i've been saying for years that cycling makes me feel better. here's why!

"A Berlin brothel has come up with a novel way to offset the impact of the global economic crisis and target a new group of customers at the same time - offering a discount to patrons who arrive on bicycles. "The recession has hit our industry hard," said Thomas Goetz, owner of the Maison d'envie brothel.
"Obviously we hope that the discount will attract more people," he added. "It's good for business, it's good for the environment - and it's good for the girls." Customers who arrive on bicycle or who can prove they took public transportation get a €5 ($7) discount from the usual €70 ($100) fee for 45 minute sessions, Mr Goetz said. He said the environmentally friendly offer was working a charm.

"We have around 3-5 new customers coming in daily to take advantage of the discount," he said, adding the green rebate has helped alleviate traffic and parking congestion in the neighbourhood. Germany is one of the few countries in the world where prostitution is legal. It has about 400,000 prostitutes who, since 2002, have been allowed to enter formal labour contracts."

is it time for biker bucks?

pedalgrl, the kim west radio cycling show's northeast iowa correspondent, tells of a small dispute brewing in her neck of the woods about where and whether bikes should be parked in a business district. read here for details: http://pedalgrl.blogspot.com/2009/07/thoughts.html

. . . . .

my initial reaction was to purchase a rubber stamp that reads "biker bucks" and stamp all your paper currency. let the business people know the power of two legs in a language they understand.

thoughts?

at des moines stamp company, an old-fashioned one that requires an ink pad is $8. $25.90 will get you a perma-inked stamper. i am told that if you spend $50, you get 10% off; spend $100, get 15% off; $150, 20% off.

NOW any thoughts?

i can take orders for biker bucks stamps in the comments section.

finally- a reason to wear a helmet?

i hear it all the time:

"where's your helmet?" [said by a highway patrolman in an intersection]

"hey, organ donor, do you know where i can find a bar?" [said by a guy--one of many--wearing stars & stripes-styled jerseys as we roll into a small town]

"hey, wear a helmet! you're breaking all the rules & laws of ragbrai!" [said by a guy in full-aero tuck on his tri-style bike, as we safely pass him on his left. he chased me down after i cupped my ear and said "what" three times to chew my ass.]

"you're setting a bad example" [a fat man on a bike as i rode by]

.....

but there might be a reason to pull the old giro out of the zippered case and slip it on the noggin: the much misunderstood firefighter on a sunday morning in asheville, north carolina, on a crusade to keep young children safe.

did anyone get the make and model of the cyclist's helmet?

read here for more.

the ride to ragby, day one

large groups of bicyclists descend upon the atlantic super 8

recipe for a good day
ingredients:
--five friends
--80 miles
--five bicycles
mix liberally
add:
--80 miles of headwinds
--three miles gravel
--2 pinch flats [to ME, of all things!]
--free beer from the baggers at the east end of the white pole road
[we just crossed over i-80 west of earlham and
we saw 25 to 30 assorted loaded bikes and cyclists
cheering as we approached. i asked "did i hear free beer?" and it was on.]
--2 smoking rooms at the super 8 in atlantic
--2 large casey's pizza
--3 six-packs of beer [including guinness]
--assorted sweet things from a bakery
--versus tour coverage
--20 extra miles to roll it up to an even 100 for the day
shape five sleepy cyclists into four large beds,
and let rest overnight
--let the old guy wake up at 130 to go to the lobby to blog
--get up at 600 am for the free breakfast buffet
--add 3 1/2 to 4 hours live tour
--set out for 50 damned hilly miles of riding to council bluffs
and hope like hell the wind has changed!!
.....
life is good . . .

hello again

[for explanation, see below]

.....

i've been problem-solving lately, this time at the american mustache institute's think tank. i can't really disclose what we've been thinking about, but it's beginning to look a lot better for the hairy lippers among us.

let's just leave it at that.

but those of you who have been asking about my health and whereabouts, thank you, and please understand that every now and again, i am called to a higher cause, and i must respond. but my heart remains here, at the orphanage.

my own personal mustache, by the way, is alive and well, and is looking forward to a little sun and relaxation over the next few days.

see you on the road.

i hope to be filing dispatches from along the way...

cheerio!

.....

by the way, since i'll be somewhat more mobile the next few days, and will be without my vast photo library, i thought i'd upload a photo that, should my posts NEED photo illustration, i'll have one at the ready. it will be up to you, my faithful readers, to imagine the more appropriate illustration. maybe you could post links in the comments section. in the meantime, you'll have to rely on mine, with a supplied caption.

it's a little quiz, of sorts, i suppose.

you can never doubt the credibility of FAUX NEWS again

sing it with me: "god loves republicans..."

we answer the obvious

Dear Dr. Science,

How come no matter which direction I ride my bicycle,

the wind blows against me?

--from Christopher Coughlin of Colorado Springs, CO

A: Were you born after 1950? I detect in your question a kind of "the world owes me a living" whine that's so prevalent in people of that generation. Instead of feeling gratitude for the fact that you have a bicycle, or two legs to ride it, you complain that bike riding moves you through the sea of air, producing the effect of a wind on your face. If you rode your bike in a vacuum, the troublesome wind would vanish, but the cumbersome life support system you'd have to wear to accomplish this would make a little headwind seem like a blessing.