The Noblest Invention

A friend at work gave me a book entitled The Noblest Invention. This illustrated history of the bicycle is very well done.

The forward by Lance Armstrong reminded me of the first bike (red, white and blue banana seat) my parents bought for me.

It reminded me of the freedom that a Free Spirit ten speed from Sears gave me to ride anywhere in Elkhart County to bail hay all day and return that night. It reminded me of friends that I used to ride with when I was a boy.

It reminded me of my habit to repack bearings regularly so I could ride every Sunday without too much resistance or crank noise.

It reminded me that I was on my bike when I knew that Jackie was God's gift to me long before she accepted that dreaded fact.

It reminded me of the first high end road bike, Schwinn Le Tour, that I purchased used from a guy that needed $50 and didn't need the bike that his parents bought for him for closer to $500. Later when I took that bike to Purdue, it was too high end and all I had left was a cut cable lock hanging on a bike rack at married student housing. I remember staring at the empty rack, wishing that I hadn't sold my Free Spirit for $25 a few years back.

It reminded me of my first vehicle that required insurance and a license, which happened to be a Honda CM400. A simple iteration that allowed me to go to farther places faster.

It reminded me of my second motorcycle, a Night Hawk that I rode two hours every weekend from Purdue to wherever Jackie was in whatever whether was between us. After we were married, I rode it to work and remember a day when Jackie had to wear a snowmobile suit behind me when her car wouldn't start one winter day in Lafayette.

It reminded me of a tall skinny friend on a big orange rode bike that rode everyday when I first moved to Lexington and how I struggled to keep up with him one day while we traveled 134 miles to Bloomington. I foolishly dropped out of the pack two hours into the ride, and had to skip pitstops to catch up or else I would not have made it. After catching them, I never left the pack again.

It reminded me of a friend that invited me to mountain bike for the first time in Albequeque and how cactus thorns release air pressure that makes carrying a bike easier than riding it.

It reminded me of the cost of freedom and independence and how dangerous that can be if not handled responsibly.

I will never be known as a bike racer, let alone the greatest cyclist to ever walk the earth like Lance, but I do agree that a bike has got to be near the top of the invention list. However, like all things created, obsessions can be destructive and erase all the freedom that was originally experienced.

I'm glad that the friends that I rode with last Saturday understand how a bike can be used for real freedom.

Easter Sunday

 
 

Flamingos, Fish and Fruit bats

Becca and I spent the morning at Tampa Lowry Park Zoo taking pictures and eating ice cream.

Most of the pictures taken did not include Becca, but it just so happens that these do.

The zoo has been called the best children's zoo in the nation and it definitely had a lot of children. The groups of kids and teachers tended to hang out in the covered areas and the petting zoos so we didn't run into too many crowds until we went to get some ice cream at noon.

I got my ice cream in a cone because I am very environmentally conscious about the decisions that I make while I am reading Hot, Flat, and Crowded all week.

Becca may love animals, but she ate her ice cream from a Styrofoam cup with a plastic spoon so she may as well have been killing endangered species with her bare hands instead of warming them to a slow death one plastic spoon at a time.

Angered by her choices to destroy the earth, a giant fruit bat swept her away and hung her upside down in his exhibit.

Becca promised to eat her ice cream from a cone from now on, so the fruit bat let her go.

Who built our vacation spot

Entrepreneurs and engineers worked together to build an accessible island in this comfortable corner of the Gulf of Mexico that is called Clearwater Beach.

The only concrete section of the first wooden bridge is all that stands today after being torn down in the 1924. Our boat tour guide tells us that a barge served as the gateway to decide whether foot travel across the barge or boat travel while the barge temporarily moved away from the bridge. Today a few birds roost there.

That bridge was obsoleted by the "Million Dollar Bridge" that had mechanical equipment that would lift the bridge to allow boats to pass. When Jackie's family traveled to Clearwater in 1983, they traveled across the $1M bridge. After being torn down in 2002, the remainder of that bridge is being used as a fisherman's pier.


The fixed span bridge that we crossed to reach our vacation spot obseleted the $1M bridge and was budgeted at $30M but ended up costing $90M and using a whole lot of concrete to provide automobile traffic flow and boat passing to occur 100% of the time with more lanes of traffic, but still jammed at both ends with idling cars.

There were two other fixed span bridges and another that had yet to be torn down.

Throughout the tour, there were many landmarks that were remnants of the work of the Army Corp of Engineers as the made the intracoastal waterway in the shallow waters of the Gulf in the 1940's.

The result is a nice place to rest, enjoy sunshine and eat good seafood.