Yeah, I feel the same connection to a bunch of Cycleblazers, a few of whom I've met in person, and many more who I've met via internet connectivity (i.e. journal & forum comments.)
More to the point, I agree it would be nice to know when something happens to a cyclist you've been following. I can quickly think of one example. There was a guy who lived in the North Carolina town that was named Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show. I think he was in his seventies. I exchanged many messages with him during my tours and during his tour across the USA. As I recall, he did it on a trike. He wrote about it on Crazyguy, and he succeeded in making it across the country. Several people, including me, wrote to congratulate him. He answered nobody, which led me to fear the worst.
So, as a result of this topic, I'm thinking of instructing The Feeshko on how to let everybody know if something happens to me. Perhaps I'll even prepare my own hyped-up obituary in advance for her to post.
Hey Mark
Have you been lurking at CrazyGuy again? - recent obituary for Jerry Griswold.
Start writing your own obits now, both you and your life partners.
It is interesting to observe that there are a number of "child brides" among the journallers and the opposite in the case of RacPat. Mary is six years younger than I and there are some other much larger age gaps.
Will be interesting to see which partner carks it first, hopefully not for a long time after many more ebike journals.
"Perhaps I'll even prepare my own hyped-up obituary in advance for her to post" <-- Greg, you're forgetting whose obituary it would be... it wouldn't need to be hyped up.
Hey Mike - I'm one of the few people who never even looked at, much less posted on, CGoaB - although after signing up on CycleBlaze and seeing some of the comments, I was curious and checked it out a few times. I found that it's just not my cup of tea. This group is my people.
I've been a touring cyclist since I was 12 in 1969, and oddly that is the same year I started my other life-long hobby, by learning Morse code and other stuff and getting a ham radio license (now K3TN).
In ham radio there is a term 'silent key' when an operator passes away. The ubiquitous connectivity of the internet and cell phones has reduced the flow of young people getting licenses for decades now (the 'maker movement' is turning that around a bit), a tradition of making "Silent Key (SK)" announcements on mailing lists has definitely arisen!
So, need a good term - maybe "Permanent Rest Day"?
I really love that, John, perhaps with a slight tweak on "Permanent Rest Day" - although death is, ultimately, permanent, maybe "Extended Rest Day."
My favorite phrase, and one in which I hope people use for me is that he's arrived at "the clearing at the end of the path."
I plan to die a Bicycle Warrior's death on some challenging cross-country adventure many years hence, so if my journal at that time should cease abruptly and remain unfinished, then it's a good bet that I'm in bicycle Valhalla. BTW, the word "Valhalla" is an old Norse word meaning "hall of the fallen" - sounds rather appropriate for a fallen bicycle warrior.
I think your idea is a good one, cause many of you folks are like really, really, old. I'll inform my wife, and others, that they should pass on the info should I pass on. Of course, in 30 years from now when I'm 100 years old and suffer a brain aneurysm pedaling a loaded bike up a steep Appalachian hill, they may not remember - but you'll all be dead by then anyway! Still, I do think it's a good idea and I will play along. Thanks for suggesting it, here's hoping we all stay young by cycling...
One of my favorite books is a collection of (true) aviation stories, written by a former professional pilot. In the Dedication he lists the names of many dozen friends and colleagues "with wings, forever folded."
In that vein, perhaps "Off the road..."? Or "Journal finished and closed"?
It seems odd to me how a group of people I've never met have somehow become a community to me. Even though I mostly lurk, I've found that CycleBlaze contains a collection of wonderful, supportive, respectful people. Reading your journals, I get a sense of who each of you are, and enjoy the different flavors that we all bring to the touring table.
One of the things I've noticed is that most of us are on the older end of the age spectrum, sixties to eighties. While I hope we all have another forty years of cycling, it's unlikely. I'm not even sure how to ask, but I was wondering if each of you would consider asking your significant other to let the rest of us know if something happens to you, whether it's debilitation or something worse. I suspect the loss of a community member is something we'd all like to know, morbid though it may be, and it might be nice to recall some favorite journal entries in honor of the person.
Thoughts?
1 year ago