Tom Waites eloquently stated that "It's colder than a she-bitch wolf-dog with nine sucklin' pups pulling a number 4 trap up-hill in the dead of winter with a mouth full of porcupine quills”. Some days like this, when the weather appears to be getting the upper hand you may have to bring out a wider tire, lest we slide sideways beneath an erratic lonely driver who decidedly is not looking around them, but rather updating their blog as they swerve 2500 lbs. of steel into your one meter of salty slush.
Today I awoke to -22 and factoring that bastard son of an insolent weatherman stating it was "Umm Like minus 47  with the wind chill, or some shit. I heard them say that my skin could frost-bite in 30 minutes on my ride to work... Then another said pets can freeze solid in a minute or two outdoors. How prey-tell do we arrive at these imaginary valuations -- as if the stock market and the weather were the very same Scam? So be it the numbers are up and down, and people take profits and then lose their shirt, but it seems that Brokers and Weathermen (weather-people duly noted, Mom) need only be correct half the time to be rewarded handsomely. Another man said, "c'mon Sun!, you've had about 4.5 billion years to get this right,  at the moment it is in fact sunny, but Mr. Sun does not seem to be working at the moment toward warming up the place. Perhaps in spite of the sun's efforts, it is something like 40 degrees below freezing!". Brace yourself, because today is gonna suck.
So what is the strange math that is used to calculate that mystical fairy-shit called "Wind Chill"?, and while we are at it, what metrics are used to determine the "Feels-Like Index"? Last I checked My wife alone knows what I feel like, and not even I can't say for sure that I'm in touch with my feelings. So what wizardry is applied to a composite of Temperature, Humidity, Barometer, and Wind to create the "feels like"  Bad Weather News Cycle that oppresses the crap out of everyone? It's Cold outside true, and inventing “How I "Feel" and droning on about the time it takes for skin to freeze each time it gets shitty cold out, is like watching Nazi Propaganda. We know that it sucks, and we know that we can't change it, and we don't want to re-live it, but it seems to always be Bad News we wake up to.
When I was a Child, I'd swear we were told that cold came from the North, or the North Pole for that Matter, and then... once or twice, someone blamed Canada. Then People claimed that cold arrived from the upper atmosphere, which made some sense, because whenever I'm on a long plane Flight they can't seem to keep seated people comfortable, and they deliberately drop the temp to keep passengers awake and as surly as the staff is. Seems to be in retaliation for their having pulled a crappy route to pick up extra hours. In my youth there were a lot more illustrators fancifying the weather with anthropomorphic "Old Man Winter", "Happy Suns", Blowing Clouds with eyes and a Mustache. Remember the Cloud Blowing a swirling twirl of steamy puffy white? Back then he was mischievously happy, but looking for an illustration for this post, I could only find angry stock images. These days I simply get texts from so called friends and relatives bragging about their awesome weather elsewhere. Save the screen-shot of your weather app, and I'll spare you mine.  It seems like years ago, I recall happy clouds and breezes, and well prior to the endless news cycles, and immediate weather-bugs, weather was just that, and if you walked outside, looked left , then right, and closed the door again, you'd know what the weather was doing.  Today, that instant blast may betray your inner monologue.  Please don't kid yourself, as you say, ah, well it's not that bad, as your warm fresh skin takes a puff of bracing cold.  When you venture forth, you may find it's not what you thought.  Fond memories of happy weather illustrations, happy news-casts, and days well before my friends taunted that they lived someplace "warmer". Today the Weather is just angry.
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The Media Now plays up everything that is down. Here is what they say at the National Weather Service: "Much below normal temperatures and Lake Effect snow will continue across the Central and East U.S. this weekend. The next Canadian system brings heavy snow across the North Plains and Mississippi Valley on Sunday, and the Great Lakes and Northeast early next week. Behind this front, the coldest air of the season will plunge the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes into life-threatening conditions". End Quote... So there you have it the Canadiens are to blame. Can't they keep it in?, Cant they hold their cold? They mock us...
Dreadful cold is a bummer, and riding my bike in it isn't as fun as a Sunny 65, So I'll just say that we need to work on how we portray the weather, and show a bit more compassion for everyone that works out of doors, by not scaring them when first they wake. Here is the forecast Transcript, paying close attention to the "I- word', "A strong cold front and arctic air mass is expected to invade the same areas next week producing much below normal temperatures and bitterly cold wind chills". Gloomy right?, are the Canadiens in effect "invading"? Wow!, look out, it's cold there too.
The day before yesterday the Gas Company parked outside and drilled some probes in the Ground. Each day I ride home and turn right onto my street, and each day a Car slides through the intersection and nearly hits my bike, as well as the perpendicular prick who is also sliding through the 4-Way stop. Lately, at that final point of my ride, I'd smelled Gas and Reported it, so I'd presumed they were there to find a leak. I'm glad they'd set about to save me from going up in an explosive fire-ball, in spite of the cold. The weather was Ultra Mega cold, and it was just after dark. Each of six workers were wearing massive Cover-all's which made their heads and Hands look tiny, like Astronauts, or Deep Sea Divers. They were probing for the leak, and I was happy of that. In-spite of the cold they were pulling an all-nighter to dig up the street, locate the pipe and replace it. So that nobody in my house blows-up, Nice! I watched as I chopped accumulated Ice from the sidewalk, and scraped it into the street.
People in Cars continued to slide through the 4-Way, ignoring the bundled Workers plugging away, with reparations. Irony would serve that they race to get home, and find their Gas Service interrupted.

