Reading this is a waste of your time

I went to the Public Trust Gallery last night for some art dedicated to the bicycle. That was the theme for the evening, what the artists had created their art around - the bicycle. Which is something I approve of, since the bicycle is interesting. As interesting as the art on the walls was, the bicycles parked in the rack of the public trust were even more so. When did the Bianchi single speed bicycles become the thing to have? I had to do some research, and it turns out these are "fixed gear" bikes, meaning when the tires turn the pedals turn with them. This means the cyclist pedals continuously, making them good for training and exercise. Stopping the pedals with your legs serves as your brakes, I think my banana seat Schwinn from elementary school operated on the same mechanism. Some of the people who ride these bikes go for brakeless fixed gear bikes, which I assume are just for riding on tracks in training or competition. They even go so far as to ride around the city on a bike with no brakes. Which is crazy. Crazy people. In addition to the Italian death machines, there was a red 10 speed Schwinn in the rack too. Can people not see the obvious advantage of more gears on a good old fashioned American bicycle? Oh well, there was also art! And the art was kind of minimalist, which was interesting. There were series of small postcards with strange street signs and messages on them. There was a simple 3 color almost silhouette of a red haired woman riding a bicycle against a grey background. Maybe it was screen printed. There were illustrations of bicycles on cardboard or paper. And there were photographs of a young woman in grey and a friend of hers hanging out in a drainage ditch next to an interstate. The photographs were interesting. There was graffiti on the concrete wall of what looked like a spillway, but nothing I could see clearly. It made me sad I do not own a bicycle, and it made me reflect on the marvelous thing we call the bicycle. Why don't I get one? Because I live in a fairly pedestrian unfriendly area sandwiched between two highways.