I am Jessamyn's New Bike

September 15, 2008 9:53 AM

Jessamyn's Bike Took A Picture and I'm a little jealous.

I'm guessing that Jessamyn in Bethel VT is the same person that moderates hereabouts.

posted by fixedgear to MetaFilter-related at 9:53 AM (51 comments total)

Yes. Is.
posted by Plutor at 9:56 AM on September 15, 2008

That's a great idea. If I ever rode my bike anywhere interesting (or at all), I'd totally do this.
posted by DU at 10:09 AM on September 15, 2008

The sky was blue and the fern green when
Into the lore of MeFi scripture
Jessamyn's bike took a picture.
posted by netbros at 10:10 AM on September 15, 2008

Jessamyn's bike needs to turn on the flash.
posted by yhbc at 10:19 AM on September 15, 2008

I'm a little jealous of those off-white Schwalbe balloon tires.
posted by box at 10:34 AM on September 15, 2008

I never learned to ride a bike so quit showing off, all you showoffy technogeeks.

kidding, kidding!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 10:47 AM on September 15, 2008

I love the engraving on the control panel.
posted by exogenous at 10:47 AM on September 15, 2008

It seems to take many of pictures at night.
posted by lee at 10:48 AM on September 15, 2008

Jessamyn has a posse. And a neat bike.
posted by ardgedee at 10:54 AM on September 15, 2008

Jessamyn's bike seems to spend a lot of time sleeping. Those black frames mean its eyelids are closed, right?
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 11:01 AM on September 15, 2008

The thing takes a photo any time you even nudge it so it's a little tricky to get it to not take a lot of night photos, or especially bike rack or car backseat photos. The initial info about the bike said it would come with a lens cover which it actually didn't. We're technically allowed to delete photos but they'd prefer that we didn't. In NYC it's probably a little tough to tell exactly where you live by the location of your bike but in Vermont you can pretty much see my driveway. Not like this info isn't on the web elsewhere anyhow.

I'm not quite sure what I'm doing with it. We basically had to promise to ride it every day [or at least try to] and not let anyone else ride it [way to ruin a new bike!] and it's fun learning how it works. On the other hand, it's incredibly heavy, the cruiser is poorly suited to riding around in Vermont and I have legsful of bruises trying to lift it into my car. The materials we got said "let your bike develop its own personality" and I decided my bike is a lot like Calvin's bike.

This is the promotional Yahoo page that my bike stuff will show up on. Fun fact: on the East Coast bikes page not only does it say I live in Bethel [I have since moved, they sent the bike to my new address] it also uses blurby text about Bethel that I myself had added to Wikipedia.

I basically have never ridden a bike in Vermont as an adult before this, it's been an interesting experience.
posted by jessamyn at 11:06 AM on September 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

Not to denigrate the bike-cam experience at all, but call me when they start giving away segways -- or, even better, jet packs -- with geocams on them. I'll be the first one in that line.
posted by Dave Faris at 11:13 AM on September 15, 2008

If Yahoo gave me the hardware without the bike (and a budget for tires and inner tubes) I'd rig things up myself. I can't stand riding those cruisers, but I could put up with an extra few pounds on the all-weather bike I'm building.
posted by ardgedee at 11:15 AM on September 15, 2008

Jessamyn's bike.

mathowie's recumbent.

cortex's tiny, tiny pony.

(Traffic-camera-shy pb doesn't drive a car for fear of a ticket.)
posted by Rhaomi at 11:24 AM on September 15, 2008

The pony has eidetic memory. It goes home every night and uses a hoof to sketch in the dirty what it saw throughtout the day.
posted by cortex at 11:35 AM on September 15, 2008 [4 favorites]

"But what does it all mean, Mr. Hoofenstuff? What in God's name did you see?"
posted by Rhaomi at 11:54 AM on September 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

The pony has eidetic memory. It goes home every night and uses a hoof to sketch in the dirty what it saw throughtout the day.

"in the dirty" is my new replacement for "scandalous"
posted by cowbellemoo at 12:09 PM on September 15, 2008 [7 favorites]

[...] the cruiser is poorly suited to riding around in Vermont

Is that an Electra Townie Balloon 8? I can imagine that having the cranks forward, while fine for flat city biking, might not be the thing for your terrain. I covet the Fat Franks, though. Ach well, Yahoo is your new bicycle.
posted by mumkin at 12:14 PM on September 15, 2008

Ach well, Yahoo is your new bicycle.

Gee, thanks. A few clicks in, and it told me Yahoo kills a kitten every time I masturbate.

[Segue] Speaking of... I went to my doctor this morning and he said I had to stop masturbating. I said "Why?" He said "So I can examine you."
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 12:21 PM on September 15, 2008 [4 favorites]

Every time a Mefite posts a comment when they should have known better, jessamyn's bike takes a black picture.
posted by lukemeister at 12:27 PM on September 15, 2008

I basically have never ridden a bike in Vermont as an adult before this, it's been an interesting experience.

