Lunch on a Bike...Or Not

[Becky]

I'm also noticing another non-statistically based "fact."

I say hello to every biker that I pass or meet.

kids younger than puberty always say hello back
young ladies up to about college age NEVER say hello back
.....they give you that drop dead you are so uncool look
young men up to about college age always say hello back
.....many of them will stop and inspect my bike and show me their add-ons
bikers not wearing helmets NEVER say hello back
"racers" decked out in full regalia almost NEVER say hello back
....unless they are mature bikers and then they STOP and talk and talk

Interesting.

Makes me wonder where I fit...

I'm done with college, way past puberty, wear a helmet, and have been known to ride in roadie kit (tho' generally not while commuting) and haven't hit "mature" yet. Oh, and I say usually say hello, unless in a poor mood or working really hard. In fact, I've been waving to the same Hispanic man on a bicycle every morning for a few weeks now. Now that it's dark in the morning, I want to buy him lights for his bike. *digs out the high school spanish-english dictionary* But I digress....

As usual, I suspect that I am an errant data point that gets discarded during the statistical analysis

[pardes]

As usual, I suspect that I am an errant data point that gets discarded during the statistical analysis

Now WHY doesn't that surprise me?

Send the Hispanic man to the Urban Bike Project; they may have lights. I can't remember if I told you that I sent a co-worker to the Project for a bike. She was SOOOOOO excited and was just waiting for a new seat to arrive to pick up her bike. The night before she dropped by to visit the seatless bike, three men hit the manager over the head, stole a few bikes (one of which was my friend's seatless bike.)

Making lemonade out of lemons, instead of being discouraged, my friend went right back, this time with her son and they are starting all over again building her another bike. She is having a WONDERFUL time doing it with her son.

Now that's a story I'm capturing on video.

[TahoeDirtGirl]

You are so right about the very high number of bikers (for the size of state) and the even higher proportion of mature bikers. I don't have statistics for that but they are everywhere when I'm riding around.

I'm also noticing another non-statistically based "fact."

I say hello to every biker that I pass or meet.

kids younger than puberty always say hello back
young ladies up to about college age NEVER say hello back
.....they give you that drop dead you are so uncool look
young men up to about college age always say hello back
.....many of them will stop and inspect my bike and show me their add-ons
bikers not wearing helmets NEVER say hello back
"racers" decked out in full regalia almost NEVER say hello back
....unless they are mature bikers and then they STOP and talk and talk

Interesting.

You are a crack up. I couldn't see your video but this tidbit can spark many conversations.

Out in the high sierras, everyone is pretty friendly, except the wknd tourists (or tourons as we affectionately call them). I hardly ever got no hi back.

Here in New England tho, I noticed on the road most people wave or say hi (small town) except the road bikers decked out in kits. I noted that the brighter the kit, the less they wave. Haha..

Women over 35 are more friendly.

Mtn biking is weird here. I haven't seen many people on the trails. I spied one in Freetown and went riding up the fire road like my shorts were on fire. He sped up!!! I just stopped trying to say hi and be nice. It's kind of weird for me, because people where I ride out west are always coming up to you in the parking lot and asking about the trails or saying 'nice bike'. Here they put their ipod on and run off....oh well...I did have a guy with only a towel on (and a tribal tat..nice) come up to me in the parking lot when it was raining and told me I had a pretty bike. I couldn't stop staring at his bare chest and his goosebumps...uhhhh what were we talking about again?

[TahoeDirtGirl]

Pardes do they need seats? I have a seat from my bike that I tossed after getting the terry. Maybe they can give it a home...

[pardes]

Tahoey....I think we could be Burns and Allen. YOU are the crackupper. I'm Gracie. Speaking of which you are FAR too young to remember Gracie Allen doing a 1950's black and white TV commercial for Pet canned milk. It was a scream.

Anway, stay away from goose-bumps covering tribal tats.

I'll be posting the video on my website after I correct the typos. Perhaps you will be able to view it there.

