REBEL WITH AN INSIGNIFICANT CAUSE
Party Girl: “Hey, Johnny, what’cha rebellin’ against?”
Johnny (Marlon Brando): “Whaddya got?”
That’s a classic bit of dialogue from the movie, The Wild One. Today, I was the wild one. The rebellious one. The defiant one. I’ll tell you about the CAUSE of my rebellion in the next few paragraphs.
Yesterday I was doing my roadie thing on the highways southeast of MY Town. I saw quite a few other roadies out there too, and they were all dressed up in their cycling clothes. Yes, I had my cycling clothing on too, but I couldn’t compare to most of them, lycra-cally speaking.
Doesn’t anybody ever just get up from their Lazy Boy or computer screen and start riding their bike with whatever clothing they have on any more? I only see kids and street people doing that. Today, I decided I was going to defy conventional cycling wisdom and rebel against the oppressive Big-Lycra / Padded Shorts / Breathable Jersey / Clipless Shoe industries.
I put on my favorite all-cotton Hawaiian shirt, swimming trunks, and hiking shoes and headed out to show those riders with fancy cycling kits that I could ride just as well as they could. I think I succeeded, though I DID meet some resistance from the local citizenry.
A little later I rode past a house and there was a little girl in front with her dad. “Daddy, daddy, he bikes good,” she said while pointing at me.
“Thank you,” I said. What I really wanted to do was correct her and say, “No, I bike REBELLIOUSLY.”
Indeed, it was very humid. And rain is expected soon, which gives some unexpected legitimacy to wearing my swimming trunks. Non-rebellious riders probably just packed the standard rain jacket.
I never did get to show off in a pair of wet swim shorts. Other than a couple of sprinkles, my ride was dry for about the 30th day in a row. We need some rain.
Before I show you what happened at the end of my ride, I have one more example of my defiance. I will be showing ZERO examples of radiation. And when I say I won’t be showing any radiation, you can bank on it. (Except for that one time.)
gregblood
Hi. My name is Greg and I ride my bike a lot. That is to say, I ride my bike almost every day. I go on long rides and short rides. Sunny rides, cloudy rides, and rainy rides. I like commuting, errand-running, day-tripping, overnighting, and touring on my bike. I ride on city streets, highways, gravel, single track, and snow with equal enthusiasm. Sometimes I ride fast and sometimes I ride slow. I try to keep my feet on the pedals at stop lights and I do not dismount when I hop up on a curb. I have a roadie bike, a mountain bike and a touring bike. I try to accept any challenge a bike ride can throw at me without complaint. But I don't like bugs.
10 response to "REBEL WITH AN INSIGNIFICANT CAUSE"
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I’m shocked. You’re probably not even going to go through a sufferfest to get to your next KOM.
Too funny. Even more funny is that I actually had to Google KOM to see what it meant.
Popular terms on Strava, which I mostly try to avoid nowadays. Personally, I’m all over the place on the clothing, from full lycra/clipless to completely casual, but usually somewhere in between. Today was cycling shorts, running t-shirt, low socks, hiking shoes and flat pedals. I’ve never done the Hawaiian shirt though. I might need to get one of those.
You look so cool, but how did your butt feel at the end of the ride? I have more biking shorts than I have jeans at the present. I’ve been rebellious about one thing though. I gave up on being attached to my pedals when it was made clear to me that I have a puny hip bone. That was affirmed again this week. At least none of the people in white have told me I should stay off the bicycle. I have been biking in sneakers for around five years. Only special thing I do is tie the lace on the outside of each shoe, so a loose lace doesn’t make it to the chain and “de-feet” the purpose of not being attached.
I ride quite often without padded shorts, so my butt was fine. I guess my rear end is almost as calloused as my hands. (I haven’t worn cycling gloves in at least five years.)
Sweet corn and beer can chicken — gooooood stuff!
No longer pack sweet corn here, but one local grower has excellent corn for the fresh market.
And sells out of a pickup + tent too.
I’ve heard about the beer can technique for grilling chicken but haven’t tried it. Next time, for sure.
Sweet corn is super juicy here.
That is hilarious. By the way, the corn I bought and grilled yesterday was not only super juicy, but it might have been the tastiest sweet corn I’ve ever had. And I’ve had a lot. I’ll be grilling a couple more ears tonight.
Back in NJ when I was a kid, we would drive down the road for freshly picked corn, before the sugar turned to starch. Haven’t had anything like it since.