As we become older we search solace previously. It’s not that the world turns into complicated; reasonably, it’s that the world turns into exhausting. I imply, what’s extra tedious than watching individuals youthful than you determine stuff you realized years if not a long time in the past? Idiots! Whether or not it’s bikes or the rest, the cycle is identical: take one thing easy, fuck it up utterly, then construct a complete subculture round making it “easy” once more. The plain instance of this cycle is the whole first decade of the twenty first century:
Although it applies to just about all the pieces, together with in fact the return of the hybrid bicycle…sorry, I imply the appearance of the revolutionary new flat-bar gravel bike idea:
How foolish of me.
Anyway, maybe this future fatigue is subconsciously what despatched me again to my literary archives, the place I’ve discovered nice consolation within the phrases of Henry Miller, in addition to the information that he rode a motorbike with circulation-stopping pant cuff retention and a quill stem lengthy sufficient to make even Grant Petersen blush:
Certainly, it doesn’t matter what your age, there may be nice consolation to be discovered amid the trimmings of yesteryear. Contemplate this younger whipper-snapper:
Unable to discover a bicycle gentle that complemented his mustache, he created his personal:
What spirit! When he wanted illumination, did he curse the darkness? No! He machined himself a light-weight with all of the heavy tools he simply occurred to have available, and now he rides round fixing mysteries:
What’s extra, he reconciled the previous with the current by making it rechargeable:
I sincerely hope his product succeeds and he can return his full consideration to heading off the moths who a lot observe him round continually, salivating over his wool wardrobe.
In the meantime, the long run is downright terrifying. Think about, if you’ll, a dystopian hellscape through which you have to scan your fingerprints with a purpose to entry your disc brake-equipped bicycle:
Think about additionally the return of the hairnet…
…solely you scan it to get “incentives:”
“We additionally wished to make the helmet type of IoT ‘ish. We now have embedded within the helmet a extremely subtle NFC chip, that along with our proprietary software program API and if embedded in scooter apps, could make operators create incentives for driving with helmet
I assume the way in which this works is that when you you’ve exceeded your carbon credit score allotment for the month you’ll be able to’t use the e-assist function in your bicycle.
Eerie:
Very eerie certainly.
