CYLRAT

change your life, ride a trike.

someone close to the blog sent us this article from the latimes about what is quickly becoming my favorite city to hear about bikey things lately: long beach.

the story is about 103 year-old,octavio orduño, who sounds like a likable, if stubborn, elderly man with a daily habit he just can't leave behind...riding his tricycle. he only got it a few years ago when he couldn't balance as well anymore on the 2-wheeled variety we tend to talk about here on the blog.

he's all smiles in the picture with his coke-bottled glasses weighing rather heavily on his nose. check it out here.

yay octavio! you have some fans up here in norcal homie. keep riding, ey?

(oh, also, you'll notice that the long beach bikey coordinator type person is from texas. kthxxxxbai.)

Oaklavía!

The closing of streets to car traffic for a few hours from time to time is getting more and more popular all around the world. San Francisco has had the ever more popular Sunday Streets for the last few years, and now Oakland has Oaklavía, which debuted last Sunday.

The event had to compete with the 40th Anniversary of San Francisco's Gay Pride Parade (among a whole bunch of other things like a Giants/Redsocks game, the Mexico/Argentina match...) Despite the absolutely stupid amount of things to do this weekend, there was a good turnout for the lovely, quiet streets of Oakland. It is not terribly surprising, after all, when you get rid of the cars life springs up everywhere!

What was great for me was that it wasn't super packed so I could appreciate all of the people and the thing that makes Oakland a really great place- the diversity and openness of its citizens.

I took a whole bunch of pictures which will take me awhile to edit. Check in to the set in a couple of days to see what comes up!

whiskey wednesdays

i was outside the great spirits store cask the other day. i noticed that they had whiskey bottles in their adult trike.



cask beverage delivery service



they, unfortunately, do not actually deliver their spirits with the trike. however, we can keep optimistic that they may start in the near future. :)

Three Wheels, Ninety-Two Years

This lovely picture and story was sent into our Flickr group by "Cold Iron", a bicycle mechanic at Cycle City in Alameda, Ca. He sends in lots of pictures of his customers with their bikes. I like the stories he puts with the pictures because they show us all that a cyclist is just a person with a bike. This story, however, was super special to me. I just recently ended 12 years of working with Senior Citizens and this generation is, by far, my favorite. With a daily dwindling number of WW2 vets left, to see one out on a trike... makes my month!

Mr. F was born in 1917.

He's lived through 17 U.S. Presidents.
He was 9 or 10 when Charles Lindbergh became the first man to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
He was 22 when the Nazis invaded Poland.
He was 30 when the British left India.
He was 39 (my current age) when Elvis made his television debut on the Milton Berle Show.
He was 52 when Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon.
He was 64 when Iran freed the hostages from the American Embassy in Tehran.
He was 73 when the Berlin Wall came down.
He was 86 when the Centenial of Powered Flight was celebrated at Kitty Hawk.

I am fascinated with the history of the 20th Century, and it's a real treat for me to know such a man.

I think there is so much that can be learned from someone who's lived through so much change... and can keep a positive energy, and a fresh attitude... the way he has.

I plan on riding well into ride into my 90's. When I grow up, I want to be just like Mr. F.