I think the weather-woman tauntingly woke them up and told them that their skin would freeze in 20 minutes, but they were not paying it any mind. It does rightfully suck when it's below-zero for a week and all we can do is lament about how much we dread it. So, I'll say this... I have a bike and I'll be riding home soon, and it will be refreshing and chilly, true, and my fingers will go numb right about the time that I round the final corner where they just fixed the gas leak, but it wont suck as much as all that. It definitely wont suck as much as it would have had the gas not been delivered.  I can tell you that I know the "Feels-like Index" is Bull-shit, if it is even a real thing, but today I'm grateful to ride home and have a working furnace. So if the cars could be a bit more considerate, as each crunching steel SUV rolls though the stop in front of my house, with a single driver, and no passengers, smug in their warm car -- Perhaps they could consider those who work in the cold outside, and those who ride bikes, and give them a brake.
By the way, here is a Definition of Wind Chill: Wind-chill or windchill, (popularly wind chill factor) is the lowering of body temperature due to the passing-flow of lower-temperature air. (Hmm unclear, still confused?).
While Wind-chill may be exactly that, I'll tell you what it is not, It is not less than one more reason to be kind to each other, band together in families and tribes someplace warm, and enjoy each other's company. If you are feeling shut-in, and are up to it, take a bike ride, or ride to work and calibrate your own "feels-like index". Mine feels like that.

