Things I Like: Magazines

The reason I like magazines is because you get such a diversity of information.  Plus there are always pictures - nice and glossy.

I like books too, very much in fact.  I have found it difficult to find good books on cycling.  Yes, there are several, but I find that there are also a lot that appear as though they would be good and are not.  I'll do a top 5 and bottom 5 of my personal recommendation on that before too long. But I digress.

Magazines are better around water, like at the beach or in a canoe, or maybe camping.  If books get wet and dirty they can be tough to read, whereas magazines seem more resilient.  Magazines sit open whereas books "snap" shut all the time.

As far as the discipline of cycling goes, I have two examples below.  Nothing groundbreaking here, I'm sure you've all heard of these two.

I like Urban Velo because it has a significant part in each issue dedicated to the regular "joe" answering the question why he/she enjoys cycling in the city.  It is also available online for free.  You don't actually have to subscribe, although I'm sure they'd like you to.

They have very interesting articles even though some diverge into hipster-type stuff that's a little to contemporary of a scene for me.

Pretty sure that Bicycle Times is well established now.  There's usually one or two articles that I'm not interested in but I will devour the rest, every time.

Neither of these has much, if anything, to say about carbon fiber, and none of the issues are ever "buyers guides" (those are so useless in my opinion).

I also enjoy Momentum from time to time but it seems to cater more to women and the chic movement.

Finally, there is a magazine out of Toronto that looks very intriguing but I'm at a loss to find it in my bookmarks right now. 

If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them.  Particularly if they are available online.

~ Wilson

Escapism and Me

I have begun an interesting book that is challenging me.
In the opening chapter it details escapist tendencies.  It reads like a list of symptoms that one might use to self-diagnose an illness.
It would appear that I have a bent for escapism.

Now, that itself is no shock.  I would rightly admit that to anyone, and have on several occasions.  I think it's just a natural product of being an introvert, and that's nothing to be ashamed about.

I confess to several methods of escapism including, movies, music, reading, cycling and travel.  If one is not available I select another.

However, the author argues that this is not a healthy mindset. 

"The problem with escapism is that it cannot go on forever,"  reminds me a lot of the old adage, "no matter where you go, there you are."

Not sure where this journey will take me.  Not sure if this is a one-time observation/comment or if it will amount to more.  The book itself is about New Urbanism, a subject which fascinates me.  It is a discipline that I feel has strong connections to my love of bicycles and sustainable housing.  But so far (the argument is that if you are not living in the city you are already manifesting escape) I am just feeling a bit ambushed.

How to live well without owning a car

Another book that I keep coming back to.  Not so much for the sheer information as for the inspiration.
Chris Balish has a good thing here.  Lots of good info for beginners to the mid-level non-car commuter.  I would suggest that he has a bias toward bicycling, but then so do I, so that's really not a criticism of mine.
I really like all those places he gets out the calculator and shows you how much $ you can save by not having a car.  I for one buy into his thesis.
However I am an offender.  I not only have one, but two cars.  Wasn't sure I wanted to admit that here (ever) but there it is.  Early last Winter/Spring I tracked the number of days I went to work via car vs. any other means (95% of the time that means by bicycle).  The evidence is undeniable, I have at least one car too many.  The problem is laziness.  I still have mornings where I resist my 20km bike commute because I just don't feel like it.  I've noticed that by the time Friday rolls around, on weeks that's I've biked to work, my body is talking to me loud and clear - it seems to be saying "enough already!"  Sometime the weekends are enough to recoup and sometimes not.  Sort of depends what I am doing that weekend.
So, this is a bit of a confession.  I love NOT using a car but I struggle with the benefits of having it as a convenience sometimes.  As the BLOG title says, I live between city and country and I am trying to do what I do by bike.
Back to Balish because he has some really good suggestions for a guy like me.  But just because I am convinced does not mean that the rest of my family is - not by a longshot.  I have a ways to go.
I DO love cycling, the outdoors, the time alone on my bike to think and to enjoy, the challenge (most times) and all the other benefits.  I can testify that as Fall creeps in that it is beautiful around here and I don't want to miss out on it because I am, as Sting sings, "packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes."

A book I keep coming back to

Really good book by Ross Chapin called, "Pocket Neighborhoods."  It's all about physical living arrangements at the neighborhood scale.  I notice the absence of any reference to Michael E. Arth's work on New Pedestrianism - it's at least an oversight and I hope not a slight to him.  Otherwise a pretty comprehensive but readable look at community and the way its being revived and, in some cases, re-thought.