, plus it's covered with snow. Does she want me to bring it inside? Why not just leave it locked up? Oh, she says, you'd have to ask Mrs. ______ (I didn't catch the name) about that. No explanation who that might be.

"Uh, I'll just leave it out there. It's fine there..." I said, kind of backing away.

Even more amusing to me was when I mentioned this odd encounter at lunch with my fellow trainees. Uh, I think there's one down at the bottom of the hill... One said. It was there when I went to school here.... Down near the parking lot at the bottom of the hill. Um, ok, I said, but I was running late... trying to suggest that maybe I didn't have all morning to search the entire school grounds for a bike rack. Or want to leave my bike near a major road while I went far away up the hill.

Felt very odd-man-out commuting today. Not at all the healthy good-for-you I get in warmer weather.


Tom Ritchey. A long-time hero of mine. Too many accomplishments to summarize here.


Katie Compton's bike at a cyclocross race in Belgium. It would be good if this was the way more of the world saw the stars and stripes (she's the US Champion).