“Service works by the gradual buildup of sympathy through failed attempted solutions. If person X has told you to try something and it doesn’t work, person X feels slightly sorry for you. X is slightly responsible for the problem now, having used up some of your time. Person Y, however, is considerably less moved that you tried following her colleague X’s advice to no avail - even if it is the same advice that she herself would have given you had she been party to that earlier conversation. That’s beside the point. The point is that she wasn’t the one who gave you that advice. So she is not responsible for your wasted time.”

- Brian Christian, The Most Human Human, p. 33-34 

“It took me years and years to realize a very simple thing, which is that when you write fiction you’re raising questions, and a lot of people think you’re playing a little game with them and that actually you know the answers to the questions. They read your question. They don’t know how to answer correctly. And they think that if they could only meet you personally and look into your eyes, you could give them all the answers”

- Ann Beattie interviewed in the Paris Review

The Paris Review, the Art of Fiction #209

This is a test post

“You must promise. You can’t desire the end without desiring the means.”

Ah, but one can, he thought, one can: one can desire the peace of victory without desiring the ravaged towns.

p. 205

“The lights were showing in the temporary hospital, and the weight of that misery lay on his shoulders. It was as if he had shed one responsibility only to take on another. This was a responsibility he shared with all human beings, but that was no comfort, for it sometimes seemed to him that he was the only one who recognized his responsibility.”

- p. 109

I’m pretty cool on the idea of a ‘concept’ custom bike. There’s certainly nothing wrong with building a bike with a specific purpose in mind, but the idea of having a bike specced for one particular ride or type of riding usually smacks of a transparent marketing strategies. Let’s face it: most of us are pretty lucky to have even one custom bike, and are expecting it to cover a lot of bases. There’s certainly merit to having “the commuter”, the race bike, the all-rounder, the touring bike, the beater, etc etc, but by and large it’s probably not a practical idea for most folks. 

So the idea of this D2R2-oriented bike is both intriguing and befuddling. I am as guilty as anyone of coveting the sort of sportif-style bicycle: eyelets for fenders, room for tires 25-30 and a geometry that’s not going to hold me back but isn’t going to destroy my back and neck after 5 or 6 hours. At this point, I already have 2 of that very model. And this is, in many ways, the bike most well suited for riding in that grade-heavy, rural dirt road epic in Vermont. At the same time, this is basically a club racer with centerpulls, specced with tires that aren’t necessarily the most durable or gravel friendly (after riding Challenge for a good six months, I gave up on them, then recently decided to give them another shot, only to be immediately greeted by a flat). So, I’m torn. Sure, practical to a degree. Totally practical? Probably not. But lovely, in a I-want-an-allrounder-that’s-not-a-museum-piece-sort of way? Yes. 

The Club Racer has always been an admirable model to me (despite having one and selling it within a year), and this one in particular is appealing. Showcased at NAHBS, this was designed with the help of Sandy Whittlesey, D2R2’s creator.