Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

 Bermondsey Square in London

Medina County Fairgrounds

Happy Hanukkah!

Some sweet Bicycle Menorahs for your Hanukkah!

Bicycle Sports to Consider

[Don’t Try This At Home]

Think of all the things that you could do next spring on your bike; you have long rides like races or tours, or short fun rides like our Tweed Rides, or you could start a sweet bicycle sport.  

For example there is Bicycle Polo; think of rich dudes riding around on expensive ponies trying to hit a little ball… except switch out the pony for a bike, and you don’t need the cash flow to feed the steel steed so anyone can take part.

Started in Ireland in 1891 and even exhibited in the 1908 Olympics, this is hardly a new sport. While in its most popular incarnation today is played on hard courts instead of the traditional grass, it is still basically people riding around trying to hit a little ball.

 

Often played on low geared  single or fixed geared bikes by people who don’t mind taking a tumble off their ride; All you really need are some great bike handling skills, a mallet and a street hockey ball. It is reportedly pretty addictive, so you might want to think twice about starting the habit.

 

Another bike sport that you might not want to let your mom know you want to try is bicycle jousting!

Whether you participate in something like The Chap Olympiad and use umbrellas to try to pull each other off the bike or ride a Tall Bike and hit each other with lances, the general idea is to duplicate the shenanigans of Medieval Knights and put your opponent on the ground while you ride away.

Here is a starter set for your kids!

Then I ran across this photo and came up with my own idea!

Sadly after doing a quick internet search I found I was not the first to think of it, but still imagine the possibilities of BICYCLE CHARIOT RACING!

You could have straight up Ben Hur races (think of one to four “horses”) or maybe archery where the charioteer shoots at a target as they ride by, or even a modified type of jousting.  The possibilities are endless!

Bike Chariot

Chariot Race

While we don’t recommend the average rider take up any of these sports, we do suggest thinking about other things your bike can do besides riding in a straight line.

Men's Patterns

Again, this is not an endorsement for these companies, but to be fair we thought we would pass along some patterns that we have found for men's fashion (and really, we know that the ladies could probably pull them off as well).

Reconstructing History  makes a cool pattern for a Norfolk Jacket which was a common article for men's sporting wear for many decades.

Patterns of History from the Wisconsin Historical Society makes a pattern for a men's Sack Suit. I love the idea that a Sate Historical Society sells patterns for clothing in their collections.

These sites have many other patterns that may interest you.

Harper House Patterns

Some of our readers have bemoaned the lack of riding cloths for the gentler sex. Well if you happen to be among the sewing inclined here may be a tip to help you out. Though the Alpena Tweed and Bike Club has never done business (that's our little disclaimer) with them, Harper House Patterns does carry some great looking outfits.

Harper House Women's Sports Patterns

We would love to hear from anyone who has had any, be it good or bad experience with them. For that matter, do you know of anyone else who is selling patterns that would work for a Tweed Ride outfit?

Wish List...

Just a thought... if you have been a good little boy or girl you may want to ask for a new bike this holiday season!



Tweed 2012

This is your SAVE THE DATE notice for The Tweed Ride 2012!

September 15^th, 2012 is our day… so tell your friends and family (at least the family that you like) that they need to change the dates of any weddings or parties that they have lined up… for that matter, they should hold off on planning for babies within a few days of our ride (note: this is more than 9 months warning, so they could take our ride into consideration).  I mean there aren’t many things that are more exciting than our Tweed Ride, so save the date!

Wheels of Change – Sue Macy

Wheels of Change; How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy is published by a little known publishing company, National Geographic  (wait, maybe I’ve heard of it a time or two). While most of the readers of this blog probably haven’t  had the opportunity to take a 400 level class on Women in America Since 1870 taught by a PhD specializing in women’s sports history, if they have really followed this blog over the last year they will have already come across most of the revelations in this book. Now saying that, this would be a great book for anyone who is interested in bicycle history! Written mainly for the pre-teen and high school audience, the pictures and style should appeal to everyone even if it's just a refresher.  

 Denver, Colorado, circa 1905

We see old friends like Bloomer, Kopchovsky and Pope (that’s Albert Pope not “The Pope”) Macy covers both the early evolution of the bike, and the Woman’s Rights Movement. This bike also introduces us to many other great members of cycling past. There are great photos of rare bikes like a sidesaddle Penny-Farthing and African American cyclists of the time. This book also gathers together many great quotes. Including my favorite from Charlotte Smith (Brooklyn Eagle, August 20, 1896) “Many a girl has come to her ruin through a spin on a country road”; everyone in rural Northern Michigan knows all about the evil of a country road! And who can blame her or those of a similar mind for worrying about women once they started dressing like men! Oh my! Though I bet those souls are once again rolling over in their graves with the current bicycle chic movement.

