Bike Burrito

University of Colorado at Denver, 14th and Larimer streets (this is probably a perfectly safe place to park your bike, as there are always a bunch of bikes there, but this person must have left theirs there for an extended period of time)
Check out the lock. That's the same lock I have. I now have confidence in it.

Labels: Bike, Denver, Park, Places

This morning I took Napi for a stroll around my hood. A few blocks in, as we approached an intersection, I spotted a dog across the street who had not to long ago attacked me while I biked to school. He's the kind of dog you might like to drop kick or remove his vocal chords with excitement. He barked at Napi, who stood honorably by my side, and suddenly took off running in our direction. The nice lady walking her dog sans leash yelled "Bonita! Bonita!" (I can only assume this was the dog's name and not a pet name for me.) The dog did not listen and bolted into the street (a quiet one this time of day) just as cars flew by, one from each direction. The dog somehow froggered through the cars unscathed and got to our curb, barking furiously. As Napi and I walked on, disturbed by the event, I wondered to myself: would I have been happy - with a smug sense of revenge - if that dog had been hit as payment for the bike attack months earlier.
On another note, a friend passed along this photo as a great place NOT to park your bike in NYC.

Labels: NYC, Park, Places

Just thought I'd share some photos I collected over the past two weeks of some not so great parking jobs around Denver.Yes, they are cutting a lock. This is over by Wash Park. A friend mentioned that she thought the bike had been parked there for awhile, but I wondered if maybe on a nice Sunday afternoon these guys figured that no one would question someone with a saw.
This is at DU. U LEAVE IT U LOCK IT is their slogan. Unfortunately, if you only lock up the front tire, U LOSE IT.

Labels: Bike, Denver, Park, Places

Actually, this rack in front of my office at Colfax and Broadway is fine, except for the far right inverted U.




And it's usually leaning up against the wall of the Starbucks, which is a pretty good red flag not to use it..

Labels: Bike, Denver, Park, Places

I pulled up to the Central Library yesterday afternoon and almost took a photo of all the bikes parked at the racks on the east side (front door). I thought it was pretty outstanding how many people rode to the library even as the temperature was dropping.
But I didn't take a photo, and when I came back out, I noticed this underneath where I parked my bike, right at the end of one of the racks. I assume it was pretty fresh, since the velcro strap that holds the cable together was still sitting on the ground a couple feet away.

Doesn't say a lot for the OnGuard cable lock snipped in half down there, or cable locks in general, and this was a pretty fat one -- about as big around as my pinky finger. Also doesn't say a lot for the safety of locking your bike up in one of the most public places in Denver in broad daylight. The front door of the Central Library opens up onto Broadway at 13th Avenue, not exactly a dark, deserted corner of the city.
I'll just pass along what my good friend and All-Around Swell Guy Nick B. said when I asked him what kind of lock I should buy for my bike a couple years ago: "Nobody's ever cut a chain." (He meant the fat-ass Master Lock chain he had for his bike -- I bought one too. I'd link to it, but it doesn't seem like they make it anymore. It's pretty much just like this one.) It doubles as a sweet necklace, like the one Treach from Naughty By Nature used to wear.

Labels: Bike, Cable Lock, Denver, Places

This is the RTD bus stop at 14th and Broadway. I first noticed this bike a couple weeks ago when I was jogging to the library from my office, and I kept forgetting to get a photo of it. Looks like this Magna mouthed off to the wrong bus rider.
Check out the U-lock. Bends, but doesn't break.

Labels: Bike, Denver, Park, Places