'Still Life with Bicycle Wheel', or some such. What nostalgic bug speaks to us about the wheel in a gallery context that we could not gather elsewhere? Many mangled and rusted dismembered bikes line our streets, their parts seem to disappear nightly as if by aliens, until the elements which remain are either the least valuable, or are one with the lock.
(Photo credit © Ji Lee, “Duchamp Reloaded”).
I think that it's compelling to consider all of the bric-a-brac which has been dragged into a gallery or museum, from shredded steel tire belts, to Ikea Lamps, and Donuts. By whose aesthetic value. Sometimes, perhaps often, we take a "toss-it and see if it will stick" sort of approach. What remains to line the hallowed halls of the modern museum gets vetted by the initial sponsor and then fifty million or so other apes, who imitate that point of view. More often than not, we all take art at face value, based upon someone else's aesthetic, and when entering a Museum we are there to see what shakes out. We take it on faith that because it's there, then it is good, great even. But the centuries-old inner monologue we face when we see someone studiously enjoying something we care less about, is completely fine. It is fine to not give a shit about the Kool-aid that everyone has slammed. "This is not a Pipe" may betray that the painting is in fact a Pipe, but when the bicycle wheel was elevated to cult standing by Marcel Duchamp in 1913, it was only so because this readymade was shown as ART, and shook out as art by the similar Kool-aid momentum. Art is generally a poetic construction, whereby the common words (spoken daily) are put into a new context. These letters shake out as a new Object. We are told to pay careful attention to their new context, although they are decidedly the same words, but in this new arrangement we are acknowledging a juxtaposition to call out a higher cult following. It makes me think of pop stars, and "Internet Influencers", the new talking heads of a generation, who inspire us to behave like them. If the magnetism is strong, or our resolve weak, we are impressionable and we "go with it". I've been to poetry readings where the audience was keyed into the word-smith, hanging on every syllable. Conversely I've been to a Moth Hour, where the words fell apart in front of the crowd, and the audience courteously struggled to remain awake.
The 'Assisted' Readymade assemblage of bolting a Bicycle wheel to a Stool is a play of motifs, and yet a somewhat elegant movement based upon the fundamental beauty of the primary object, true, and perhaps a more magnetic cult surrounding a young artist. Let's look at a fan for example. A kinetic wheel with spokes that spins under power or a breeze animates the air in the room. A fan in any context is interesting alone as an object, but not necessarily an object d' art. However, if you show a kid a classic metal table fan oscillating, and there are no video games or TV's in the room, the fan may soon become the most revered object in the room.
I'll submit to you that the Fan, like the Bicycle wheel, is elegant on it's own.
Any bike mechanic may have made the same object or has made several similar objects and it's likely that everyone has seen since 1914 the bicycle wheel repurposed as a decorative motif, using colorful accents, streamers, and other metal flair. I think that any enthusiast mechanic has already explored every fate of toy, or gadget using plain bike parts. I trust that the bicycle wheel and fork are used most liquidly for this sport. I may recommend that Duchamp's two iterations of this piece, one from France, and One made in NY, were each built simply if a bit more crudely than a clever mechanic. I think that If I were to make one, I'd select to utilize a Campagnolo Nuovo Record Headset to cinch the two together. My v.2 sculpture would rotate as well as spin. Silky smooth High Flange hubs, and a crusty sew-up Rigida may adorn my "readymade".
The elegant bicycle wheel repurposed as a wind-mill, chandelier, Ferris-Wheel, or pully, all forms seem to revere the Wheel's simple elegance for what it is in it's essence. Perhaps what makes this 1914 example special is (as with most contemporary art), the clever juxtaposition. It's never lost on me that whenever I leave a Contemporary gallery, I leave most of the art behind. It seems that once the "wow, that's clever" wears off, ...I tend to be completely done digesting the piece. Few Impressions in the contemporary art world seem to be long-lived. It may be an old person jaded affect which leaves me far to chaste to appropriate more than passing impress with the form, but in general I'd say that ounce for ounce I still get more of a kick out of Mid-century Painting , or a WPA Piece, than from the MCA. Staying power seems to be the theme. If you showed me something like a Ciocc, or a Mercxx, and then a Y2K Trek OCLV 5200, I'm sure you see the resemblance, but is it really nostalgia, which leaves it's mark upon us? If You look at an elegant design, and compare it to a similar object which is decidedly less elegant, shall we say a Bialetti Coffee Boiler vs a Mr. Coffee, or a Chemex, vs a Melita, we can see that there is something chic about the former forms, and something less elegant about the latter, where no nostalgia seems to play a role. If we look at a Specialized tri-spoke wheel vs a Spoked Mavic, whereas the two are contemporaries, the Mavic may win for elegance, and yet the Specialized may appeal to the Design Cult. Now consider the Mad Fiber, vs the Spinergy, where the two seem aligned in process, the Mad Fiber seems more elegant of form, and both are contemporaries, whereas neither possess nostalgic sentiment per se'.
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Remove the elegant nostalgia and assess merely the confirmed simplicity of a Stool, Fork and Wheel. each object is rather notorious of it's own right, and is made so, because in nearly 150 years they remain unchanged as design essentials. These forms like a Hammer cannot be further simplified / improved much without belabored overthinking, and their forms weigh heavily in some archetypal purposefulness. Surely we can make them better, or more cheaply, but they have already been distilled to an essence. Once taken as simple objects, bringing them to a more heroic standing is merely a matter of context shift. Placing a Stapler or a Mouse-trap in a museum, places emphasis upon their cult standing as sustaining essential designs. Last week I used a Flour sifter from the mid 40's and a similar Wisp, to bake cookies, and both of these objects are not only sublimely simple in their form and function, but they have literally not evolved nor improved.
​When Lucien Juy Introduced the first practical Derailleur in 1928, it was no less of a hit than Duchamp, but perhaps in different circles. Lucien Juy owned a bicycle shop in Dijon, Côte d'Or, France.[1] It was there that he made the first Simplex derailleur in 1928.[3][4] The bicycle historian Hilary Stone said: "It used a single pulley to tension the chain and a pair of guide plates to push the chain to each one of two sprockets.
In 1937, the derailleur system was introduced to the Tour de France, allowing riders to change gears without having to remove wheels. Previously, riders would have to dismount in order to change their wheel from downhill to uphill mode.[10] Derailleurs did not become common road racing equipment until 1938 when Simplex introduced a cable-shifted derailleur. To change wheels simply, in 1930 Tullio Campagnolo Patented the cam operated Quick Release for the Bicycle wheel, and by 1933 his Company was making these hubs.
It would take a decade for Tullio Campagnolo to introduce the first commercially successful Gran Sport modern parallelogram derailleur in 1949. History has refined this iconic design very little since it's invention.
In nearly the same tenure as Duchamp, both the Bicycle wheel & Deraileur have not changed much. The simultaneous following of hero's cyclists & artists, at a similar time in history, has buoyed up inventors Duchamp, Juy, and Campagnolo to cult worship. Little has changed in their evolution since, and that cited distillment of form seems to be the essence of the art here. A stool, sturdy & elegant in it's form, a Wheel kinetic and light, the elegant fork holding it gracefully together, each element robust in one axis only, and vulnerable from the other.
What is the art form here? the Wheel?, Id be tempted to say so. Kinetic, and graceful of purpose. The wheel is the hero of this piece. The thin spokes carrying the burden of the load, and exploiting the elegance of the ride. Freedom is the first word that comes to mind when I imagine a bicycle. Most people's initial free moment came when they sped off on their first "two-wheeler" ride. Duchamp Exploited the wheel to make "art", but was the bicycle wheel already there? The thin spokes of the Wheel poised to support copious duties about town, seems to defy it's elegance. Is the Derailleur already there?