 Lady on the right has a sidesaddle bike

Anyway! This is a great book that links the importance of the bicycle to what we consider the modern role of women in our society. It may soft peddle (pun intended) the role of the bicycle in general society, but that is not a detractor for what it offers. We strongly recommend this book.

Seersucker 2012

The Alpena Tweed and Bike Club is proud to announce that we will hold our first Seersucker Ride on June 16^th, 2012. The ride will be from 3:30-5:30. We will be posting more details about where we are starting, and stops along the way in the near future, but the basic idea will be similar to our Tweed Rides.

                                                 

This will be a big bicycle weekend in Alpena as the League of Michigan Bicyclists will be holding their Sunrise Bicycle Tour June 14-17^th in our area. So not only will we have all the bicycle lovers from our area, but also an influx of bike lovers from all over the state. Keep your eye on our blog or facebook page for updates on our Seersucker Ride, and checkout the League of Michigan Bicyclists site for more information about their ride, and bicycle advocacy.

"A three-day bicycle adventure showcasing the pristine natural beauty of northeast Michigan along the sun-kissed shores of Lake Huron. Each day will feature a different loop tour from Alpena. Highlights include Lake Huron, Wooden Boat Show, Presque Isle Lighthouses (Old and New), Shipwreck Tours and "Seersucker Ride." Join us as the people in Alpena roll out the welcome mat."

~ League of Michigan Bicyclists

Fall Riding

Hopefully you haven’t put your bicycle (or bicycles if you are like me) away for the year. Mid-November is a wonderful time to go for a ride along the 45^th parallel. The leaves have changed and mostly fallen, the air is crisp and the riding is great.  If you haven’t been out lately, it may be a time to go for a ride!

Jour de Fete

As winter sets into Northern Michigan, one of the great things we can all do is watch bike-centric movies.  Now I know there are probably other things that you could be doing, but there aren’t many of them we can really talk about on this blog. I mean if the joke about NASCAR is “look, they’re taking another left!,” writing about riding a trainer or exercise bike would be “wow, their sweating in place!” So we will go with the movies! (Maybe you can park your trainer or exercise bike in front of the tv and be really cool)

The first movie is Jacques Tati’s 1948 Jour de Fete (or The Festival Day/The Big Day). It is a wonderful French comedy about a less than efficient French mailman, who during a Bastille Day celebration figures out that he and his bicycle peddling French counterparts are light years behind the US Postal Service.  Now this film is both black and white (mostly), and subtitled, but if you give this movie a chance you should realize it’s an absolute gem.  First, writer, director and star Jacques Tati is really a silent film master who just happens to be in a film with sound. With physicality, poise and a sense of wonder reminiscent of Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, Tati’s bicycle is more of a costar than a prop. Tati, as Francois the postman, delivers a performance that mocks the importance of modernity in much the same way as Charlie Chaplin, the other silent film master did in such films as Modern Times.

Though there are many artistic things in this film such as camera work, use of limited color, sound, and narration that could be discussed, we will just dwell on the aspects that deal with the bicycle. There are the classic shticks of mechanical problems such as handle bar and tire twist, the perennial flat tire and trials and tribulations of its repairs. You have the armature out riding the racers in a similar fashion to the iconic scene my generations Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. A runaway bicycle, the humor of trying to learn how to improve bicycle handling skills, to the point that those around just laugh. All things you may see in part in other movies, but seldom as fresh or as funny as in this film.

Tati seems to love the bike in this movie. Though like many of us his character does go through a phase where efficiency and modernity do seem attractive, he still seems to care greatly for his old friend (and who wouldn’t care for a 1938 Peugeot). In the end its tradition and community (two things we like at Alpena Tweed and Bike Club) that are important.  Though I am glad Francois does not deliver my mail, I think he would deliver laughs to anyone who watches this movie.

Seersucker Ride!

We at the Alpena Tweed and Bike Club are pleased to announce that we will be organizing a Seersucker Ride over the Father’s Day weekend (that’s the third Sunday in June in the US), 2012! Now this Seersucker Ride is the same idea as our fall Tweed Ride, just held in the summer hence naming it after the classic summer suit material, seersucker (a type of cotton cloth once popular in the south).

Now we will have more details in the near future, as this will be tied to some exciting events for bicyclists and Alpena in general, but for right now we just want to give you a heads up to save the weekend. Additionally we would like to point out that this is THE BEST TIME to find summer clothes on sale! Check your local thrift stores, and on line for people dumping summer cloths!

