The End of the American Love Affair with Automobiles?
"Pointy-headed busybodies of the environmentalist, new urbanist, utopian communitarian ilk blamed the victim. They claimed the car had forced us to live in widely scattered settlements in the great wasteland of big-box stores and the Olive Garden. If we would all just get on our Schwinns or hop a trolley, they said, America could become an archipelago of cozy gulags on the Portland, Ore., model with everyone nestled together in the most sustainably carbon-neutral, diverse and ecologically unimpactful way."
-- P.J. O'Rourke, "The End of the Affair" in last Saturday's Wall Street Journal
5 comments:
I'll share the road with a 1967 Jaguar E Type Coupe any day. As a matter of fact, after reading the post, I went out to sit in mine. It's got more soul than any of my bikes.
Turn the key, pull out the choke knob, lean one's head out the window and yell "clear!" Push the starter button. They don't make machinery like that any more. None of this namby pamby power steering, or AC, or cup holders. Even the radio is redundant. When you drive, that's what you do. Somehow, talking on a cell phone would be offensive.
Come to think of it, it's not much different than cycling in that regard...
Yep. Nothing like a good old honest car (or truck). Except maybe a non-Shimano bicycle. ;-)
Non-Shimano bicycles? They make those?!
It's called Campagnolo - or, even better, SRAM. Watch "Breaking Away" for the sweet heaven of a classic, friction shift Campy. Ride a SRAM road bike for modern nirvana...
I'm actually building a new(ish) mountain bike and plan on using all SRAM parts, which will be easy now that they own pretty much everybody BUT Shimano! ;-)
As for Campy, I've got enough trouble keeping up with nine cogs. Now them crazy Eye-talians want me to keep up with 11?!?!
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