"too much is never enough, it's always too much"
--Daniel E Murray
"Danny Really"
The other other day right around Big Time time as I fumbled with my U-lock to wrap it around the head tube and secure it to a street sign, the guy smoking and hovering over a gravel bike on the bike rack I often use said “does that orange thing do anything?” and I said “it’s highly reflective, it’s a top tube pad, when I used to lock my bike up 7,000 times per day it did a lot, but now it’s just kind of sentimental.” Then he said “ahwwwww” and I thought, whatever bro I can tell I’ve already shared too much.
I was operating under the assumption that it was his gravel bike. But when he came back in and sat at the bar and continued to cough his smokers cough I realized maybe he was just smoking near that bike and I had mistaken him for a cyclist or someone who knew something about bikes. As you know proximity leads to assumptions.
Later, as I unlocked my bike to head home I noticed the gravel bike was “secured” with a giant U-lock only through the front wheel and I thought maybe that really is that chuffer’s bike.
In my legal messenger days (daze) I often found the bike racks outside the office buildings being used by office workers on their smoke breaks to plant their asses. Break time benches so to speak. So I found street signs and parking meters to lock up to. {Insert an ode to the parking meter here} Basic bike racks are cool. But sign posts work too and often work better than aesthetically pleasing poorly designed bike racks.
Same as it ever was
ode to SIX ARMS, ode to BENSONS, ode to six packs, ode to tall cans, ode to street signs, ode to parking meters, ode to hiding in plain sight, ode to yesteryear, ode to groundhog daying it day in and day out, ode to what day is it? ode to the same as it ever was, ode to the first stage: denial, ode to peter pan syndrome, ode to neo retro whatever bro, ode to retrospect, ode to phantom ass pocket U lock syndrome, ode to Monorail, ode to WA Legal Fridays, ode to Elliott Bay, ode to all y’all.
Add Comment