Q: Why do drivers leave their common sense at home whenever it rains?
A: They're afraid it might get wet.
Friday, September 04, 2009
Monday, May 04, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Those little springtime pleasures...
I don't know whether I mentioned it before (no memory for old men) but the sunny weather of the past couple of weeks brings a new kind of pleasure to my daily commute which you will never experience if you were to commute by car.
A couple of kilometres of my commute take me through the forest and the beautiful weather of the last weeks has dried the trails to such a degree that I can ride a good bit of singletrack on my semi-slicks without the fear of arriving at work looking like the swamp thing.
This extra loop is my own guiltless playtime to start another working day at the office. I wonder how LL and V would feel if I were to take them to the playground every morning before dropping them of in school? I think they might actually like it.
The attentive reader might have noticed that I don't mention any singletrack riding after work. The reason for that is quite simple; the trails are too crowded. Mind you I don't have any problem with other people hanging out in the woods (except for Nordic Walkers) but the last couple of weeks an whole new group of people has taken over the trails; the so-called cruiser.
To each his own; I myself am not averse of sex whatsoever but it strikes me as quite uncomfortable to go and 'do your thang' in the woods behind a tree with another man. At least I assume that is what they're there for otherwise they 're all in for a cold shower 'cause I haven't seen a single woman hanging out on the trails, yet. Women, as P pointed out, are probably more practical; they go cruising in supermarkets, combining the fun with the useful.
Whatever your definition of trail fun is, keep it safe. Happy trails!
A couple of kilometres of my commute take me through the forest and the beautiful weather of the last weeks has dried the trails to such a degree that I can ride a good bit of singletrack on my semi-slicks without the fear of arriving at work looking like the swamp thing.
This extra loop is my own guiltless playtime to start another working day at the office. I wonder how LL and V would feel if I were to take them to the playground every morning before dropping them of in school? I think they might actually like it.
The attentive reader might have noticed that I don't mention any singletrack riding after work. The reason for that is quite simple; the trails are too crowded. Mind you I don't have any problem with other people hanging out in the woods (except for Nordic Walkers) but the last couple of weeks an whole new group of people has taken over the trails; the so-called cruiser.
To each his own; I myself am not averse of sex whatsoever but it strikes me as quite uncomfortable to go and 'do your thang' in the woods behind a tree with another man. At least I assume that is what they're there for otherwise they 're all in for a cold shower 'cause I haven't seen a single woman hanging out on the trails, yet. Women, as P pointed out, are probably more practical; they go cruising in supermarkets, combining the fun with the useful.
Whatever your definition of trail fun is, keep it safe. Happy trails!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Here comes the sun....
The electricity company fuckers decided to cut the electricity during the night, as a result the alarm-clock lost track of time. L and I woke up too late but no stress; a cup of coffee and a couple of pancakes later and LL an V are ready to get dropped of at school and yours truly is ready to hit them streets.
Winter has officially fled the country, my Finnish friend told me we had 9 degrees Celsius this morning and the sun was toasting my wheels. Nice one! No shoe covers, no mudguards no Gore-Tex, the future's so bright I got to wear shades.
Great invention those shades; they keep the morning sun out of your eyes, they really help if you need to evil-eye some blind motorist and best of all you can check out all the fit ladies who are celebrating the return of Spring, without being noticed.
Life is sweet.
Winter has officially fled the country, my Finnish friend told me we had 9 degrees Celsius this morning and the sun was toasting my wheels. Nice one! No shoe covers, no mudguards no Gore-Tex, the future's so bright I got to wear shades.
Great invention those shades; they keep the morning sun out of your eyes, they really help if you need to evil-eye some blind motorist and best of all you can check out all the fit ladies who are celebrating the return of Spring, without being noticed.
Life is sweet.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Trop is teveel en teveel is trop...
The legendary words of Belgium's most notorious butcher, sum up my morning ride very accurately. I gave up the idea that the commute rides could be a form of bicycle training, a long time a ago. There are so many external factors that disturb your ride that you are basically just pushing the pedals without any consideration for cadence, speed or heart rate. Keep the rubber down, and keep away from the four-wheeled death.