I'm not sure that bolting a derailleur onto a chair, or anything else for that matter may have had the same effect.  Perhaps running the chain through the pulleys to drive a Fountain, or a Fan, may have been a cool gadget, but what is in the Duchamp piece could be said to be every thing that's missing.  The Piece lacks any purposeful or functional use.  The lack of utility and even the intentional uselessness, seems to be the point.  If you cannot tip this in any way and get it to do something other than sit and spin, then this Object is void of utility, rather like a fan without power, or a dry toilet. This wheel lacks a tire, and as such really is un-usable. I think that perhaps once you are "on to" this vacuum of purpose subtext, you could make ready-mades, or assemblies with very little effort.  This piece becomes a Philosophical discussion as much as an art-form. The "Art is Dead", as Nietzsche May have lamented for "God".  Every time I hit my head on something that I cannot quite put a tangible purpose to, then I assure myself that that lump on my head should serve as a reminder, a caution, that it could have been far worse, or that I should consider, "not doing that again". In any case I'll contemplate the purpose and inner monologue generally citing all sorts of reasoning. Deliberately making something not work by combining two otherwise purposeful items, is a bit of a double entendre.  It may have a bit of 'that I don't know what'...  By 1943 the readymade had not evolved much, and Pablo Picasso who made this Bull from bicycle parts, pulled upon our collective nostalgia to see two elegant parts absconded from a beater as anthropomorphic.  We see a bull... In fact most people when asked will see a bull even if not preempted with the title or artist.  This is another great juxtaposition, and a purposeful assemblage of bike junk, that underscores the overarching theme that both the nostalgia and the elegance of the bike have power.  The draw with both are similar.  Grab something that you recall more fondly from your youth and ascribe to it a new life in a readymade. Let's see what you can come up with.  Once the initial (je nes sais quoi), "oh that is clever!" has worn off, revisit it every so often and see if it still holds a powerful emotive tug -- like these Bicycle parts do.  

Fond memories of Fondos, and enough daylight to make green things from the clear blue sky. Today its 21 degrees, which means something like -5 c, and it's getting more abstract to recall the days when cold was how you felt at times, or something you caught, rather than a constant, like gravity, and pollution. Today I received a recall notice from my local shop for one of my bikes, where apparently the manufacturer made a part that can fail, and separate steering in the head tube from the fork and wheel, which as I consider this discord, am inclined to think is rather dangerous.  The thing with voluntary recalls, is that every manufacturer may have some, and those that are around long enough to have several are likely the responsible ones who actually take care of their constituents, to fix them. One of my rides has the venerable Future Shock, which, being a bit more than a gimmick, I happen to like, but for a few reasons I will explain later.  The Future Shock has a top collar which holds the actual steerer to the top of the Cartridge, or as was explained to me by my shop tech, "The photo on the recall poster makes plain the manner in which the collar cinches the steerer around the Future Shock cartridge (removed in the photo). The two small allen bolts on either side function to preload the headset bearings after the cartridge is cinched into place. If this collar were to crack through, it would lose cinching tension between the steerer and the cartridge to which the stem is clamped, resulting in the handlebars being able to turn independently of the fork."  The Cartridge, which allows the rider to sustain a bit less of the bumpy stuff, may make loose, and one would lose steering.  
Let's think about that.  In a car, if your power steering goes out, or the car kills so that the power steering fails, whilst making a maneuver, it's damn tough to make a counter maneuver, or finish parking.  But if you are sailing through a switchback and the same happens, then you will actually careen off the cliff, and hopefully land in a lovely lemon grove (safely). If you are in a car and the steering wheel falls off in your hand, and you are left with no steering, one could only hope it would occur whilst parked in the driveway.
My bike is rather important to me, and it's key that the things we hold to be self evident, like the handlebar remaining attached to the wheel via the fork steerer are knowable quantities.  Much like the weather in winter, wherein we expect shit and mostly get shit,... So when anything less than shit happens, we are delighted.  Ipso facto, when we expect verdant pastures, and we are caught in a hail storm, or twister, we are ill-prepared.  Fortunately, we have forecasting.  We can predict the shit-days, and stay inside, and plan for the rest. We cannot plan for catastrophe in general.  In Chicago in the winter, when it's 42 degrees in January, we relish in it. This is because come February, 42 will seem like a day in June, and we may go without a jacket, or wear shorts.  If One lives in Minneapolis, then the effect is more noticeable. In December if it is 32 degrees whatsoever, then you may see kids playing outside in t-shirts, and if it's sunny, perhaps in shorts.
Predictably so, the weather, like catastrophe will surprise us now and again.  
​I have more than one bike, and as I'm fond of reciting, "If you are lucky enough to have a bicycle, then you are lucky enough". Because I have more than a few bikes, I consider myself very fortunate, and so asked the local dealer (who is awesome by the way), for some more insight on the recall, to lend perspective.  We can assume that the part that holds these two systems together, is rather important by the aforementioned scenarios. We can predict that this little part will be swapped out in the near term, and that everything will be back in order.  In the winter, with more than one bicycle to ride, this is really not a bother as much as it is an opportunity for dealers to reacquaint themselves with their clientele, and perhaps get an accessory sale or two.  I personally enjoy the dialog, and kicking some new tires.  But... If this were my car, rather than my bike and they told me that I should not drive it for fear of careening off a cliff into a canyon to my death, but, that they don't have the parts to fix it yet... I may be angry.  Actually, I'd definitely grow angry. I'd be inconvenienced true -- but I'd also be late for work more often, (if i drove to work), or I'd simply not be able to get there, and I'd perhaps miss many other opportunities, such as to pick up children from school, get the groceries, and cetera.  So The notice came across my desk today, and I checked on the status.  "We should expect a fix in a few weeks", so I hope you hadn't planned to be someplace warm riding that (your only) bike.  I hope you don't have a vacation planned or a bike-packing adventure, and so if you do, then please cancel that and or borrow something, or buy a new one, which does not have a Specialized Future Shock. 

