A Modest Proposal

More or less by accident, I rode down to Monroe and back today. The first thing I want to say is that the new bike flat out rolls. The gearing is perfect; it's stable as all get out and as comfortable as a lazy-boy. I have three specific nits to pick. First, although the Brooks tape is lovely to look at, I would rather have the next step up in Avid disc brakes in which both pads have micro adjusters instead. Given that the better Avids retail for 20 less than the tape, the trade off seems like a no brainer. I am also not sold on the rear rack, which has this odd up-swooping rails at the front end that make it difficult to position the trunk rack properly. It should also have a kickstand plate especially as the spare spokes retainer, which is totally unnecessary, makes it difficult to get a "normal" kickstand top nut dealio in. None the less, a bike for the ages.

The Bike:

Now to the proposal: most of the path is crushed something or another gravel. Not only is this filthy but it's slow. Despite all this, there was a surprising large number of people from all walks of life and economic stations ambling up and down the trails.  Over to Rortybomb evidence is presented that in the current jobless recovery joblessness and age are barriers to getting jobs, which is to say ads encourage employed youngsters to and suggested that the older and unemployed need not apply. Let's have a CCC and WPA for men and women aged 45+ to build and pave bike multiuser paths and pay them Davis-Bacon wages. The first could be a triangle that connects Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago.  The Madison to Milwaukee already exists but needs paving, so let's start there. Then Chicago to St. Louis with the Katy Trail from St. Louis to KC to follow.  Seattle to Portland, Philly to DC, and so forth. Every 50 miles or so, build a hostel/camping area with an attached beer garden. Let either the aged and unemployed run the hostel/camping/beer garden with the state as a sleeping partner.

If nothing else, there'd be a bicycle multiuser based infrastructure for a non-petroleum based Mad Max dystopia.