How essential are bicycles?

CapSmashy · Post by **CapSmashy** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:09 pm

And don't be like the surfer fratboy dude that came strolling into our camp last year on burn night trying to steal a bike from our rack of personal bikes.

We were street sitting, under our glorious Terminal City street lights, having a grand time when the bogey came cruising in behind our row of chairs, hugging our fenceline and turned into our dark camp and made a beeline for our bikes that were all parked well away from the street for this very reason.

He informed the three of us that confronted him with very bright flashlights that we were not very Burning Man like when he did not respond favorably to our polite suggestion he vacate immediately and we were forced to use more direct and forceful rhetoric in explaining the situation to him.

He was even more incensed when he was tailed over to the Booby Bar and again confronted when caught eyeballing the bikes parked over there. Had there been a yellow bike available, we would have directed him to it, but there was not so he was encouraged to keep moving.

erbal · Post by **erbal** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:49 pm

Alienhair wrote:sorry did not mean to reduce it..

Sand is bigger ... for playa dust think caustic talcum powder

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 11:03 pm

Somehow I can't picture AlienHair sneaking anywhere without being noticed, unless perhaps she really does move faster than the human eye can follow.

Always possible

BBadger · Post by **BBadger** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 12:39 am

Last year my friends and I had our bikes for a night or two before they were stolen, probably by some surfer assholes as described above. Anyway, we had to borrow other campmate bikes (keeping a watchful eye on them) to see the deep-playa art.

Despite there being dunes around in the deeper playa that forced us to walk, the bikes helped out a lot to reach some of the very deep art projects that would've been hard to reach in good time with walking alone. I thought the deep-playa art projects were really cool and it was fun to suddenly spot one on the way to one of the brighter ones, and check it out. You wouldn't have that kind of flexibility with just walking, or at least not be able to see as many.

Whatever you do, get a bike lock, and use it and don't think that having the bike in close proximity to yourself means it's any safer. Even if it's a shitty bike you could not care less about, it really is nice having a bike, even just to ride in from your camp to Esplanade (for those not camped right on it).

Remember to decorate your bike with lights so others can see you. Also wear a headlamp or have a lamp attached to the bike to see the way.

Alienhair · Post by **Alienhair** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 12:53 am

!!!haha!so exciting!! every morning im so excited that i spend the day looking at photos and reading and blogging! faster than the human eye, for sure!

Caustic Talcum powder yummy!!:D i wil lfor sure swim in the dust/sand/powder! join! we can have an imaginary swimming pool made of volcano!!

okay bikes are very important, I am getting one, a christmas tree, festive one! many lights and things that make sounds! ofcourse a lock, and maybe an alarm system a fun one! surfer fratboys wouldn't have a chance!!:D

ROLL!

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 2:20 pm

CapSmashy wrote:He informed the three of us that confronted him with very bright flashlights that we were not very Burning Man like when he did not respond favorably to our polite suggestion he vacate immediately and we were forced to use more direct and forceful rhetoric in explaining the situation to him.

Do these people regard "burningman" people as "cattle on which I feed"?

Elorrum · Post by **Elorrum** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 5:01 pm

I heard this at work last week. Two young men passed behind me.

thing 1: have you ever heard of the burning man?

thing 2. What?

thing 1: Its an arts festival/rave in las vegas. you just need to have a place to sleep and everything else is free.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 6:08 pm

Elorrum wrote:I heard this at work last week. Two young men passed behind me.

thing 1: have you ever heard of the burning man?

thing 2. What?

thing 1: Its an arts festival/rave in las vegas. you just need to have a place to sleep and everything else is free.

And you let them live.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 10:04 pm

Lucky they were that accurate.

Tried to explain it to a couple of guys in sacramento and all they heard was free alcohol (for a couple of grand for me).

We tried to explain that if that was all they wanted, they could stay home and buy $600 worth of cognac or whatever.
I don't think they heard us.

I guess if I drank on the playa, the trip would make more sense.

