Standing Room Only: A Bike Seat Show’ is an exhibit of customized bike seats which displayed from April 20-June 16, 2013 at the Workhouse Arts Center.
Standing Room Only: A Bike Seat Show’ is an painted bike seats on custom made stands.The show will be displayed from April 20 to June 16 of 2013 in the new Vulcan Community Arts Gallery in the Workhouse Arts Center. Twenty artists have been invited to participate mostly from the Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Richmond areas.
The expression ‘Standing Room Only’ means that there is only space at an event to stand because all chairs are occupied or none are available, playing into the dynamic of seating. Because of its use, the seat is seldom seen when riding, in this show it will become the focal point for the viewer. A saddle has limitless possibilities for transformation and yet is also easily accessible to the viewer and relatable to current popular culture.
This past weekend I took the family to the much anticipated Tour de Fat at the Yards Park in DC and I must say that there was nothing lame anywhere to be found.
(Except the Yankees winning a block away)
There were sexy parade people...
There were lots of oversized board game classics...
There was lots of meandering...
There was a fake/real gameshow...
There were lots of chicks with drums, some say those are the best kind of chicks....
There was me on what I can easily say was the most fun "bike" type machine I've ever ridden. The concept of this amazing contraption was simple; make a bigwheel for grownups that power-slides every time you make the slightest turn. The best part was that if you turned too hard it would send you rolling off, combining my two favorite adrenaline boosting activities; power-sliding and wrecking. Thank you New Belgium!
Here are some power-sliding action shots:
I bike to work every day, all year long. There's one day, however, that I particularly enjoy biking to work is (you guessed it) BTWD. I love BTWD and everything it stands for; it’s a day where like-minded folks can get together and geek out commuter style. It's also a day where people who are skittish about riding to work can learn the ropes, get advice, and join the protection of a convoy to get used to the road. It's a great thing.
On this lovely Bike To Work Day I fell victim to the DC pollen and was benched on my favorite day of the year to ride to work. This pissed me off. Then my alarm went off and the first voice I heard was that of Rivendell's Grant Petersen being interviewed on NPR. This really pissed me off.
The worst thing about cycling culture or any other culture for that matter is the large number of judgmental shitholes who get off on telling everyone else that they're "doing it" wrong. This behavior is usually reserved for elitist road or mountain bikers touting the latest unobtainium. This morning however we learned there is a new douche bag in town, the elitist commuter.
I had to listen to the full interview online...
"Wear the clothes that you're going to wear at work," he says. "Don't dress up like an American Bike Geek just to ride a bicycle to work."
"If your commute is reasonable — say, 10 miles or under — no problem," Petersen adds. "Dress the way you're going to dress for the weather, or the day."
"Bicycle riding doesn't make a lot of demands on your body, your upper body is still when you're riding and your legs are just turning around in small little circles."Grant Petersen, who's shop is in Walnut Creek, CA just outside of Berkley, (that place with the best weather in the entire country), wants you to bike to work in the clothes you are planning to wear to work. Anyone who's ridden a bike in DC (or most other parts of the country) knows this is bullshit and would only work a few days out of the year. Grant goes on to say we shouldn't dress like and "American Bike Geek", which I'm guessing means we're not aloud to wear cycling jerseys and shorts. I just want to point out that most European countries, where bike commuting is more mainstream, never have a DC summer.
I feel exceedingly fortunate while I'm bike commuting. I feel this way when I see traffic backing up or people slumped behind the wheel fighting to gain a few more feet. Rain or shine my mind is racing; one side of my brain is having fun riding the bike while the other side wanders happily from one thought to the next.
This is what happens during the ride.
Before the ride things are different. I am busy getting ready; the usual three S's, make lunch, let daughter help make lunch, find my bike clothes, play with daughter, get daughter and wife out the door, find the rest of my bike clothes... etc. It's in this frantic pace that I sometimes forget how fortunate I am, especially on a crappy day like today. I have already acclimated to the warmer days and this 40 degree rainy shitfest isn't very inspiring. I bitch and moan to myself and sheepishly ask my wife for a ride into the office, she calls me a pussy... point taken.
After they leave, I bitch and moan some more... I'm gonna get soaked and cold and when I get to the office I'll be soaked even more so. I'll have to set up the shanty town, ring out my socks in the parking garage and hope everything dries for the ride home... there's nothing worse than putting cold wet bike clothes back on, etc.
I finally get ready and force myself to push off from the front porch. One side of my brain immediately started having fun while the other thought about pollen, then bees, then if Hesher is going to be any good and if Osama was wearing shoes when they got him and when will chanterelles come back and so on and it seemed my craptastic commute ended the moment I started pedaling.
Office small talk; it's something we all take part in whether we like it or not. Being a bike commuter makes you an easy target in these sometimes awkward moments. When you're in the elevator or at the water cooler or any other pocket of the office where you are forced to be in the company of others, the silence can be deafening. You and your unintended companion are left glancing around grasping for an icebreaker of some kind. It's in this moment when you, the bike commuter are most vulnerable.
"Weren't you freezing out there?"
"Weren't you burning up out there?"
"How far do you ride again?"
"What time of year do you stop riding?"
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" (ok I made that one up)
Most of the time coworkers take the path of least resistance and go for the simple "So! How was the ride?", followed by "You're crazy man!" after my response. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice gesture and I do appreciate the thought. This person wants to hear how cool my commute was, and that's cool. However, the question is asked of me so often I started giving it right back to the source.
"My ride was awesome! How was your drive in?"
This is met with a wide spectrum of responses; anywhere from detailed counter traffic strategies, "Well this morning they were stacked up all they way to the blah blah so I took the parkway to the blah blah..." to head shaking and guttural noises, "nnnmmmuuurrrph."
Most of the time though the question is met with a slight grimace as if to say "You know it sucked, why the hell would you ask me that? It's cruel to fuck with me this early in the morning?"
This led me to ponder the trend... it seems to be a common assumption that being a bike commuter, my daily ride in is always great and that any commute by car is always shitty. If that assumption is both true and common why aren't people more open minded about bike commuting?
The same person who complains about the traffic every day gets to work with two assumptions, that my ride in was awesome and that I'm crazy for doing it.
My assumption is that a good percentage of these people live an easily rideable distance from the office.
I apologize, that was way too many assumptions for one post.
PSA: If you or anyone you know in the DC area has a coworker like this direct them to this website immediately.
It's gonna be a humpalicious Wednseday, enjoy!
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