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Well (ah hah) if I'd searched I might have found the old data and we'd not have a NEW, exciting thread.
Mr. Roper and his steam bicycle were not the first of either stripe, but he worked for decades with mobile steam.
Plus, he died in the saddle in front of hundreds of onlookers at a public exhibition. He was going to set a speed record.
Indeed, he did: he was gone before he hit the ground, heart.
The very early gasoline bicycles are of such interesting design.
The very rare but even earlier steam bikes were even more difficult of operation,
needing, really, two operators instead of just one. It was thus that the car was born
and the bike has been trying ever since to just keep up.
Today was sweet. Auto trip through the Grove, on Main Highway. It features a lovely, eight foot wide bike path.
A beautiful couple rode their road bikes, not on the path (it was sort of busy), but right in the road, which was OK, except that they insisted to ride side by side (they must be much in love) at about 12 per,
for half a mile, backing the traffic up, ignoring requests that they single file, or move off to the bike path, just for a minute.
I think they were French tourists. They certainly sputtered at me, and I was ever so polite, in French.
"I'm a bike rider too...if you..." I think He did not understand English and thought I was offering to bump him off the road.
I made sure not to leave a bad impression, but there's nothing like wounded male stupidity to fail to deal with successfully:
this I know. I talk to myself daily. C'est la vie,
r.