As with unpredictable weather events, May we all hope that they are pleasant freezing days in the midst of an otherwise unbearable midwest winter.  Let's also hope that when your bike breaks to no fault of your own that you have an awesome spare to ride, or that it's too snowy to ride and you'll just have to ski.  But for those other people who have committed a chunk of money for a great ride, let's hope that when it breaks to no fault of your own, that it's fixed quickly and for free.  For Specialized, this recall is not their first, and they will sustain it, but on a tech piece of kit that split the industry, like a President did a country; This bike divided the purist like friction shifting to index, Tubulars to Clinchers, Tubes or Tubeless, Electric shifting vs Mech.
We were already divided, and those who swore that, "that shit will fail" -- Well it may have, but it's in the works... as it were.  My SWorks Diverge, is a rather niche bike, with a rather Niche following, and it rides well, and weather has not taken any toll on it like nay-sayers have deprecated. I think that we come back to an "O-ring" moment.  the time when someone finds out that a bad bolt or cable, or even a bad Flux Capacitor, can mean the difference between a beautiful mission, and a calamity.  So, it merits some discussion about the Part in question, and where it comes from. This Part "May be susceptible to stress corrosion cracking which may result in a sudden loss of steering control. Remedy: Stop using the affected bicycles immediately".  I should also mention that this quote is not taken out of context.  The part is a simple enough one to fix, and one that can simply be replaced.  Provenance of the part is without question, the main Question. China is vast, and we all know that the first prototype is alway perfect, but the production run, is where the corners are cut. When we Spec someone in elsewhere to make something for us, whether it be a PB&J, or a Jet engine, we have a decent amount of faith that they will do it right.  That they will do us right, and make the part properly, and even come back to us and say, "Um, hey... Um we should also consider heat treating this, or maybe switch to the Cold forge guy for this one, or Maybe use the the other bid, because it's important, this part".
 So we get the sandwich, and it's not as we may have made it ourself.  I spread each slice of bread to the very beeding edge of the crusts, and cover in a thick enough layer to saturate, but not so thick that any one element steals from another.  I give a shit about my sandwiches, So when someone hands us a shoddily  crafted PB&J, and we like them, we'll accept it.  We may in fact eat it with relish and not complain, because after all, they made it for you. You didn't lift a finger, so enjoy it.  Shit Sandwich.
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However when, it is inedible, what do you do? Tell them? Complain that the bread is dry, moldy, or the Jam is rank?  Nah! 
I have served as an expert witness in more than a few Bicycle Litigations and the blame never seems to matter when someone has an axe to grind.  Exhibit A: Someone gets stoned, and goes for a ride outside of their comfort zone, and pulls only their front brake, because they have a Boloney sandwich in their right hand, and the brakes, being properly adjusted Mid 90's V-Brakes get the best of them. They fly over the handlebar.  Well, sigh! the manufacturer is not necessarily to blame.  I wish my bike had a lower standover, and that the drop and top tube were a bit shorter, but I am not going to litigate, because I have nothing better to do, and my life is hollow.  
I hope that Specialized realizes that if they did cut a corner on a part, or if their sub-supplier did; That they should hope that nobody finds that out. Because we here in the US are a litigious bunch, and people are always blaming others for shit that goes wrong in their own lives. 
I hope that the new part comes in soon, and that this fixes the CPSC acknowledged issue, and that the bike remains enjoyable.  I also hope that as we increasingly rely upon others for parts,  (and for sandwiches) -- that they do the right thing and build them well.
I hope that those who have to make a choice about their next ride based upon the following statement,  "Stop using the affected bicycles immediately", That their faith in off-shore QC doesn't drive them to ONLY buy Swiss, and Homegrown stuff.  But if, you find at times that you are losing your faith in larger brands because they sometimes cut corners, and you need that bike right now, and not in a few weeks when the part comes into stock -- Then you should know that if you have to cut corners hopefully you will be cutting the crusts off, or some mold before you serve your next shit sandwich. Please try to remember the maxim, "if you are lucky enough to have a bicycle, then you are lucky enough". And... If you are lucky enough to have more than one, and your $9K. S-Works doesn't work this week, or next -- then, well yes, you are a dick to complain whatsoever.