And WHEN are you coming to Delaware so I can interview you? Promises, promises. I bet if Spielberg asked you.......

[PamNY]

Very cool video. I mourn the missing lunch, which sounded yummy. I look forward to more videos of your travels.

Pam

[pardes]

Tahoey, yes, the Wilmington Urban Bike Project can always use parts like a good seat. Or even a not so good seat. That's what held up my friend's bike. She had to special order a seat for it.

They have a website. You can send it directly to them. I've collected quite a few things as well that I'll be donating to them.

I got into an argument with my seat a few weeks ago during a heat wave and ordered a super duper Terry myself. But then it cooled off (the weather and my seat) and I haven't traded them out yet. I do love the squishy nature of my cheap gel seat and almost hate to part with it now. But whichever becomes the loser will go to the Urban Bike Project.

Okay, what's the most ridiculous thing you've bought for your bike that didn't work out. For me it was a coiled metal pants clip that is battery operated and flashes as well as glows in the dark. The problem is that the coiled memory spring is so strong that the end digs a HOLE into my leg after only a few minutes. It immediately disappeared into the black hole. The last time I saw it, Magdalene was carrying it away (blinking) like it was a trophy.

[Possegal]

I love your video! I just got an iMac and am addicted to the iMovie program. Steep learning curve for me too but this is like the second night that I can't bring myself to walk away from the computer and go to bed.

Can I ask about your cameras mounted on the bike? I am curious how you did that and would be interested in trying something similar. I learned a couple weeks ago that videoing my 'team' while I'm riding, is not as easy as it sounds. I've got more than a clip or two of the road or my handlebars.

[pardes]

Possegal--good we can commiserate together on the SNAFU's of filming from a moving bike. My first video was of sky only. I had accidentally bumped the camera when I started it.

For the mounting, I bought 2 Ultrapods ($16 each at camera store, a bit cheaper online.) They strap very easily with velcro to a rack but it's best to pad them with about a half-inch sheet of spongy foam to absorb vibrations. They have an articulating head so the angles can be adjusted to level easily. Some people, the anal retentives, suggest buying a level to get the leveling precise but really now, how much of the time is your bike perfectly level while it's moving. Besides, you learn to level by eye and there's always the software that you can tweak to level it out. Actually I was surprised how forgiving the video is. If you are anywhere close to level, the viewer's eye accepts it and adjusts to it.

Like any recording device, the camcorder will pick up high range sounds more strongly than low and midrange sounds. Even the shifting of the bike can sound like a train roaring by for an instant. Some of this can be adjusted with audio tweaking but you'll find that you end up deleting the natural sounds in many segments because they are so distracting.

I shot film in a restaurant and the sounds of the combined voices and clattering dishes was deafening while a person standing next to me speaking in a alto type voice was nearly inaudible.

You can't get rid of all vibrations without going to a really expensive and/or complicated setup. They way I have it, you can whip the cameras off and on the rack in seconds. Currently I leave the ultrapods in place on the rack and attach the cameras when I'm ready to film.

The funniest video I've shot was riding over a loose gravel road. 999.9 on the Richter scale vibrations. And the sound of the gravel is deafening.

You'll find you need to shoot a lot of film and do heavy cutting and splicing. It's also good to film anchor point backgrounds with the bike not moving that helps to keep the viewer from getting seasick.

Unless you buy a very good camcorder ($700 to $2000 range) the quality of the video produced is limited in size. Who wants to risk a really expensive and bulky heavy camcorder on a bike? So you settle for less clarity with a smaller cheaper camcorder that is quite passable for the Youtube type screen size. You loose detail even on still shots when blown up to full computer screen mode.

Finally after you've spent hours or days tweaking a video then you have convert it to a flv file which takes me about 15 minutes on a very fast computer. But your not done yet. Then you upload it to a file-hosting site (I have a Pro account with Photobucket) and that takes another 15 minutes of upload time for a 4 minute video.

So naturally if you find a typo in your text or something else that needs to be edited, you tend to ignore them rather than face all that converting and uploading time again.

