Malled on my bike (Comments: 5)

I rode about 30 miles today. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, the ride has left me with quite a conundrum, and it is this:

If you ride your bike to a mall, do those two facts cancel each other out?

See, I consider biking to be a daily victory against consumer culture. Every turn of the crank, every revolution of the pedals, is a blow against the oil-fed, profit-driven, money-hungry world we live in.

A shopping mall, on the other hand, is the embodiment of that consumer culture. No bike racks. Hundreds upon hundreds of SUVs parked on acres of asphalt. Stores full of crap fueled by advertising that manufactures desire so people will buy the crap.

So I ask again: If you ride your bike to the mall, are you just breaking even?

I hate malls, but I went to one today to see the new Harry Potter movie with my dad and to have dinner. It was a fun afternoon, and a fun ride on the way there and back. Eastview Mall is 11.5 miles from my house as the Hummer drives, but it’s about 14 miles if you take the Canalway Trail, which is how I traveled. I stopped at Towpath Bike along the way to get a new pair of gloves. I got a set of Avenir gloves to replace the … um … fragrant and spent Pearl Izumi gloves I’ve been wearing for the last several years. The Avenirs are quite comfortable. Unlike my other gloves, these are open on the back of your hand, which seems like a small thing but makes a big difference.

Friend at my LBS:While I was at Towpath, I discovered that a very talented musician named Dean Keller works there. Dean plays saxophone and bass clarinet in many groups, although his main touring gig is with a very successful Dave Matthews tribute band called One Sweet World. The drummer in this band is Chris Cornish, brother of Jenn Cornish. Jenn is one of my oldest friends and also is married to another of my oldest friends. She and her husband Kevin are my eldest son’s godlessparents.

New pedals: When I got home from the ride, my new Power Grips pedals were waiting for me. I put them on the bike tonight, but I haven’t tried them out yet. I saw an article on Power Grips in The Practical Pedal, and the article was so convincing that I called up and bought a pair. I’ll review them after I ride them tomorrow.

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