Hyundai's Super Bowl Ad With Bicycle - Don't Get It

The bicycle is only at the beginning of the ad

Whatever it is that this is trying to say, I don't get. Apparently I am not the target audience, although I do have a Hyundai Elantra. Our Elantra isn't smart enough not to run over pedestrians. It isn't clear to me whether this one will or won't run over cyclists. I guess I would be interested in other people buying cars that won't run over cyclists.

What is the point of the bicycle in this?

Odd.

Generally the few ads I have seen alluding to automated correction for distracted driving have been less obvious about suggesting that the car can compensate for this sort of oblivious behavior. I can't decide if this approach is good, recognizing that everyone is an idiot from time to time behind the wheel, or bad (for some other reason that I can't think of). Hmmm.

Maxfield Parrish Bicycle Images of 1896

1896 Harpers Weekly "bicycle number" [issue] cover and ad

Title: Harper's Weekly, bicycle number
Creator(s): Parrish, Maxfield, 1870-1966, artist
Date Created/Published: Hartford : Pope Manufacturing Co., [1896].
Medium: 1 print : color ; sheet 41 x 58 cm (poster format)
Notes:
* Title from item.
* Back cover: Columbia bicycles insure cycling delight. Standard of the world.
* Images published in Harper's Weekly on April 11, 1896.
* Forms part of the Artist poster filing series (Library of Congress)

www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2015646421/

The image of the young woman on a bicycle was the cover for a special bicycle issue for Harpers Weekly for April 11, 1896. 1896 was the height of the "bicycle craze" of the 1890s. Unfortunately I can't find a full text issue of that issue online that isn't part of a commercial product. Hmmm.

The image of the young man on a bicycle to the left was an ad that was part of the special issue, for Columbia Bicycles.

I was able to determine the date of publication for the particular issue and asked that the information be added to this record in the LC system, which it was.

The bike shown on the cover of the issue is from the same angle and looks about the same as the one in the ad, but lacks the distinctive headbadge of a Columbia bicycle. Well, it is on the cover, not part of an ad. While what little is visible of the bikes is accurate looking, one wonders if Mr. Parrish ever rode a bike - it seems surprising to show riders with their thumbs not wrapped around the handlebars. But then if you weren't going to be pulling on handbrakes, maybe it would seem more natural to ride this way.

Jefferson Memorial on Ride Home

Jefferson Memorial floating in ground level fog

One of the pleasant parts of riding rather than driving is that it is easy enough to stop and enjoy the view.

Starting Up Bicycle Commute After 2 Feet of Snow

Snow in Washington DC, January 1922 (from the Library of Congress)

Last weekend two feet of snow (give or take) fell from the sky, closing the government completely for several days, then various kinds of delayed arrival and the like through Friday. I teleworked through Thursday, returning to work on Friday - using Metro.

I am not crazy about using Metro, but I didn't feel like experimenting with the snow on the trails that day.

Yesterday, Saturday, I went about a third of the way to work, to see what conditions are like on the bike trails between my house and the Potomac river where I cross the 14th street bridge into DC.


Bicycle trail plowed by Arlington County

The trail for about a half mile from my house to the Four Mile Run Trail was not plowed, but it was mostly clear anyway. The Four Mile Run trail near Shirlington was plowed, continuing on in all the way to the Potomac near the south end of National Airport. Arlington County uses a Gator or something similar; it is difficult for them to stay on the trail consistently, as you can see by the tread marks in the grass where the small plow was off the trail for a while.


Mt Vernon trail near south end of National Airport

Once the trail leaves Arlington County and runs into the Mt Vernon trail, the plowing stops, and the conditions are much more mixed - that is, there is more snow and ice. I can route myself through Crystal City to avoid some of this; I'll see how it goes tomorrow.

1896 Bicycle Map for DC and Area

Roberts' [bicycle] road map of the District of Columbia and adjoining portions of Maryland and Virginia.

