Part 1

My new set up.

The past few days have been a bit of a blur. I've been struggling to get back into the groove of school but it's harder than I remember. I can't wait untill next spring semester. Thursday night Thomas came up with Leeann from LaX. Tom and I rode bikes and stopped at the crimes against humanity(http://www.cahrecords.com/) shop or farwell then sat down for a pitcher at the joynt and Sam showed up and bought us another. Leeann called and said she would meet us at my house so we stopped at Stave and hoop and bought a bunch of booze. Lauren showed up a little later and someone found a tube of face paint leftover from halloween. The night gets a bit blurry after that but I dinstinctly recall a few wrastlin matches, 2 delicious free pizzas from a local shop, Blondie and ABBA on the radio, and running out of beer at 4:30 and crashing. Beutiful people, free pizza, ABBA, and beer.... Can't really go wrong can you?

Friday afternoon I slept in and woke up and said goodbye to everyone. I caught a nasty little cold that night and work that night was a hellish experience that resulted in me getting out early going home and being sick all night. Last night I got out of work early and while I was driving home I saw some bikers at the air pump at Kwik Trip, I turned around and sure enough it was Chris, Chris, and Dan?(Sorry I'm bad with names) All night at work I was frustated because I knew everyone had gone for a ride to Chippewa earlier that day and I couldn't go. It was a really pretty day and i wanted to get on my bke really bad. What are the chances that I would get out early and run into a group of bikers? Anyway, we decided to meet up at my house and head up to the labor temple where more people were waiting. I will never get sick of seeing the looks on peoples faces when a group of bikers shows up somewhere en masse. Generally it's a look of disdain mixed with a little wonder, and sometimes a smile. I will also never get sick of the sight of a pile of bikes locked up together. 3 pitchers down at the Labor temple and we all rode down to Scooters to check out the drag show. Scooters was a crazy time and by 12:30 there was a group of 7 or 8 bikers with there shirts off of the dance floor dancing and handing out flyers for the alley cat race coming up in a few months. We all headed for the Joynt at about 1 and stuck around till bar close when everyone split up. I got a slice of Mac and Cheese and visited katie at NYPD and some of us ate at burrachos for a while then we all went home.

Cheap fenders are easy to make.

All this has made me think alot about stereotypes people have of bikers. It seems like alot has changed over the years. In the late 1800s into the early 1900s the bicycle was a prestigious vehicle deemed "The golden age of bicycles". It was very possible to be diginified on a bicycle. The automobile wasn't quite within peoples grasp yet and bikes seemed like a status symbol and a statment of self impowerment. Dont forget Susan B Anthony arguing "Bicycling has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world." and the fact that it was 2 bicycle mechanics that made "the first" working airplane. Then with the emergence of the automobile you see the biker begin to move towards it's more familiar image. A machine for the poor or the outcast. This image was pushed further by groups of kids riding there bikes emulating groups of cafe racers and greasers on motorcycles. Yes you see popular resurgences of biking throughout the 20th century particularly in the 30s,70s,and you could argue now. But By and large the position of the biker has remained very lowly. People who can't afford a car, drink to much, don't have jobs, do drugs, don't take showers, hug trees, plant gardens, and sure as hell don't watch football.

Thats all for right now. It's 10 to 3 and I need to get my ass home and off to work. I will rant more about social status and stuff later.

Also please note that this is all just my opinion formed off of my experience and knowledge of bikes as limited of expansive as that may be. No formal research has gone into any of what I'm writing.