All hail the bike picnic! Who’s done one lately?
Bring food’n’drink in our baskets and pans on a ride for some extra zing to your outing. That’s not all!
Pick a super-ideal locale to stop — someplace with a view and maybe good people-watching, too.
Public space conviviality is a big thing needing reviving. It’s far more accessible to far more people yet right now the bums have the corner on it. : )
Like, instead of being turned away at the Peanut Barrel patio or waiting an hour or not being able to bring a dog, I’ve sat with a bagged picnic on the bench right next door and had just as nice of a time with no wait, no interference, and half the cost. That’s not all!
I’d have to say that …catch this… public spaces are the BIGGEST social-connector engine a society possesses. It seems like the US only takes advantage of them in its most successful cities: coincidence? Not at all! Public life = success. By picnicking we make a big statement! : ) And we have simple fun.
It only requires a little forethought and then the habit is formed. I admit I can’t think of what is ideal to bring and how. A bit of pondering gives a decent answer. –Couple beers, soft-cooler, brownbags, water, cheese, knife, bread, nuts, or buy pizza beforehand then cool it and bring it, wrapped, paper napkins, pipes, tobacco, a little stove (?), a little kettle, tea… A couple little tablecloths?
I have a nifty spun aluminum “ghillie kettle” that you pour water into the top then jam a handful of twigs into the bottom, spark it up, and in 3 minutes have boiling water. Good in any park, less good in a city square.
It was popular in the UK and Europe in the 50’s. Maybe it still is. There were weekend rallies where bikers rode in from hometowns and gathered in a park and camped, feasted and played harmonicas and staged little events (after removing fenders and racks). For more, see the great bike book “Off to the Races” — it’s a kid’s picture book but they tell 1000 words. See also the wonderful memoir of UK club cycling, “One More Kilometer,” by Tim Hilton. There were even singing bike clubs!
Here’s a weird twist: in these hard times I wouldn’t be surprised if cheap fun was DOWN in popularity. You’d think that recreation participation would ratchet down the income-levels stepwise. As money got tighter you’d tent when you travel rather than stay in a motel. Or you’d travel closer rather than farther. That you’d picnic rather than go to a restaurant. Drop the pricey cable and sit on the porch, bring out your old guitar for free fun in your free time. Sell the powerboat and dust off the canoe. All these changes, wonderfully, actually increase public life and improve community. But I’m not sure it works like that. And in the US it might be likely that public life simply suffers more and dies worse when times are tough. We retreat and get desperate. We cling even tighter to the delusions. Instead of doing an expensive thing we do nothing. Instead of 3 fancy trips we do one fancy trip and take more meds to make up for the losses. We don’t do 3 simpler trips. I hope I’m wrong.
In short, in hard times cheap options suffer as much as anything else. Seems weird to me. Am I wrong?
City biking is up. But bike touring is down. …And I just heard that the cheapest boys summer camp of all, our local Boy Scout camp, is shuttering. Does that mean the most expensive ones are hurting more? You tell me…