Cover title: Bicycle road map : Roberts' road map of the District of Columbia and adjoining portions of Maryland and Virginia : with tables of distances ... character of roads.
Created / Published - Washington : W.F. Roberts, c1896
Library of Congress, Geography & Map Division
http://lccn.loc.gov/88693356


Click here for zoom view of this 1896 map


Detail showing Washington DC and then-Alexandria (not Arlington) County


Indicators for quality of roads (for use by cyclists)


Runs (ie, rides) into Virginia from downtown Washington

Distances are from the U.S. Treasury Department building and not the U.S. Capitol.

I found a similar, but not the same, map from 1896 published in the Washington Times that I blogged about.

"Charmless" Signage in Arlington (VA)

I was reading a story in the Washington Post about changes coming to Arlington County council in the new year.

There is this, with a quote from Council member Libby Garvey: Garvey warned that local government should not “overstep our role and risk stifling innovation,” particularly in regulations such as the sign ordinance, which took more than a year to revise. “Part of the charm of Arlington,” she said, “. . . is how not standard everything is.”

I am not sure what "sign ordinance" is being referred to, but I don't much care for non-standard, inconsistent application of signage to traffic control affecting cyclists - but I don't have to go far to find some, given a recent change to the trail near my house.

Down the street from my house on South Dinwiddie Street, there is a trail that is an offshoot of the WO&D trail, that is parallel to the Lucky Run (stream).



The trail is shown in the image above, with the red line. Somewhat unusual I would say, there is a standard sidewalk and crosswalk at the intersection, then 40 or so feet back on S Dinwiddie, there is the crossing for the trail. It is not painted as a crosswalk with zebra stripes, but there are some dashed lines to show it is there to drivers. There are yellow yield signs controlling pedestrians and cyclists on the trail who would cross S Dinwiddie St.

Meanwhile, just a quarter mile away, the trail crosses S Wakefield St in a similar way but the traffic control is completely different.



These stop sign appeared about a month ago - previously there was not signage here controlling pedestrians and cyclists on the trail where it crosses S Wakefield St. (Yes, the stop sign are not full size, but sort of toy size for some reason.) And the crosswalk is painted with full zebra stripes.



Here you can see the situation, much like at S Dinwiddie St, with the trail crossing set about 40 feet back of the crosswalk that is the intersection.

I don't understand how it is that Arlington County thinks these intersections are supposed to work successfully. In general, if a motorist sees me in the "not quite a crosswalk" for the trail crossing, they stop - but I can't count on it. And apparently at one of the intersections (Dinwiddie) I am merely to yield, but the other (with full zebra stripes!) requires a full stop! WTF, to use the vernacular (or vulgar - whichever).

Consistency in these matters could be a good thing, even in quaint Arlington County. This is a real safety issue, after all.

Legends of the Tour (Book Review)

Legends of the Tour by Jan Cleijne

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I don't read many graphic novels - this is in fact a graphic work of non-fiction, documenting some highlights of the Tour de France's history.

Graphic novels can vary widely in amount of text included, and this is at the (very) low end. That was fine for me since I have read at least a dozen different books about the Tour, but I'm not sure that this would be so good for someone who isn't already familiar with the Tour.

The author's style is mostly dark and for the most part he focuses a lot of attention on the dark aspects of the Tour's history (dark in the sense of forbidding and/or foreboding) but the Tour takes place in July, in France, and much of it doesn't have the look and feel of most of this book. That says more about the author than about the subject, I suppose.

The low-text graphic novel approach results in some simplification of what you might read elsewhere - the competition with Hinault and Greg Lemond ends with the two of them riding hand-in-hand, celebrating their sort-of-joint-victory - hmmm. Published in June of 2014, he deals with the problem of doping and Mr. Armstrong's interview with Oprah at the end while expressing hope for redemption for the Tour's future - that the challenges will come from road and the race and not the challenges of doping without discovery, I suppose. Well maybe it will work out that way.

The nice thing about a book like this is it is possible to read through the whole thing in several sittings. It is also interesting to go back and page around and look at it later.



View all my GoodReads reviews of cycling books.