Spring is here and so I’ve been riding an appropriately-hued bicycle:
Admonitions against mixing red and pink notwithstanding, it’s nothing you won’t find in a bed of begonias:
Sure, the bike may look a little bit like the Easter Bunny threw up on it, but isn’t that true of everything at this time of year?
Sorry, we can’t all be as dignified as Pedersen enthusiasts:
The Durdsley Pedersen is of course the bike that made Dursley famous:
What, you never heard of Dursley?!? Come on, it’s a town known as far away as Nympsfield!
And if you’re unfamiliar with the Pedersen, well, here you go:
[Via Classic Cycle]
It’s what would happen if a pennyfarthing and a recumbent had a baby:
Some say the only reason the Pedersen is not the dominant form of bicycle today is because of a conspiracy between Big Saddle and the Seatpost Industrial Complex. After all, who would need Brooks if all you needed to do to replace your saddle was go directly to the tannery and buy a big piece of cowhide? Do you think Eric the Chamferer would have stood for that?
In fact, nobody knows for sure whatever became of inventor Mikael Pedersen, and some speculate it’s Eric himself what done him in.
Just kidding, Pedersen died in 1929 which leaves Eric in the clear, though apparently he was re-buried in 1995 by a bunch of Pedersen Freds:
I can’t decide if this is deeply touching or extremely weird.
None of this is to malign the Pedersen, a bicycle which I have never ridden, and which has a following devoted enough to have exhumed and re-interred its namesake. Certainly to this day would-be entrepreneurs undertake the quixotic quest of designing alternatives to the traditional bicycle saddle with far less successful results, most recently this device, which I can only describe as a StairMaster for your ass:
I’d take a Pedersen over that any day–and I’m guessing this guy would too:
Like human cyclists, squirrels are also looking for saddles that won’t prevent them from enjoying their nuts.
But the main reason I respect Pedersens is that their riders aren’t incredibly defensive–like, say, people who ride e-bikes:
Now that like eight of every ten bikes out there on the bicycle path are e-bikes can we please drop the “oppressed minority” thing please?
Also, his point would have been stronger if he didn’t evoke mountain bikes, since the main thing both mountain bikers and e-bikers have in common is that their riders hate pedaling:
Just kidding:
E-bikers at least go through the motion of pedaling.
Really, though, is the problem people making fun of e-bikes? Or is it people who ride e-bikes thinking you even care and needing you to know how much they ride their regular bikes too because they’re secretly extremely competitive?
And no e-bike apologist’s screed would be complete without the old “here’s how much I’m not driving the car I haven’t given up:”
This one even includes a gratuitous Manual Transmission Humblebrag for added smugness:
Only in America do we boast about being able to shift a car.
Then of course there’s the obligatory guilt trip, because if you say anything critical about e-bikes you’re elitist and ableist:
Of course e-bikes are absolutely fantastic for the elderly and disabled, and of course nobody needs a a reason to ride an e-bike; if it suits your needs then fantastic! However, the bit about novices is completely ridiculous. Who the hell cares about novices?!? What happened to learning how to do something??? When did we collectively fall victim to the delusion that you shouldn’t need to acquire a certain amount of knowledge and experience in order to fully enjoy something? And where does it end? When half the group ride is e-bikes? When e-bikes are allowed in USA Cycling races? When you’re getting dropped by a squirrel?
Squirrels should stay in the Cat 4 field where they belong.