Not much chance, 
completely cut loose from purpose,
he was a young man riding a bus
on the way to somewhere
and it began to snow
and the bus stopped at a little diner
in the hills and the passengers entered.
he sat at the counter with the others,
he ordered and the food arrived.
the meal was particularly good
and the coffee.

the waitress was unlike the women he had known.
she was unaffected, 
there was a natural humor which came from her.
the fry cook said crazy things.
the dishwasher in back laughed a good clean pleasant laugh.
the young man watched the snow through the windows.
he wanted to stay in that cafe forever.
the curious feeling swam through him
that everything was beautiful there,
that it would always stay beautiful there.
then the bus driver told the passengers
that it was time to board.
the young man thought, I'll just sit here, 
I'll just stay here.
but then he rose and followed
the others into the bus.
he found his seat and looked at the cafe through the bus window.
then the bus moved off, down a curve,
downward, out of the hills.
the young man looked straight forward.
he heard the other passengers speaking of other things,
or they were reading
or attempting to sleep.
they had not noticed the magic.
the young man put his head to one side,
closed his eyes,
pretended to sleep.
there was nothing else to do-
just to listen to the sound of the engine,
the sound of the tires in the snow.

To Hear this told by Tom Waites, Please search the web, or select this link.

Is it optimism which consumes you, and convinces you to go?, Perhaps like the pressure of another tequila shot at 4 AM?, was this a good idea?, or are you consumed with the enviable idiocy of not giving a fuck?  For me, the best thing about a ride, rain or shine, is the 'setting out' with a sense of adventure, -- and then perhaps not the numbness which soon beset in the hands --The Best feature of a great ride is the tuning out of all things which were important, but not essential up to that point. These remain closed behind the door for the next few hours, while you practice deep breathing, and snot regulation.
In the first 10-15 minutes of a brisk ride at -5 degrees on any grey morning in the city, one begins to clear the passages as it goes; And god-willing, also clears the shoulder and nape of the neck when one expectorates.
Clear optimism precedes the subsequent compartmentalization of all sorts of unimportant shit being closed behind a wall in your mind until your ride ends. 
For me, a Good Book can be the road atlas of any ride; and whether it's a podcast, a classic novel, or a zombie apocalypse, guiding my next ride, an audio book, works in complete asynchrony with the world whizzing past. I tune out many formerly important contemplations the very moment I check my tire pressure, and press play. The most important things as I depart, immediately become comfortable clothing, hydration, and calories.  Nothing else seems to be quite as critical. Oh... and the occasional Audio-Book on my cheap Earbuds. In fact, because I am generally unplugged from every other device for each ride, I don't find time to retrace the shading on someone's upper lip on a mystical Strava Illustration.  I do not consult my Garmin to be sure to log my route, wattage, and Heart Rate.  I simply peel away for a ride.  
Where are we off to today?  A country road that Google Maps has not yet scanned?, A back alley with a sweet jump off a loading ramp? If the day-in and day-out doesn't ignite your passions, then may i suggest a free ride on your stoner bike for city sojourns and a coffee.  Perhaps a Gravel or CX bike to shred through a park or pathway will trace your smile.  If you roll-up to an oddity beside the path; It's perhaps not safe, but nonetheless advisable that you have a closer look.
Last week in a remote area of Michigan, I was caught out in freezing rain and sleet as the temps plummeted from 5 to -3 degrees. When your gloves soak through, and the racing stripe up your chamois wears like a soggy diaper, then it becomes only a bit less fun.  Perhaps it's best to not get lost at this point, but you will survive. Peeling away from the road for a moment, I'm reminded of what I was taught in photojournalism 101, "If its not interesting -- Then you aren't close enough". Getting into the thicket of a bear's den may not be on your agenda today. To do that in the freezing rain, with lightening striking trees, isn't a sojourn for sanctuary, but for stimuli. Getting out and doing something interesting can be the places you choose to stop if you choose to stop at all. Bam! "Another Roadside Attraction", so here it is -- Your "Still-life With Woodpecker", and it's staring right at you. When you were glancing at the Strava route, or waiting for Google Maps to get it right, you were missing all of the sounds in a clear brook full of Trout. Or the tree that wrecked that farmhouse you've never noticed until now.
Of course whenever you take a Road Trip, you stop for a slice of pie, dishwater coffee, and the World's Largest Ball of Twine, right? Nah!, nobody does that anymore.  We surf the web, and shop on Amazon, while we drive. Or, we try to get a shot of the guy ahead of us, who has a clever bumper sticker, so we can post it.  But, what would happen if you stopped, and bought some Berries from an untended farm stand, and used them to bribe and pet a cow?, instead of grabbing Crisps, and Coke at a Shell Station?   ...Probably fun?

