Hemingway quote on bicycling: an offering to the Bacon Lady

[Mark Davison]

At the top of the first climb of the Cino ride in Montana, you need to make an offering to the Bacon Lady to get free bacon. My offering was a quotation from Ernest Hemingway, which seemed appropriate for our hilly ride through the Montana countryside:

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.”

[JLQ]

Don't leave us hanging man, did it work for free bacon or what?

[Mark Davison]

Free bacon and a smile. Good thing it was downhill for a while--bacon is a challenge to digest.

[NHAero]

Schwag from Sykes Diner in Kalispell, and from Cino itself.

[HTupolev]

Deceptive thread title. I only clicked because I thought it was going to be about a Hemmingway quote about making an offering to the bacon lady.

[redir]

Heck I'd tell her anything for free bacon.

A guy I work with has a wife who is a vegetarian but once a year she eats bacon. That's how good it is

[bironi]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Schwag from Sykes Diner in Kalispell, and from Cino itself.

Mark,
Do you have a link to share Chris's Postman two speed.
I loved the little test spin in the school parking lot.
I would like to share the bike design with my local cycling group.
If you or someone else in the know would please post, I'm grateful.
I enjoyed Chris's company as well.
So, Hi Chris!
Thanks much,
By

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by bironi

Mark,
Do you have a link to share Chris's Postman two speed.
I loved the little test spin in the school parking lot.
I would like to share the bike design with my local cycling group.
If you or someone else in the know would please post, I'm grateful.
I enjoyed Chris's company as well.
So, Hi Chris!
Thanks much,
By

I can't believe that with all the photos I took that I neglected to take one of that bike! Duh! Here's his Facebook page, and a photo from that page.

[benb]

The Hemingway quote couldn't be more on point all these years since he said it.

Cars just isolate you more and more every year and distract you more and more from your surroundings.

Cyclists seem to remember every pothole on the road, rock in the woods, and maybe even something odd on the side of the road.

[Mark Davison]

Although cars have their place: it's a long bicycle ride from Seattle to Kalispell.

I did have a plan to take the train to Spokane and ride from there, but it fell through.

That would have been a truly heroic ride for me.

[572cv]

I have a drawing by old friend Ed Koren, with one of his fantastic creatures happily riding a bike through the countryside, and this Hemingway quote below. A favorite.

I’m impressed that you memorized it. Sounds good enough for bacon to me

[Mark Davison]

Actually I had only firmly memorized the first sentence. I thought I would be able to review the quote on my phone before reciting it, but my iphone Note was stored in the cloud. There be no cell phone reception at the location of the Bacon lady, I had to make do with the first sentence, which was good enough to receive bacon.

The real display of artistry came from the next rider, who had a portable sound system attached to her front fork, and performed a dance to a song about gummy bears. She had gummy bear decorations on her borrowed gravel bike, as well. Just goes to show you can have fun on a bike without pretending you are a racer from the 1960s.