Falling Forward & A Bad Case of Mood Poisoning
MEATmag experienced the next level of A.I. poisoning this week when a generated article titled “Igniting Your Mountain Biking Journey” hit the main page. This was thanks to a GoDaddy customer support team, investigating a problem they’d solved days earlier, publishing some A.I. crap as a ‘test,’ and then leaving it up there. But I still want to apologize, and also to say thank you to the folks who gave me a heads-up. Not even in my best dreams of being able to craft wicked satire would I mess about with the for-humans, by-humans, foundations of this bicycling community.
That said, with lines like “…by blending human power with advanced mechanical insights, MEATengines represent a dynamic shift in how riders tackle challenging terrain.” and “these unique energy systems are reshaping the biking experience across local trails and rugged landscapes,” I’m not too bloody worried about Enshitenstein’s Monster stealing my by-donation writing gig any time soon. Still, let us all take a moment to recognize that this sort of word slag is poisoning most everything.
I’ve had a couple of friends ask me, vis-à-vis the MEATengines no A.I. policy, how ‘we’ stay on top of that specifically around Larry Talker Tunes and posting album art. Oof, the thought had never occurred to me. Musicians, like any artists whose work is majorly enjoyed in a digitized fashion, have been duck-dodging the tip of the tech-bros spear as much as anyone; it’s hard for me to believe that, especially the more financially successful ones, wouldn’t be paying artists to, well, art. Maybe I’m naive. All the words to say, I’m trying. Any questions, or concerns, you know where to find me.
All that said, just a short SBTISAOAF this week. Claire’s back in hockey tryouts, school is about to boot back up for the next year, I’ve been catching up with friends I haven’t seen in a while, and I’ve been spending a quite a bit of my cloud-drawing time thinking about vans. But, I’m not obsessed. I only mention the latter to jump out in front of my ‘friend’ Cooper’s teasing of me about making the transition from little known mountain bicycle writer to an even lesser known #VanLife blogger. Thanks, but no thanks.
{Did you check out Marc’s Gary Fisher Rig this week? If you’ve been thinking of adding an About a Single Speed entry to our haikuniverse, please feel encouraged!}
Fall Forward Bike Swap
Cycling community organizer extraordinaire F!RST L!GHT Thomas and, I’m sure, the usual cast of rad volunteers {Go Team Scaffolding! and shoutout to SJS*} are hosting the Fall Forward Bike Swap on Sunday September 13th, from 1pm to 4pm in Woodland Park. That’s on the Adanac bike lane between Clarke and Commercial for all us Vancouver-adjacent folks.
The information I have at this time is “Bring A Buddy, A Blanket, And Your Best Parts” and to expect a maximum 4′ x 8′ space. I assume it’s rain or shine, but if you’re thinking of riding by it’s always best to follow Thomas the Bike {Community} Engine on the ‘gram. But, basically, it sounds like marketplace in real life and my guess is there will be a combination of good bike stuff and great bike people hanging out. All types of bikes and bike-bits welcome but my educated guess will be a heavy bent towards ATB {Any Type of Bike} action with the letter ‘S’ more represented by Surly, Soma, and SimWorks than ShiRAMano.
*{Samuel J. Stewart of Show-And-Shine booking desk fame.}
{Above photo by Thomas the Bike Engine & HotDogsOnWlz.}
Cy’s Bear Flexagon
Cy Whitling likely won the Bikernet for September on the very first day of the month with his rad flexagon art project. How great is it? The Clairebarian and I thought it was absolutely worth sitting through an unskippable 26-second eeb advertisement to watch the finished art in action.
I know I don’t have a future in art marketing because rather than build suspense I’m sharing my {everyone’s?} favourite frame here, but it’s absolutely worth a few minutes of your time to pedal yourself over to NSMB.com and check out the whole Bear Encounter process and finished product.
{Above art by Cy Whitling.}
Joe Woywitka {x} NSMBA
While NJP, The Clairebarian, and many of our friends are back to school September 8th, Tuesday is also a big day for long-time local trail builder Joe Woywitka as he steps into the role of NSMBA Trail Manager. Joe previously led the tool-swinging-team of the NSMBA Trail Crew for a handful of years so he knows what he’s digging himself into {hahahahahaha}.
All jokes about my favourite soap operas aside {‘As The Shore Turns’ & ‘All My Builders’}, Joe has an awesome reputation as someone who anyone and everyone is delighted to work with and I’m stoked that he’s taking on this challenge. See you in the trees, Joe.
{Photo by Paul McGrath/North Shore News.}
Cardboard Luxury vs. Cardboard Enlightenment?
I came across this nifty onto-the-box thinking whilst reading Pinkbike’s recent tech briefing. Benjamin Rivera’s wheel-add-on system for cardboard bike boxes, TrailBorne Gear Roll Pack Wheels, is a really cool idea for traveling with your bike. The wheel system is designed to modify an empty bike box so that a bike can be put in it, with the bike remaining recyclable and the wheels being reusable. It’s a really neat system both for folks trying to travel with a bike who don’t want the expense of a bike bag or hard case, and also for folks who only need the bike box one way and can then recycle it and pack home the wheels. Neat stuff Benjamin.
But, it also has me thinking. Having hauled around a whole lot of heavy eeb & MTeeB boxes working in shops, a simple, adjustable, wheeled solution could be enlightening when moving bikes around a shop. In addition to the Roll Pack Eagle and Roll Pack Nomad systems, how about a ‘Roll Pack Shop’ system that doesn’t actually modify the boxes, but captures them for ease of movement. Just the thought of making a much easier job of, at least some of, the de-trucking and moving about pedal-assisted-motor rigs in the shop environment has me stoked.
{Above photos by TrailBorne Gear.}
Climbmax
So that’s a wrap, well, other than Model-T’s triumphant return to Larry Talker Tunes. I have a pile of partially written stuff and some promises of incoming About a Single Speed and Bicycle Valentines submissions, so next week might be super-MEATy or MEAT-light. We’ll just have to wait and see. Sorry. Hopefully nothing at all in SBTISAOAF about the GoDaddy Circus or A.I. Sorry, again.
I wanted to wrap with this quote I saw this week. You know when something written in a comment is so crisp and refined that it’s implausible that it’s an original thought, that it should be shared without attribution. Anywho, after a few second’s search it’s a Turkish Proverb and, maybe, one of the better societal warnings of all time:
“The forest was shrinking, but the trees kept voting for the axe. For the axe was clever, and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them.”
Larry Talker Tunes: By Terry Walker
The late 80’s and early 90’s. Hell, already I was desperately holding onto the 70’s. Music was changing and fast. New wave rock and metal, pop-rock, Glam, and the beginnings of Grunge, punk, and hip-hop The Black Crowes didn’t resonate with me. Lost in the noise? Their singles Hard to Handle and Twice as Hard were receiving regular airplay, however I was never compelled to buy their music.
Decades later, after a 15-year hiatus, a new album, Happiness Bastards had me take notice of The Crowes southern rock and blues sound. Almost thought it was The Stones upon first listen.
This week then, it’s The Black Crowes and their newest album release from March 2026; A Pound of Feathers
Standout tracks:
…and a heck of a closing – Doomsday Doggerel
{Above photo by The Black Crowes.}
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