Making yourself available for adventure is not always innate nor intuitive.  Sometimes it takes a bit of coaxing to get yourself good & lost.  If you were to leave your map and phone at home, then it's true that you'd assume some added risk, But if you are likely to make it all the way to the end of your ride for the sole reward of adrenaline and some "likes" on Social Media, then a re-think may be your New Year's Resolution.  Some say that we now all take the same picture at the same monuments, so monumentally, that you can literally stack them one over the other and the outline would align. In fact Monuments now have a step to stand upon  as if you'd summited something, or beset upon the Lunar Surface.  But you haven't, you've merely paid for the least connections to get to a place to say you did that behind everyone else.  As you angle for a clean shot without anyone else bombing your background, consider downloading the official APP to help you set-up the shot (colors and all) to rival the best Influencers of your generation. If we all tag a monument or selfie ourselves like the Griswolds at the grand Canyon, then what is the point of the trip.  If the destination cannot even be appreciated except to say, "I did it", "been there, done that", then is it more incumbent upon you to stop along the way, because you clearly don't appreciate the place you have arrived upon.
Try this the next time you head outside.  With your first step out the door, or the initial mile -- Stop!, straddle the bike, lower your head, and then look up and draw a deep breath through your nose, and feel the air fill your lungs,  smelling the diesel, or cut grass, wet wood, or someone's laundry, and then set off again.
Take a moment to recognize that very unremarkable place, and think about why you haven't before. If you  generally find it daunting to take in even the least conspicuous places, then a new ritual of riding can occasionally get you in tune.  I once used an APP to find the most unusual and photographic bathrooms in Paris. Not mesmerizing as an exercise, but devotees of this sort of altar may be more holy than those who don't see. 
Take a chance on yourself, and leave the door without anything that uses batteries, and see how long you last. OK perhaps bring the lights, but take a moment to consider the sound of your breath, and the regulation of your heart, the warmth of your neck, and the chill in your toes. As you try to blow snot well clear of your Helmet at 22 mph, find a place in your heart to explore a place along the way.  Endeavor to bring back a frog, a smooth river stone, a wild-flower, or an arrowhead. If you are all out of space, then try lying on the ground in between 12 foot rows of corn, or beside a stream, and just listen. Put your ear to the earth or to a tree and see if it has a pulse.
​ Your ride is going to be outstanding. Regardless of your numb toes. Your burning ears, your wet chamois, and the orange oxidization growing on your chain as the waves try to push you down the embankment. These are the makings of a grand day out.  
The adventure begins when you leave the confines of the mundane.  Only don't be the sheep who follows the flock... Take a brisk if unusual ride, and suffer a bit, but be sure to touch something along the way, or pee on something unfamiliar.  Leave the SUV at home, and venture forth. Remember that although your SUV came fitted with road tires -- you know you can actually get out of it anywhere along the route and feel something. Go ahead, and touch some dirt if you'd like.  The Gravel Bike may as well be a bookend without the gravel.  When it warms up you won't tell yourself, (that) "Winter sucked because we were shut in for Five months with a towel on the floor soaking up the sweat of our Zwift bike trainer pals". I'll bet that Getting cold and being uncomfortable in the great wide open burns the same watts, and enriches the soul far more than the flat graphics of your LED screen.  When Spring comes you won't be as sleep deprived nor Vitamin D starved as your friends, and you may be a bit happier for it. Sure!, go where the sheep are -- but don't go like sheep.

Waites Once Said,
"I'd love to go drowning
and to stay and to stay
But the ocean doesn't want me today
I'll go in up to here, it can't possibly hurt
All they will find is my beer and my shirt
The riptide is raging
and the lifeguard is away
But the ocean doesn't want me today"
When you decide to ride close to the edge; You can pick the danger -- Perhaps it's a Tractor Trailer, the edge of a cliff, that side of the tracks, A rapid descent, pulling a skitch on the back of a school bus..., your choices were built to thrill, but may not be the most well planned. The edge brings a wash of excitement, risk, danger, and relief.  Today I rode through a crashing wave which should have swept me to drown, Like a fool, but as he says, "the ocean doesn't want me today".

How many gadgets do you need to go for a ride?
Me, I think one is enough, but I'd really like to know your thoughts. Last week I rode with a friend, and because he was visiting he used one of my bikes. I had charged the Blinky lights the night before, which is business as usual, and I don't consider these in my count of gadgets, but he brought some of his own bling and, because I believe he could not ride without these, I looked the other way when he added them to the kit. One was a Garmin, the venerable 700 or some such... He had a rear radar light with it, which he said let him know when an auto approached from behind. Smart?

The road to race-ready may be littered with new technologies, but at the race, the trophy is handed to the best fit and most cunning challenger.

