The Allure of the Road

At age 22, after graduating from college, Robert Fulton, Jr. surprised himself by announcing at a dinner party that he was setting out on a motorcycle trip around the world. He'd only ridden a bike once before, on a short, ill-fated trip that ended in a crash. But in 1932, he set out on the first ever circumnavigation of the globe by moto, on a specially modified bike.



In One Man Caravan, his lively account of the ensuing 18-month odyssey, he quotes his friend Eric Lang as saying:

All of us have hopes of being a poet, artist, discoverer, philosopher, scientist; of possessing the attributes of all these simultaneously. Few are permitted to achieve any one of them in daily life. But in travel we attain them all. Then we have our day of glory, when all our dreams come true, when we can be anything we like, as long as we like, and, when we're tired of it, pull up stakes and move on. Travel -- the solitude of the mountains, the emptiness of the desert, the delicacy of a minaret; eternal change, limitless contrast, unending variety.

I've recently been re-watching Long Way Round, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's series documenting their motorcycle trip from London to New York via Europe, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Alaska, Canada and the continental US. It's somehow reassuring to know that the joys of motorcycle travel have changed little in the seventy years that separate these two trips -- at least in some parts of the world. (I eagerly await a screening of Long Way Down, recounting their next trip: from the northern tip of Scotland to the southern tip of Africa. It's airing on the BBC right now, and should be available in the US soon...)

Speaking of a long way down, yesterday I had a chance to walk across the newest addition Minneapolis' bicycle trail system: the Midtown Greenway's cable-stayed bridge over Hiawatha Avenue and the light rail line, soon to be christened the Martin Olav Sabo bridge.



Stunning design, and a great addition to the Greenway, and to Minneapolis' pro-biking infrastructure. My old Schwinn ten-speed (the lone survivor of my recent garage theft) is in the shop getting ready for winter commuting. I can't wait to point its new tires over this span.

Tricks, Treats

One of the ways I feel lucky living in Minneapolis is our vibrant theater scene (and our much touted statistic: second only to NYC in the US for theater seats per capita). It's surprising and wonderful that a town this size can support theater sufficiently diverse to span umpteen touring shows, the works of the Guthrie (its refined productions and its celebrity stars), lots of long-lived community theaters and the grassroots, participatory theater of In the Heart of the Beast and Bedlam Theater's Barebones Halloween show.

Powderhorn Park's May Day festival has long been a high holiday for me. The Barebones Halloween show at Hidden Falls has fast become one. A bit of a May-Day-does-Halloween affair (with significant overlap of dramatis personae and creative talent), it often features the adjacent Mississippi as an important character. This year was no exception, a tale inspired by Huck Finn with one of the most endearing Mark Twain performances I ever expect I'll see. Not to mention some terrific, enormous puppets...



...and musicians...



The fact that it was also unseasonably warm for the evening (thanks, greenhouse gases!) didn't hurt, either. (Truth be told, I kind of liked suffering through in years past, when the free hot apple cider at the end of the performance helped thaw the fingers and hands, long numbed by late autumn chill.) Family friendly, homegrown and non-commercial. What's not to like?

Speaking of family friendly, I got to spend part of the holiday with my nephew, watching him demonstrate new tricks on the sit-n-spin in his butterfly costume. His interactions with kids seeking candy (as well as some rather, um, mature trick-or-treaters) at the door was a great treat, indeed.

Iw cawn't feewl anwythinwg

This just came across my desk: the world's largest hotpot.

Ouch! Um, bigger ≠ better...

A Lesson in Impermanence

Subtitled: Those Fucking Jack-asses Better Enjoy the Ride

So, I started a post this morning about the very cool One Laptop Per Child project, and the availability of these low power, low cost, nigh indestructible devices to children (and adults) in the U.S. for two weeks in November. Cf. David Pogue's review in The New York Times.

Then I got a call from my neighbor. Our (shared) garage was burglarized in the middle of the night, and they got away with my trusty Bridgestone MB-6 mountain bike, which has been my primary bicycle for the past dozen years or so. I'd tricked it out with an aerobar, mustache bar ends, front and rear pannier mounts and other bike-nerd accoutrements. All of which are now gone. And probably forever.

I'm bummed out. I'm confused. There's a lingering sense of violation.

I'm aiming for having perspective on the whole affair, trying to observe my own judgments about the fuckers who took this stuff (along with other assorted goods from the garage, including my little-used home-built "tadpole" recumbent tricycle / project bike and a pristine Yakima 4-bike trailer hitch rack with an integrated lock).

It's strange: I really love riding that mountain bike, but I'm acutely aware of replaceable it is, and ultimately how little an impact (financially) it will be for me to replace it, even with all the added gear. I can only assume that this was not the case for these thieves. So I guess I come back to the notion that the best solution to many petty or nuisance crimes like this is to share the wealth. But I also wonder whether there's a special level of hell for those who steal bicycles.

So, reluctantly, unhappily, I guess I'm in the market for a new set of human-powered wheels. (They left my rickety but faithful 1972 Schwinn 10-speed thrown onto its side in the garage. With the application of some elbow grease to bring it into repair, it will become my number one for the time being.)

I relied on my mountain bike to meet many diverse needs:

• An urban commuter and curb-jumper, sometimes subjected to winter riding


• A workhorse for hauling four fully-loaded panniers on solo bike-camping trips


• A long-distance bike (a role for which it was not especially well suited) with Continental Goliath tires to smooth out long stretches of pavement

Although thinking about replacing my bike gives me a stomach ache, I'd like to get your thoughts and suggestions about what bike should be my next ride. I'm not sure that having a single, all-purpose bike makes the same kind of sense it did when I bought the Bridgestone, so you should know that 99% of the use my new ride will get is that of an urban commuter. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks go to Jayme, Milo, the Geek Club forum on presidential candidates and the money I dropped on new music at Electric Fetus for distracting me from this unhappy news today.

*Sigh.*

T.I.N. T.I.N. R.I.P.

(this is not) the end (this is now)

Thanks Jayme, Jay and Anthony.

I never meant to cause you any sorrow.

Holding our breath

The September 21 episode of "World View," a weekly podcast on world affairs from the New York Times, focuses on the growing pollution in China, its causes, its effects, and predictions of how things will evolve as China's economic boom continues.

Photos from China

I've just posted a gallery of 70 photos from my trip (culled from the 1,032 I brought home) on a pokey server. Enjoy!