On Being Reborn, Redux

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

-J. R. R. Tolkien

A quick aside: sorry this took so long, I've been horribly busy with work lately.

Well first things first, I owe a great big shout out to Barry Cohen for a first rate pain job, Erin's scuffs can still be found, but not easily. Second but no less gratitude to Malcolm Munro of Bisegeal for being without qualification the most skilled bike mechanic I have ever crossed paths with. His fine work has enabled me to get Erin back into fighting form with no more than a new pair of shift leavers, new cables and guides. (In truth I could have reused the cables and guides if the ninnies at a store not to be named here had not cut all that perfectly good stuff up in a bout of lazy vandalism.) Oh of course I need new bar tape too, but the short of it is, for a ride that I was mourning just a few weeks ago, I am delighted, elated even, to say she is back! Below are some pictures of her reconstruction.















Before I got Erin rebuilt I was riding the Coppi in a bike lane and beside me was a motor cycle. I was not really thinking about it when I hammered past the motor cycle, he has a speedometer, I have to ask people the time of day on the Coppi (read: I don't have any stats). So passing a motor vehicle whilst in the bike lane of a 40 zone is no big deal to me, but the guy on the motor cycle was impressed. He told me it wasn't fair that I passed him, I replied that I didn't need gas either. (I am not used to motor vehicle operators saying nice things to me.) Lesley had a better line when I told her, she said I should have point to my legs and said "six litres of displacement!"

I have had a chance to ride Erin once now, on the BCC Sunday November 8 ride, I was much faster that day than I have been in some time. Here are some pictures of that ride.




In other news, I read recently that Advertising Standards Canada (ASC) has made new guidelines banning unsafe driving in advertising. In short car makers must produce ads that do not promote reckless driving by suggesting cars should be driven too fast or handled too dangerously. One advertiser lamented the new regulations: "It's going to present a challenge to brands …which are built on characteristics of power and speed.” The number of objections I have to almost everything I just wrote, although factual. It seems to me that automobiles promote a level of obesity, obscenity and obstinacy, from the behaviour they encourage in drivers to the way oil rich politicians lack any decency. To my way of thinking, the best automobile was the one that was never made, the best automobile ad is the one that was never aired and the best automobile driver is the one who threw away the keys and never looked back.

If it were up to me, and I am sure there are autoworkers and Alberta politicians who would sigh with relief that it is not up to me (they would care if they read my blog that is), advertisements for automobiles would be banned outright. All cars would be, by law, an ugly shade of yellow or orange, so they can easily be seen night or day, fuel economy would be at least 40 mpg (about 5.9 L/100km) and it would be clearly mandated that by say 2015 fuel economy would be 60 mpg (about 3.9 L/100 km). Engines would be required to auto stop when the vehicle was not moving and there would be no separate category for "light trucks". Heavy trucks would have their own fuel economy standards but a heavy truck would require very robust licenses. In fact all drivers would have to get a routine licence retest every three to five years, maybe when it is time for a new license photo? Any individual who does not meet very robust reflex, hand eye coordination and good vision and hearing would loose their licence. In short, driving really is a privilege, not a right, and people should not bother with the hassle unless they really *really* need it. Given the desperate state of the North American Auto Industry, why politicians do not see things my way is beyond me.

When you think about it, the reason we make driving so easy is as much as anything to secure factory jobs, but as fewer and fer cars are made on our shores here in North America (and as the quality of those jobs suffer, decreased pay, reduced benefits, etc) I have to wonder, shouldn't we at some point stop pandering to Detroit?