I am feeling just a bit the cat who got the canary
I suppose I should back up and say that even I recognize that bikes cant serve all functions. For example, if I call 911 I guess I don't want the fire-fighters hoping on bikes to come rescue me. Still, I think too often we suffer from failure of imagination, we remain trapped in comfortable patterns when better alternatives exist, we assume that because we have always done something a certain way, that thats the only way it can be done.
Case in point, one might assume that a motor vehicle is the only way to bring plywood and 2x4s home from the hardware store.
I beg to differ.
Although, truth to tell, I originally figured I would use a car for this errand. I assumed that the person I gave my car to (the car with the lovely roof rack that can carry anything) would be willing to do me the favor of helping me do this errand last weekend. 'parently not.
So how great for me that it turns out you don't even need a car for this kinda thing! This weekend I headed over to my local independant hardware store, picked out all the supplies I would need for a home impovement project I have been wanting to complete for ages, and for a measly buck, the nice folk at the hardware store cut the plywood and 2x4s to my specifications, loaded it onto a giant cart, along with the large bag of hardware, and wheeled it out to the parking lot for me, where the hardare guy was just plane flabbergasted to see that my vehicle was a Free Radical. I would have liked to have gotten a photo of that face!
I didn't get any photos of that face, but I got some shots of the bike and it's load when I got home, and will post them ASAP, in the mean time, I think this is the official beginning of a new series on this blog: "You Cant Do THAT By Bike", or perhaps "Things You Never Thought You Could Do By Bike, But Actually Can"
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4 comments:
I saw the title and thought, "Xtracycle, eh?"
When I arrive at the bike shop for the training ride with my trainer in the back, I"ll get the same looks... and when I show up with my bike on it, who knows?
It's sweet.
No, it won't take me to Maryland for Thanksgiving in a timely fashion, though.
Sweet! Whatcha buildin'?
Can't wait to see the photos.
well, supposedly I am building a work area in my office, a work surface with storage undernieth and shelves above, but I have been hitting some snags (sigh).
The up side of the snags, though, is I get to keep heading over to the hareware store and hauling lumber ans seeing the looks on their faces as I head off with it on my bike
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