Anyway you get used to the blind and or inconsiderate drivers but from time to time there are these exceptions who can still infuriate me to the point where I might (so far I can use the word might) pull him or her from behind the wheel and serve them a can of whoopass.
This morning I got almost driven down three (as in 3) times in a row over a distance of less than 200 meters by the same f*****g blind b***h in a white Mercedes.
Miss c**t pulls out of her parking spot as I pass , near miss number one. Fifty meters further and I turn to the right, just like miss merco, only problem is that she turns so tightly that I almost get hit by her rearview mirror and have to jump my bike on the sidewalk not to get hit. But the last incident a 150 meters further was the straw that broke the camel's back; I am riding on the bicycle lane along the street that turns to the left, this homicidal bitch is coming from behind me and tries to turn to the right, I literally see her right front wheel and front fender almost hit my left pedal.
I brake like a madman, my vision turns black and my heart rate and decibels go up. I hurl a tirade of swearwords at her windshield and continue my way.
Lucky her that she did not get out of her car 'cause I would have made it to the evening news; "Maniac cyclist molests driver and dismantles car".
Anyway you get used to the blind and or inconsiderate drivers but from time to time there are these exceptions who can still infuriate me to the point where I might (so far I can use the word might) pull him or her from behind the wheel and serve them a can of whoopass.
This morning I got almost driven down three (as in 3) times in a row over a distance of less than 200 meters by the same f*****g blind b***h in a white Mercedes.
Miss c**t pulls out of her parking spot as I pass , near miss number one. Fifty meters further and I turn to the right, just like miss merco, only problem is that she turns so tightly that I almost get hit by her rearview mirror and have to jump my bike on the sidewalk not to get hit. But the last incident a 150 meters further was the straw that broke the camel's back; I am riding on the bicycle lane along the street that turns to the left, this homicidal bitch is coming from behind me and tries to turn to the right, I literally see her right front wheel and front fender almost hit my left pedal.
I brake like a madman, my vision turns black and my heart rate and decibels go up. I hurl a tirade of swearwords at her windshield and continue my way.
Lucky her that she did not get out of her car 'cause I would have made it to the evening news; "Maniac cyclist molests driver and dismantles car".
Friday, February 06, 2009
Ying and Yang
I had a pretty balanced ride today; one "blind" Audi-fahrer who would rather crush a cyclist than give up one meter in the queue and a bus driver who gave up his priority and waved me through.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The city never sleeps...
Back in the days, when I could rant and rave about dangerous drivers without knowing what it's really like to get mowed down by a car, I wrote this little rant about bicycle lights. The next day I went out to buy a battery operated front light which served its purpose for almost 2 years.
Last Christmas I noticed that the plastic casing was broken and those rechargeable batteries are not that reliable when it's freezing. I can't really trust them to last a back and forth ride to work.
But worst of all, drivers don't notice the light. Either that or they just think, small light equals bike... f**k it I ride a steel cage I win.
So I went to my trusty LBS to check for something a little more powerful. Turns out that more powerful, means also more expensive but when you're spending money on safety then you don't want to cut corners; brake pads and lights must not fail.
A couple hundreds of Euro lighter (no pun intended) and Mr. exhaustbreather can burn 720 lumen of respect in the drivers retinae.
Guess what! It worked like a charm for at least a couple of days, then drivers got used to it and now they ignore me again, just like in the old days. Soccer mums making right turns without indicators, grandpas dooring me, ...
Lumen seem to devaluate even quicker than bank shares. So what should I do? Go out and buy me a couple of 950 lumen light? And what with the cycle bell? No driver hears that, so you go get an air horn, which you swap again for a battery operated model...
Next thing you know you have so much light and sound pollution (on top of your regular funes) that the city truly never sleeps.
Last Christmas I noticed that the plastic casing was broken and those rechargeable batteries are not that reliable when it's freezing. I can't really trust them to last a back and forth ride to work.
But worst of all, drivers don't notice the light. Either that or they just think, small light equals bike... f**k it I ride a steel cage I win.