Packoderm · Post by **Packoderm** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 10:16 pm

A bike rack sounds cool. I wonder what would be the cheapest/lightest way to make one that would hold about 20 bikes? Wood?

Kinetik V · Post by **Kinetik V** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 10:26 pm

Caustic talcum powder....that's one of the best descriptions yet. I took my "playafied" bike to my local bike shop after I got back from the event 2 years ago and I got a call from the guy working on it. He's like WTF did you get into on that bike? I've never seen anything like it. He was not a happy camper doing my overhaul...he said the playa dust burned his hands.

But for all the hassle of having a bike out there I won't go without one. It's as essential as water for me.

katy potaty · Post by **katy potaty** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 8:16 am

I'm assuming that a bike lock is primarily a deterrent to prevent casual theft. If I get a cheap combo lock from the dollar store do you think that would be sufficient? I don't want to mess with or worry about losing my u lock if I don't really need to. People don't go around with bolt cutters or whatever trying to actually steal bikes, do they?

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 8:28 am

Yes, but a rudimentary lock will stop casual borrowers.
I would worry about a cheap one being reliable in dust myself.

I have used the python adjustable cable lock and it holds up out there, but any cutters will cut it.

I take a heavy hoop lock now.
Chain and a padlock is effective too, with abus or masterlock chain.
There is one reliable combination lock, but it is hard to read.
There are some made for the blind, but fairly light locks.

motskyroonmatick · Post by **motskyroonmatick** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 9:03 am

From http://www.playatech.com/index.php

http://www.burningman.com/media/doc/the ... _Racks.pdf

This might give you some ideas Packoderm.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 9:06 am

Had a cheap combo lock w/ cable.. Some tryed to take to bike.. It damaged the lock.. I had to call my son to come with a cutter to get the damn thing off.

I now use a plastic coated cable and padlock..

On the road bikes I never take my hands off them..

Packoderm · Post by **Packoderm** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 10:06 am

motskyroonmatick wrote:
From http://www.playatech.com/index.php

http://www.burningman.com/media/doc/the ... _Racks.pdf

This might give you some ideas Packoderm.

I'm looking at the plywood one. Interesting.

dragonpilot · Post by **dragonpilot** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 10:38 am

I've been using the coated cable combo lock for the last 4 years. Lost the key to my U-lock one year...thank gawd I hadn't bothered to lock the bike that time. I go with the combination lock with big numbers nowadays...easier to see at night (as long as you have a light)...YMMV.

Post by **Savannah** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 2:57 pm

Most locks work just because they make theft less easy, rather than impossible. The unlocked bike is virtually always going to be the one stolen even if the locked bike next to it is nicer. Thieves aren't usually stealing a bike to take home in the default world; they're stealing a ride for the next 20 minutes or 2 hours. This is why there are so many abandoned bikes on the last day. They never got reunited with their owners post-theft.

I like to lock the bike to itself if there is no rack or heavy item, and I don't park it near the street. At night, if I've got to ride it, I light it in a way I can recognize at a distance such that if the lights are adjusted by someone else, or it starts moving away from me in the dark, I can see it.

So far, so good.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 3:04 pm

Just lock your bike.. So I don't have to listen to your damn whining.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 3:58 pm

unjonharley wrote:Just lock your bike.. So I don't have to listen to your damn whining.

*smirk*
+1

Snow · Post by **Snow** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 7:48 pm

unjonharley wrote:Just lock your bike.. So I don't have to listen to your damn whining.

HAHA

I'm love riding my bike in the default world so for me riding on the playa is part of the experience. I LOVE taking solo rides deep into the playa at dawn. I enjoy the one on one experience with the open, the playa, the art and the people I meet.

Its also the fastest way for me to commute to places I need to be. I avoid the city streets past mid-week though. I also enjoy solo playa rides on the playa when the event isn't there.

I also love taking the ice cream bike out to serve up chilly goodness on hot days. It churns ice cream as you ride! Its most fun to give it to people out on the playa who don't expect it, but we ALWAYS pay a visit to the booby bar/Apok too.