When you have nothing to say, don't say anything. And so I've been silent for the past month or so. I've wanted to write something in response to recent events, but nothing chose to emerge.
The other day however, I found something that really got me thinking. As with most discoveries on the internet, it was completely serendipitous and circuitous. In my ongoing search for a new bicycle, I was investigating the merits of different styles of bikes. Road touring bikes, it seemed, possessed the toughness, versatility, and speed that I was looking for as a commuter and recreational rider. I was exploring a personal website dedicated to the various mertis of different styles of bikes when I made the discovery.
Rivendell Bicycle Works. Of course the name was immediatlely of interest because it was made familiar to me through reading Tolkien's stories of Middle Earth. Rivendell is the last homely home before the great wilderness and is the home of Elrond Half-Elven and many other elves.
English: An example of a loaded touring bicycle wi...
Roger on Richland Avenue with Schwinn Bicycle
Bicycle boulevard entranceThe bicycles themselves were a revelation as well. In a world where mass production and the least common denominator seem to be the rules of thumb, these bikes embody a different set of rules.
They are not trendy by any means, nor are they hasty. Rivendell bicycles are an affair of love, if you will, for the company that makes them and those that buy them. And I suppose they are expensive. Which reminds me of something: that it is never easy to be out of step with the mainstream or think for yourself.
I guess there is nothing wrong, per se, with the mainstream except that it seems to iron out difference. A one size fits all attitude begins to predominate in the name of expediency and that buzz word: efficiency.