"People in Oregon must be poor."

[Duck on Wheels]

happy birthday massbikebabe who wrote
"2. Child abduction/abuse. I believe this has always been a part of our history however today the media is doing a marvelous job bringing it to our attention."

Yep. I remember the time we were at the old Safeway across from Rosenbergs. This must have been just before your time, Trek. Big Brother needed to use the bathroom. Safeway didn't have one, so he walked across to Rosenbergs. When he still wasn't back half an hour later, Mom panicked. I remember riding around in the back of a squad car, mom in tears up front, when we finally found him ... at the news stand next door to the Safeway, reading comics. But the panic was real. Abductions really did happen.

Is there a sociologist in the house?

Ok. Ok. Yes, I admit it. I'm a sociologist. I don't know the sociology of biking in the US. But as it happens, I just read the home newspapers on the net and was shocked to discover something about the sociology of hiking in Norway -- it's racist! There are hikers out there who have written in letters-to-editors complaining that their experience of the great outdoors is spoiled if they encounter dark-skinned foreigners out there. I'm ashamed and shocked! Somehow the Nazi-poster images of nordicism have survived, linking mountains and sportiness with blondness. We've gotta put an end to that image-association! But back to biking in the US. Yes, it wouldn't surprise me if there were imagery-links for biking too. We know they exist for other sports: Soccer intellectual/football working class; volleyball academic/ basketball blue collar; figure skating feminine/hockey macho; and so on and so on. So sure, quality road bike = yuppie/rugged style bike = poor. In some people's imaginations. Again, it's an imagery we need to try to dismantle.