Wow, really? I've been all over your fair state, there are hills everywhere. Big ones. Looks like a fun project though, and yeah, if they sent me the junk I'd mount it to a rack and take some pictures.
posted by fixedgear at 12:40 PM on September 15, 2008

HELLO, I AM THE
CONTROL PANEL
posted by Greg Nog at 1:07 PM on September 15, 2008

Looks like her bike has been stolen and is being held down in the basement at the Alamo
posted by chillmost at 1:10 PM on September 15, 2008 [2 favorites]

Let's just clear this "bike" myth up. What you're seeing is misinterpretations of conventional objects, atmospheric phenomena, drama, delusional experiences, or else hoaxes.
posted by panboi at 1:10 PM on September 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

So it's swamp gas that's causing the flickr?
posted by cortex at 1:28 PM on September 15, 2008 [3 favorites]

Looks like her bike has been stolen and is being held down in the basement at the Alamo

What? Why would an 18th century Spanish mission turned Texan fort even have a basement? It's possible that some sort of small cellar might exist at the site, but I find it hard to believe that there would be a significant underground structure as part of the complex, let alone one used by bike thieves to store stolen goods.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:49 PM on September 15, 2008

...
posted by cortex at 1:57 PM on September 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

TEQUILA!
posted by cortex at 1:58 PM on September 15, 2008 [2 favorites]

Neat, mathowie has strabismus just like Jean-Paul Sartre and me.
posted by clavicle at 2:07 PM on September 15, 2008

I'm an amblyopia man myself.
posted by fixedgear at 2:35 PM on September 15, 2008

Pee Wee knows where the purple bike goes.
posted by fixedgear at 2:36 PM on September 15, 2008

Jessamyn: I basically have never ridden a bike in Vermont as an adult before this, it's been an interesting experience.

Have you ridden your bike over Breadloaf Mountain yet? Highly recommended...
posted by JeffL at 2:50 PM on September 15, 2008

I'd do something like this with my car, but I'm afraid that I'd find out that it was going out and having fun without me. You know, hitting the strip, picking up some hot little foreign import... stuff that I just don't want to know about.
posted by quin at 2:51 PM on September 15, 2008

What a great idea.

A little more nano, a little less prudence; and I'm thinking colonoscopy by bike.
posted by cedar at 2:54 PM on September 15, 2008

I just looked at the pictures in the hopes that you got a shot of the old BMW and old Triumph motorcycles that came through Randolph/Bethel on Sunday! But no such luck.

That area is so damn beautiful, but I don't envy you having to power a bike up those inclines!
posted by suki at 3:04 PM on September 15, 2008

Have you ridden your bike over Breadloaf Mountain yet?

Excuse me? Did you get the part where I'm a 40 year old asthmatic lady with almost no real cycling experience? I can barely lift the thing, much less propel it up a mountain (even an east coast mountain) with me on top of it. I am looking to find a way to put it on a rack so that I can take it someplace besides my town and also not have it take 100 photos of my car's interior.
posted by jessamyn at 3:05 PM on September 15, 2008

I say we let him go.
posted by vronsky at 3:06 PM on September 15, 2008

(even an east coast mountain)

You misspelled "east coast quote-unquote 'mountain'".
posted by cortex at 3:10 PM on September 15, 2008

I don't envy you having to power a bike up those inclines!
While it may be fashionable for cruising in town, that bike appears to have the hill-climbing alacrity of a walrus.
posted by exogenous at 3:12 PM on September 15, 2008

Jessamyn: I can barely lift the thing, much less propel it up a mountain (even an east coast mountain) with me on top of it

Yeah, I actually thought that "east coast mountain" was harder than anything I rode in the Rockies or the Cascades this summer.

Have fun!
posted by JeffL at 3:15 PM on September 15, 2008

Gnng, why are those arrows the wrong way around?
posted by turgid dahlia at 3:23 PM on September 15, 2008

The Picture of Jessamyn's Bike is my favorite novel by Oscar Wilde.
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:41 PM on September 15, 2008

I am Jessamyn's New Bike Wheelchair
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:48 PM on September 15, 2008

East coast mountains are uphill going both ways, and there are glaciers and trolls for each agonizing peddle.
posted by lukemeister at 3:59 PM on September 15, 2008

Hey no fair, I want a camera on my wheelchair!
posted by wheelieman at 4:01 PM on September 15, 2008

Um, pedal. I'm not peddling anything or piddling in this thread.
posted by lukemeister at 4:25 PM on September 15, 2008

Has anyone registered the jessamyn's_bike sock-puppet yet?
posted by mmahaffie at 4:49 PM on September 15, 2008

Man. How come the people who already have cool lives are also the ones who get the free bikes? I mean, okay, she has to live in Vermont and is not allowed to leave from a 3 mile radius from her home town unless she is offering a lecture on Web 2.0, but still.
posted by Deathalicious at 10:35 PM on September 15, 2008

Jessamyn's bike in the basement of the Alamo
posted by lukemeister at 7:40 AM on September 16, 2008

You misspelled "east coast quote-unquote 'mountain'".

I see what you did there. While I concede that you have higher peaks, we've got the wind speeds. Can't we just agree to turn our collected ire against the mid-west ski resorts who have no problem talking about their "mountains" with straight faces? They can cover their landfills with as much snow as they want, but even calling them hills is generous.
posted by SpiffyRob at 7:44 AM on September 16, 2008

Mount Washington is a pretty bad-ass mountain as far as mountains that people try to climb/ride/hike up.
posted by Mister_A at 10:55 AM on September 16, 2008