It's a sickness really. I see you have the virus too and will, like me, be spending 16 hours or so cutting, splicing, adding audio, and tweaking a mere 4 minute video. But what a hoot it is.

[Tuckervill]

Pardes, you're echoing what my mother has said often since she became of a certain age, and what I'm noticing, too, now that I'm a grandmother.

She says, "I've become invisible to young women." Sales clerks, cashiers, what-have-you. Invisible to them. I had a boss once who said the same thing, and she said she was ignored so much in a store by a clerk who took care of other customers that she started to take her dress off right there in the line. The clerk noticed then!

I don't know if it's generally true, or what it says about our society. What do you think?

Karen

[pardes]

I think you are right. Men or women past a certain age do become invisible to many. But, I don't think "youth" is the only culprit here. You can't ignore energy in people no matter what the age. Many people who reach a certain age settle into an energy-less state of mind and body, hence they are often ignored.

I don't mean that being visible requires jumping out of airplanes, bungee jumping, or trying to look or act young when you aren't (chronologically). I find that aspect of seniors trying too hard to be young rather embarrassing for everyone.

If we really own who we are at any given state of mind or body, it's impossible to become invisible.

[newfsmith]

Thanks for mentioning Wilmington's Urban Bike project. This is a great use of older bikes. It also means that people can get vocational training, and kids can get "pre-vocational" training. I know Chicago has a similar project. Here in Boston the place to go is
http://www.bikesnotbombs.org/about
I'm volunteering there, eventually as a adult instructer in their "Earn-a-bike" program. If a donated bike isn't used in EAB, it may be shipped to affiliate programs in Africa or Central America, or if it is really unsafe it is stripped and recycled. Every urban area needs a program like this.

[Serendipity]

Pardes - enjoyed the video enormously, although I would have liked to see the footage of the expression on your face when you realized that your lunch was MIA....

Interesting comments about being greeted by other cyclists. Have found that, for the most part, cyclists are a friendly group. Sometimes its just a nod, a smile or a wave, but I'd rather they keep their eyes on the road, so to speak. And, as most of the riding I do is on the road and in traffic, watching where one is going is a priority.

As far as the recreational trails go, when I think about, it seems that most people say hello whether I (and they) am/are walking, running or cycling. Maybe there is a bit of camaraderie that comes from being outside and enjoying the great outdoors?? Dunno.

[malkin]

1. I love being invisible; it means no one will notice the errant hair on my chin, legs, or anywhere else.

2. Terribly sorry about your lunch; perhaps this is why cyclists are generally so thin generally.

3. If you had gotten the pie, the entire universe would have changed in ways we couldn't possibly anticipate now, because it would already be in the past, in the phraseology of the young, "DUH!"

There isn't any 4, because 'three is the magic number,' but it's lovely to see your post and cheers!

[pardes]

1. I love being invisible; it means no one will notice the errant hair on my chin, legs, or anywhere else.

2. Terribly sorry about your lunch; perhaps this is why cyclists are generally so thin generally.

3. If you had gotten the pie, the entire universe would have changed in ways we couldn't possibly anticipate now, because it would already be in the past, in the phraseology of the young, "DUH!"

There isn't any 4, because 'three is the magic number,' but it's lovely to see your post and cheers!

1A. I find that I am invisibly visible...in other words (at least when my mouth is shut) I don't raise anyone's hackles. Apparently since I look like someone's non-threatening maiden Aunt...(I'd say maiden Grandmother because I'm now older than most Aunts, but that would be genetically impossible)....I could do things like deliver Morphine to hospice patients in VERY bad neighborhoods and not worry that I'd be robbed.

2A. Runners are thin too but there is something different about the thinness of bikers. I do not portray either version of thinness.

3A. Your pie comment has freaked me out.

4A. To some 40 is the magic number, particularly among Millenialists. Pack your bags, and meet me on the top of Mt. Everest for the end of the world. I'll bring the Pecan Pie.