I'm sort of a purist, and would likely prefer to leave my phone behind, but for the GPS whilst in strange lands. With the phone GPS running, I use a pair of cheap headphones to guide, with the occasional audio book or pod-cast, and I always ditch the phone in a Z-Packs Waterproof pouch in my jersey back. I have no need nor want to look at it whilst riding. In fact, if suffering from a barrage of Group Texts, one may DND all contacts until arrival. I hate to squirm with each ping, as if something were more important than my peaceful sojourn For me, (and it seems to be me alone); I don't count Watts, nor Cadence, nor Calories, or any such, I just ride, and it has done me good. I don't falter in a club-ride, and don't get left behind in a race, as I thought I may -- because I don't benefit from the same kit as my brethren. I do OK without the "benefits" of these mod devices.
Here is the strange thing. My buddy got his GPS running, and we briefly set our course to Madison from Waterloo, and I dropped my ear-buds in my head to hear the voice directions, but skipped the music or book to be closer to my riding partner, and to chat. What I didn't quite understand, was that I was getting directions from my phone in my pocket and leading the charge, whilst he was the one with the "Official Garmin GPS". Garmin after all is a GPS Company first and foremost right? So he benefits from the rear radar, I suppose, but the blinky light on that thing was shit, and he was only using the GPS to log his ride, and post it in the inter webs. (Something about, if it doesn't happen in Strava it never happened, correct?)
Well...That may be true and compelling to kid about, but if you go fishing, catch four nice smallie's, and throw them back, because you are too far from camp to keep them fresh, did you catch anything? Nope.
I believe that a cyclist can have a great ride, or even season without a battery, but for safety, brought by a good light, lest we not forget a few riding basics.
One: It is Desirable to be seen.
Two: It is preferred to not get lost.
Three: A phone in an emergency, is helpful.
Besides these three basic tenets, gadgets which run on DC voltage, excepting that you are not a true pro competitor, you may not require more tech. Let’s begin with Watts. In the Stone Age, slightly post development of the carbon frame, there came to be “Computers” which provided basic data. They incremented each kilometer, and averaged speed, and even counted the ratio of speed to Pedal Rotation, called Cadence. Cycling existed for nearly a century prior, but didn’t concern itself with more data. Cyclists performed at the pinnacle of their threshold, and dominated each other, factoring only the following metrics:
A: They were riding as fast as their bodies allowed.
B: They were slave to their caloric intake and natural ability.
​C: They were Faster / Slower than the other rider/s.
Fast as analog cyclists were, we can concede that people got faster with evolutive technology, much of which was the benefit of identifying genetic and physical markers and limits which would benefit/ inhibit their performance. Most performance variation not attributable to genetics, diet, rest, and training were gained by the steady improvement of the athlete's fitness level and of the bicycle itself.
Tech notwithstanding, it can be assumed that analog athlete's prowess improved through improved sport's nutrition and strategic training, but the Bike's tech may have tendered the largest tactical merit.
Tech was lightness, and light was/ is faster.

Wherever you seek inspiration, it is obvious that the spectacle of a good Cross race will do the trick.  Although it may be a bit tepid in a leotard, or Muscle Suit, in general terms the Cross season is the perfect season to wear a costume, and get out there.  Fun being the manifest destiny of any costumed crusader.  The autumn may lead to the winter of your discontent, but it doesn't need to be that dour, if you can manage a balloon or two, and a Twenty Dollar Costume, over your lycra shorts, then you are well equipped to enjoy yourself at a CX Race.  For those without, then make a search for a club locally, and see if you cannot find a Friendly, AKA a Fondo.  Many gravel Fondos carry with them a group of like minded Bike Nuts who would be happy to pull you through as long as you show some respect for the mechanics of drafting.  We Share CX and Gravel more than we may typically share a race or Club Ride as it seems to be understood that there is a level of silly, which makes it alright to wave your freak flag.  It is however still strictly forbidden to not match your seat and Bar wrap, so please respect the art-form.

When you look at the leader board, or the results it may or may not come as a surprise that the top ten are generally Belgian.  I do know that for my money, there seems to be a cultural or even genetic advantage to having been raised Belgian when it comes to the skill-set of CX.  From any vantage point we can appreciate that a winner is precisely that, and that while the heart and soul of U.S.  gross exports may be Software, Fast Food Chains, and Action Movies, The Belgian that we import in exchange is Stroop Waffles and CX Champions
I'm not worried for the future of this apparent trade imbalance just yet, because as climate changes and charm chastens, we may in fact become a bit more Belgian.  ...Anyway, of all the costumes and concert -T's created to put your agenda out in front of you, the one that stuck with me the most is linked here in case you want to one-up someone at your next race.  Warning: it generally follows that you should have the fortitude and fast to sport a skin-suit so don't rock it unless you can back up the claim.  Congratulations to Toon Aerts, who managed to handily sew up the Men's Final by flying over the final ramp like Shawn White in the Half Pipe, Not sure how 40 odd minutes of sprinting affords you the extra spice to pull a table-top, for flair -- But it definitely appears to be in the blood.  Buy a Shirt if you have the metal to wear one. HERE