Now do you have to wear seersucker? No! Other cotton and linen cloth are great summer materials too, and for the brave or cool-blooded you can still ride in tweeds and wools.  Just think of something you can ride comfortably in during the month of June.

This ad kind of makes me want to ride around make "vroom, vroom" noises like I did as a kid.

Bicycles in the News

Here is a cool article we ran across from the Detroit News, in part about bicycles in Michigan.

A bicycle built for 10 from 1896. This tandem bike is part of the collection at the Henry Ford Museum at Greenfield Village.

How the bicycle put Detroit on wheels

By Vivian M. Baulch / The Detroit News

http://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=21

"This fast crowd of cyclists were the first Detroiters to complain about bumpy potholed dirt roads and began lobbying for smooth paving. Historians attribute the automobile's explosion of growth in Detroit to the network of superior roads built for bicyclists."

Bicycle enthusiast Harry Shaw of Saginaw rides his new bike in 1880.

Adopt an Old Bike

First off I know we have used this photo of Buster Keaton riding a "Dandy-horse" in Our Hospitality before, but this last weekend I actually watched Buster woo his actual wife Natalie Talmadge (the first of three) in this great silent film. Though many people have pointed out that the Dandy-horse would have been rather old fashioned in the 1830's, when the movie is set, the thing that amazed me was how much fun Keaton made it look!

Another great fact is that when Keaton couldn't find a real Dandy-horse to use, he and his crew decided to make the one shown in the film! They did such a great job on it that it now sits in the Smithsonian Institution in a display for bicycles and not film history. This made me realize two things; first that I would LOVE to ride/have an old bike (or proto-bike), and second that there is no way that I have the skills to build something like that!

What I can do is beg! So if you have an old bike like a Dandy-horse or a Penny-Farthing just lying around... with its sad puppy-dog eyes begging for someone to love it and take it for walks... just let us at The Alpena Tweed and Bike Club know and we will give it a good home! (P.S. This would be out of the goodness of our heart, no money need change hands... P.P.S. I would also give that motorcycle pictured above a good home)

Ride to Freedom – Yesterday and Today

We have already written a few posts about how bicycles help increase mobility for western women in the late 19^th and early 20^th century, but the bicycles impact on mobility is much more substantial. Not to minimize the importance of the steel steed on the fairer-sex, but the fact is that it increased the mobility of many people in that time. Originally personal transportation choice was horse or horse and cart, and then as times changed options increased with the car, truck, and motorcycle.  The author, as someone who has owned all four of these options, can vouch for the fact that none of these are cheap to keep in running shape and all take an experienced hand and specialized tools to maintain.

Here lies the beauty of the bicycle in its many forms.  After its initial purchase, little money is required in its maintenance. Note I said required, not desired; upgrades for performance are completely different from feeding a horse, or filling up a car. We all know people (or are ‘them’ ourselves) who have had bicycles for years and do little more than ‘push the pedals’ and still ride them for years. Still for those who do desire to work on, or repair their bikes, the tools for most jobs are very basic. Lastly bicycles take up relatively little space to store. A great feature if you live in large cities, and small living spaces.

Roy Rogers on a Bike talking to Trigger

This has made the bicycle the primary mode of transportation for the poor, frugal, young and many others since its inception.  Advertisers and society have often linked it to young love in song, think Daisy Bell (aka Bicycle Built for Two), and photos. With the exception of bikes sold to athletes, the people in ads either are children or a couple in some stage of courtship. Even though the majority of the West seems to be happy to leave the bike in this realm, I am sure we have all viewed pictures of people in Asia and Africa carrying large loads of goods and people on their bike.  The simplicity of the bicycle still fits the role of primary transportation around the world.

Rover Ad, c. 1896 (later day makers of the Land Rover)

Man trying to pick up the ladies.

Schwinn Ad from the 1970's

Still a man picking up a lady... but who rides a road bike into the pool?

So much so that many worthwhile groups are working hard on placing bicycles in the hands of the poor and disadvantaged in both the United States and around the world. Groups like Bikes for the World, The Bamboo Bike Project, and Bikes for Africa use different methods of collecting, building and distributing bikes to people, but all are trying to increase the mobility of people everywhere.  Without getting into specifics about any individual program (Note: we are not affiliated with any of these groups) each shares the story about how the difference between getting food to the market, children to school, water into a home or doing without one of these basic necessities is often the availability of reliable transportation. This is not an attempt to beg money for any of these groups. Just an illustration of how it is important to view the bicycle as the life changing tool, not a toy or some sort of sporting good. Viva la  bicycle!