We need great equipment because...

I always thought that riding tools help create great rides the way writing tools help produce great writing. Other aspects of the ride or the writing seem far more important.

Here, from today's NY Times, is proof, if you want to think about it that way. Because I have no wish to sneak this up on you, I'll tell you that it's about Cormac McCarthy's typewriter. He bought it for $50 in Knoxville TN in the early '60s, but I tell you what - it's been a good ol' typewriter....

Brad Pitt, trying to Make It Right, almost gets it right

From slimy Las Vegas, we travel to sublime New Orleans, where actor Brad Pitt (yeah, that one) is having homes built for returning locals and perhaps others. The homes are cool and innovative, but they may not be what the folks had in mind...sigh.

Doncha hate it when you're trying to do something right and you get it wrong...? Hooray for Brad Pitt in any case. According to many locals, the article says, he's done more for the city's recovery than any gov't agency.

Still more from Philly: This time, it's an attempt to ban brakeless fixies

Here, from the online Philadelphia Inquirer's Philly.com, is a piece about new regulations to try to control those lovable but anarchical bike messengers, who feel put-upon and singled out for blame.

"Just enforce the existing laws," say the messengers, "and all will be well."

The messengers will demonstrate en mass this afternoon, perhaps disrupting traffic, to protest being confused with all those other scofflaw poser a--h--es with fixies and large, over-shoulder bags.

"We're the real Robin Hoods," they insist. "Those other guys just wear green."

Read it and...wonder.

From the Monroe, LA, online News Star, here's a truly mystifying op-ed piece. You can read it in a minute, then try to figure out what it's about all...day...long.

As I read it again, I see that it's a letter contributed by a News Star reader. That's an explanation, sort-of. Still mystifying, I'd say.

Problems? Right here in Interbike City?

I'll admit in front that I'm not a big fan of Las Vegas. But I've never ridden a bike there and only walked from hotel to hotel on or near the strip. Vegas's pedestrian/cycling problems aren't new, as you'll read in this Las Vegas Sun piece, and they aren't getting much better as our national consciousness (arguably) rises.

As bad as Vegas is for non-drivers, the annual biggest-in-the-world bike show remains there. I'm sure it's convenient for travel in and out and for lodging and convention facilities. Or if you want to lose your rent money or meet a hooker.

Otherwise, what has Sin City got to do with bicycling? Single-space your list and use both sides of the paper as necessary.

Added half an hour later: As suggested by my old friend Khal, here's a link to a Patrick O'Grady piece about visiting Vegas - for Interbike. It's an O'Grady piece; it's dependably terrific.

Evenhanded Examiner piece about cycling and road safety

Here's an Examiner.com piece (written by Meredith Sladek) about a series of similar bike/car accidents on Long Island in NY State. Avoiding outrage, Sladek, Examiner.com's NY bicycle transportation contributor, tells the story in a balanced manner. She finds no stones ready-to-hand and convenient for throwing - as I no-doubt would've. Not a happy piece but a well presented one.

A traveler's tale from the Times

From Maira Kalman in today's NY Times, a little story in cartoons, photos and handwritten text about our eating habits in the Land of the Free. I didn't read the comments (just got up) but I will.