So I went to my trusty LBS to check for something a little more powerful. Turns out that more powerful, means also more expensive but when you're spending money on safety then you don't want to cut corners; brake pads and lights must not fail.
A couple hundreds of Euro lighter (no pun intended) and Mr. exhaustbreather can burn 720 lumen of respect in the drivers retinae.
Guess what! It worked like a charm for at least a couple of days, then drivers got used to it and now they ignore me again, just like in the old days. Soccer mums making right turns without indicators, grandpas dooring me, ...
Lumen seem to devaluate even quicker than bank shares. So what should I do? Go out and buy me a couple of 950 lumen light? And what with the cycle bell? No driver hears that, so you go get an air horn, which you swap again for a battery operated model...
Next thing you know you have so much light and sound pollution (on top of your regular funes) that the city truly never sleeps.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The dirty look...
I don't know what it's like in other countries but around here it seems like all policemen and -women are trained to look at you as if you are guilty of the most hideous crimes known to mankind. I had it happening again this morning, waiting at the traffic light (you know I never jump a red light) I had the 2 police men on bikes giving me the most foul look, which I eventually happily returned.
Our little staring competition got interrupted by the light turning green. as I sped of I could not but wonder what the heck those boys in blue had been looking at.
Was it my bike? Now that would be stupid, they were riding bikes themselves, they could as well ogle their own steeds.
Was it the filter mask I was wearing? Could be, but then I might as well look funnily at them 'cause it's surely strange to ride without a a filter mask in urban traffic when it's this cold. All the exhaust fumes will make you turn blue in the face.
Was it perhaps my outfit? Was it the first time they saw someone ride a bike sporting Chrome Shins? At least I don't ride around with a handgun on my hip. Just imagine; me sporting a handgun instead of my trusty Shins...
Then again, it will never happen; I'm not formally trained in giving people the suspicious you-have-done-something-wrong-and-I-am-going-to-figure-out-what-look.
All the selfish and stupid drivers can sleep safely at night (and in traffic).
Our little staring competition got interrupted by the light turning green. as I sped of I could not but wonder what the heck those boys in blue had been looking at.
Was it my bike? Now that would be stupid, they were riding bikes themselves, they could as well ogle their own steeds.
Was it the filter mask I was wearing? Could be, but then I might as well look funnily at them 'cause it's surely strange to ride without a a filter mask in urban traffic when it's this cold. All the exhaust fumes will make you turn blue in the face.
Was it perhaps my outfit? Was it the first time they saw someone ride a bike sporting Chrome Shins? At least I don't ride around with a handgun on my hip. Just imagine; me sporting a handgun instead of my trusty Shins...
Then again, it will never happen; I'm not formally trained in giving people the suspicious you-have-done-something-wrong-and-I-am-going-to-figure-out-what-look.
All the selfish and stupid drivers can sleep safely at night (and in traffic).
Monday, January 19, 2009
Blue Monday...
...or should I say wet Monday? Second week of 2009 and already got my first bike shower. I made my first ride of the new year one the 2nd of January with all my favourite singletracks frozen ROCK solid. The second ride out on the 4th ended with an over-the-bars from yours truly, and a bent derailleur hanger for my beloved rocky.
The second week of January was all snow and frost so I opted to commute by car 'cause bicycles lanes around here are, of course, not salted. Apparently cyclists don't pay taxes or something, and therefore deserve to break their necks.
And now we're back to the normal winter routine; five degrees Celsius and pouring rain. It's great to be back on the bike.
Before I forget; Happy New Year. May we all spend more time riding and less time in traffic jams, hospitals and emergency rooms.
The second week of January was all snow and frost so I opted to commute by car 'cause bicycles lanes around here are, of course, not salted. Apparently cyclists don't pay taxes or something, and therefore deserve to break their necks.
And now we're back to the normal winter routine; five degrees Celsius and pouring rain. It's great to be back on the bike.
Before I forget; Happy New Year. May we all spend more time riding and less time in traffic jams, hospitals and emergency rooms.
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