The Flattery of immitation by a fine new Blog

I recently received an e-mail, and part of what it had to say follows:

Hey Cycling Dude....
I started a bicycling blog about a month and a half
ago called Bikin' Bis...

It's named for what my wife started calling me when
I'd disappear on my bike for hours at a time.
I've been checking out and enjoying your blog (I don't
remember who I ran across it), and you might notice a
couple of similarities, style-wise...

I'm going back and forth on the overall tone. Some of
the stuff might be a little esoteric, but some other stuff is a
little cheeky...

I use blogharbor, which enables me to build web pages.
You'll see my first ones over on the left as well. I
plan to use them in conjunction with the blog...

I don't know if that is interesting to you, but it has
been very instructive for me. This is the first time
I've put all this down in writing.
Thanks
Gene Bisbee

Interesting? Yes, indeed.

Read on...

More than Gene's layout choices, what truly caught my attention was that really awesome, and cool, photo behind the title.

Wonder where he got that idea? :-D

Maybe not, though, but it's still a great picture.

I am truly flattered by his using my blog as inspiration for his place.

Gene hails from Seattle, Washington, and I've been spending some time exploring the Blog, and have much to recommend.

A. Gene has 2 pages related to The Lewis and Clark Trail:

Lewis and Clark Tour Operators.

Lewis and Clark Trail Resources: Includes links to 5 Cyclists who tell of their experinces riding the trail.

B. Blame Iowa! Now nearly EVERYONE is doing it!

Cross State Bike Tours, that is.

Gene has a list of Across State Bike Tours.

Now let me recommend some entries on his blog:

1. Happy Birthday!

His 1st entry celebrates his 1st ride of the new year.

2. Trail-a-Bike Recall.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission says some of those single-wheeled bicycle trailers distributed by Norco Products Ltd. of Canada are unsafe at any speed.

Manufactured in China, the Adams Trail-a-Bike or Adams Slipstream Bicycle Attachment employ a universal hitch that can malfunction and cause the trailer to separate from the bike...

Read more here.

3 and 4. Is Lawson, Missouri, the WORST place to ride a bike?

Everyone has a favorite story about a least favorite place to bicycle.

I challenge anyone to name a town more unfriendly to bicyclists than Lawson, Missouri. The Missouri Bicycle Federation has been following the case.

Lawson has a "No Bicycle Zone" in a two-block area of downtown.

Read more here.

And here for the fact that the city won.

5. We all have our "Bicyclist vs. Dog" stories. Here's some of Gene's.

Sooner or later, a bicyclist will run afoul of a dog. Man’s goofy, drooling best friend turns into a ferocious prey-chasing carnivore whenever he spies a bicycle approaching. Dogs that live on popular bicycle routes really seem to take to the sport.

My friend and I had several memorable run-ins with dogs on our cross-country ride back in 1984.

Read more here.

6. One of the 1st essays I shared on this blog was one I once had published in a local newspaper after being attacked while riding my bike.

I called it - Bicyclist to Car Owners: Can't we all just get along?

I was lucky not to get hurt.

Now comes THIS story of a man who wins a court case against such miscreants:

There are no real winners in this story reported in the Seattle newspapers over the weekend.

A church pastor in Bellevue, a Seattle suburb, has received more than a half-million dollars in an out-of-court settlement relating to an assault while he rode his bicycle...

The pastor and his daughter were riding their bicycles to train for the annual Seattle-to-Portland ride about three years ago. A teen-aged motorist swerved her car at the pastor and her passenger leaned out the window and shoved him over. The Rev. David Tinney suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung, among other injuries, many of which linger to this day.

God works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. :-D

7. It seems that every Bicycle Tourist has their "Rescue" story. This is one of Gene's:

Bicycle tourists spend part their time riding on the edge. I’m not just talking about the edge of the road, but the edge of their limits for physical and mental stress. Veer over the edge, and there can be a crash. End of tour.

That’s especially true for the so-called self-contained cycling tourists. No sag wagons. No mechanics. No large group for support. And, in the “old days,” no cell phones.

When my friend and I rode the TransAmerica Trail in 1984, we talked to other cyclists who had come too close to the edge, but it seemed someone always came along to offer help, a lift, a place to stay.

We called this a rescue.

For us, the most unusual rescue came in Kansas...

Read more here.

Visit Gene and his Blog: Bikin' Bis.