In the early days of the motor vehicle, there used to be this quaint idea that the person operating the giant machine should look out for other people. Then came mass production and the Model T. Suddenly there were automobiles all over the place, and by the end of the 1920s, cars (or, more accurately, their drivers) had killed more than 200,000 people.
via Don’t make bicyclists more visible. Make drivers stop hitting them. – The Washington Post.
Event Details: Meet at the Blue Baker on Dominik between 7 and 7:15 am on Friday mornings. We are usually out of there by 9 am, but occasionally lethargy overtakes someone and they stay longer. Many folks leave to be at work at 8 or 8:30 am. No judgment issued if you don’t take your bike up to the event, but extra kudos if you do. The topic for discussion is often bicycling issues and advocacy in the Bryan/College Station area.
What have we got here? A bunch of photos. You can decide what’s the best of. This is everything I’ve got. Once again, if anyone wants to help me with names email jmlinhart ‘at’ gmail ‘dot’ com.
I think this first one is, indeed, one of our best.
Peeking through the wisteria at the Blue Baker. June 15, 2014. (Travis, Kim, Rebecca, Carolyn, Young Lightfoot, Rob)
I love Xtra-cycles!
Travis + Xtracycle comes out to breakfast. June 15, 2014.
Bicycle Friendly Friday, June 22, 2013. (Jared, Angel, Rebecca, Scott)
Another great one. Rob brings out the bicycle-car.
The Bicycle Car + the rest of us on June 29, 2013. (Rebecca, Carolyn, Kim, Susie, Young Lightfoot, Jared, Rob, Unknown)
Some times we have more people, sometimes fewer.
A small crew for July 19, 2013. (Rob, Young Lightfoot, James)
The other part of the crew for July 19, 2014. (Jean Marie, Rob, Young Lightfoot)
But even days with a small turnout sometimes lead to fun moments.
It’s not a bicycle, it is a Diet Coke transporter. July 19. 2013. (Jean Marie’s Bicycle)
Jean Marie, Unknown, Rebecca at a small BFF, Aug 9, 2013.
Carolyn, Rebecca, Maddie, Rob on Aug 16, 2013.
The Infamous Earl of Sandwich Photo! (Ali, Jean Marie, Carolyn, Young Lightfoot, Maddie, Young Lightfoot 2, Rob, Rebecca)
Bicycle Friendly Friday and reQwip have a get-together. (Luna, Carolyn, Unknown relative of Lightfoots, Rob, Young Lightfoot, Susie, Unknown, Unknown, Rebecca, Young Lightfoot 2, Unknown, Maddie, Jean Marie, Travis, James)
Just a reminder that we have a Social Ride and a Picnic tonight! Come out and join us.
Clearly, I could use some help identifying people in the photos below. If you have help or a correction for me, please email jmlinhart ‘at’ gmail ‘dot’ com!
Bicyclists in the bluebonnets for this April 2014 photo. Marv, Rebecca, James, Glenn, Carolyn.
Yet another Monday Social Ride, bookended with bicycles. (July 2013, Carolyn, James, Dean?, Marv, David, Rebecca, Rob.)
My last social ride is tonight. This is my 13th year doing the social ride. I don’t have much besides memories from those early days; the first years were before I owned a digital camera, and then for years, before there were so many easy ways to post photos for everyone.
The past two or so years we’ve been taking a lot of photos on the social ride and posting them on Facebook trying to draw people to the organization. One of our most discussed photos is this infamous one:
We were trying to spell out Monday for Monday Social Ride. We got Monbay instead …(May 2013: Phillip, Marv, Carolyn, Nicole, Rebecca, David.)
Nicole might never forgive me for not catching the backward d before we took that …
We’ve taken a lot of photos.
More successfully spelling out Memorial for Memorial Day Social Ride. (May 2013: Unknown, Philip, Carolyn, John, Van, Unknown, Jennifer, Gary.)
Spelling out “bikes” for the Social Ride. (June 2013: Nicole, Rebecca, Rob, Marv, David)
We got tired of trying to come up with a word of the appropriate length for the number of riders and moved on to other antics.
Lined up for a *large* social ride! I think this photo was included in the July 2013 Brazos Valley Insight Magazine, but I never got my own copy. (June 2013, R to L: Scott, Rebecca, Carolyn, Marv, Jean Marie, Unknown, Unknown, Jennifer, John, Joe, Gary, Nicole.)
We persuaded Nicole to climb a tree. (June 2013:
Scott, John, Unknown, Joe, Van, Nicole, Carolyn, David, Marv, Rebecca.)
We got two younger Lightfoots to climb a tree. (July 2013: Joe, Young Lightfoot 1, John, Young Lightfoot 2, Jean Marie, Rob aka Dad.)
Sometimes we ran out of energy to come up with a good photo idea, and we took some straightforward shots.
Sometimes we were even pretty normal. (August 2013: Joe, Marv, Rob, Deana, Van, Philip.)
Waiting for the social ride to begin. (August 2013: Carolyn, Van, Rob, Rebecca, Joe.)
Another lineup from August 2013, complete with a whole bunch of “Gig’em” as the Aggies return to campus! (R to L: Unknown, Joe, Joe, Van, Rebecca, Scott, Rob, Philip, Unknown, Unknown, John.)
A small September Social Ride. Cooling off since we didn’t meet up in the shade. (Sept 2013: Van, Carolyn, Joe, Rob, Philip.)
The best photos were the goofiest ones.
Let’s all lean over … just like that… and defy gravity. (June 2014: Unknown, Deana, Jean Marie, Carolyn, Unknown, Jerry, Joe, Van)
A photo out on the open road — okay, this one is not so goofy, but it is taken out where we turn onto Timberline. (June 2014: Rebecca, John, Jerry, Deana, Glenn, Unknown, Unknown, Unknown.)
Back to super-duper goofy again. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil … have no fun. (July 2013: Philip, Rob, David, Rebecca, Carolyn.)
Oh my gosh, what happened to Jean Marie? (August 2013: Rebecca’s basket, Van, Unknown, Rob, Jean Marie.)
This is what we’ve been doing recently.
Another angular shot, with everyone making their arms angle into the middle. (July 2014: Joe, Unknown, Unknown, Unknown, Deana, Unknown, John, Jerry.)
Rabbit ears for everyone. (July 2014: Scott, Jean Marie, Jerry, Ben?.)
… and with that I leave you. You might get one more photo from tonight, my last Monday Social Ride. I think I also have a set of miscellaneous and hilariously goofy photos from Bicycle Friendly Friday and a few other events that should probably go up for posterity. Thanks for reading, thanks for riding with me, thanks for all the bicycling memories.