DANGER!!!!! SNOW ON THE WAY!!!!!

It's saturday, and a snow storm is on the way.

Everyone is freaking out on the street, we are going to get 4 inches overnight. OMG!!! Stock up on bottled water, canned soup...!!!!!!

The pumps at Cumberland farms were packed, people getting in arguments, filling tanks to the brim.

I rolled my rat-cruiser right past them all and went inside for coffee.

I have been experimenting with riding an ancient beach- cruiser. (1969 Columbia) the new errands are a bit longer distance to the store, usually in the AM. I ride slowly on the sidewalk.

Negatives:
-I get honked at/hassled a lot more (I look like an Illegal Immigrant)
- much danger from people pulling in/out of parking lots.
-I am much less visible. (I do have a front generator light , but it slows you down.)
-The ride takes twice as long.

Advantages:

-The bike won't get stolen parked outside the store.
-I can toss stuff in the metal front rack, no juggling messenger bags.
-I leave this bike outside all the time, unlocked even, no lugging bikes down three flights of stairs.

On the way home, I saw a guy with a "Tech 3" or something like that, in the back of his pickup.
He sells them in New Haven. He said this is the "Improved version" of those electric two wheeled transporter things, called the "Seg-way". or maybe "Seque" if you are french.

He was in the parking lot of an auto body place, putting it in the back of a pickup. I wondered if it had been crashed and was there for dent repairs?

Apparently, people were falling off the original Seques, running into pedestrians, so he designed a sturdier, more balanced one... electric powered, so you still burn coal to power the thing. This one has four wheels instead of the orginal Seques two. Go figure.

I just think they need to keep stuff like this off the sidewalk. Bikes too, actually.

My feeble experimental excuse is these sidewalks are in an outbound area, much less congestion. It's illegal to ride in the center of town on the sidewalk. But I can "get away with it" here.

So if you choose to ride on the sidewalk, with coffee in hand, ride at walking pace, so you can stop
for pedestrians.

Come to think of it, if you're gonna do that, why not just walk? It's better exercise at that speed level anyway! and you might make some friends too. Dogs won't bite you also.

I forgot to ask the guy if the thing had snow tires on it...

In the News:

I did a war-zone ride to New Britain yesterday and did some volunteering at the youth center bike kitchen. The kids there are really cool, and the director allowed some chill- time with them, playing X-box football with the crew for awhile before they began wrenching on a few road bikes for just two hours. Then he stuffed them full of Chef Boyardee and junk food. Morale was high.

Friday is easy day.

I was happy to find a rare stem for the ancient Peugeot UO-8, also some really nice pedals with toe-straps. The bike is almost ready to be re-cabled...

It's looking really beautiful, but the Peugeot Corbier in the bedroom, technically a nicer bike with better frame, is looking at me from the corner, going: "what the hell are you doing with that trashy little bitch???? !!!"

peace out