May we humbly suggest a seat-height consultation?

Other than that, this woman, spotted happily plying the streets of central Eugene, looks contended enough to have come straight out of a Schwinn catalog. Something like this, from 1964:

This was, of course, in the dangerous days before medical science confirmed the link between slamming your bare head on the pavement and traumatic brain injury. It was also in the days before marketing science proved you could sell people entire wardrobes of clothes to be used exclusively for a single activity, such as yoga, or running, or riding a fixie.

Nowadays, Schwinn promotional photos are more like this:

The fashions change, of course, along with the safety gear. But as ads go, it’s the same idea, of course: The joy that can be brought by cycling. The healthfulness of exercising in the fresh air and sunshine. The guy, hoping to score …

As long as we’re going to digress, wow, what a gold mine of cheap laughs in these vintage Schwinn catalogs. For instance, from 1972:

Advertising-wise, same kind of idea going on here: The fun, the joy, the healthfulness, the mild sexual innuendo (What’s going to happen after the ride! When they’re all flushed and a little sweaty.) I mean, do you ever hold your bike like the two guys on the right are holding that one?

OK, let’s move on …

* * *

Oh, gosh. I almost forgot about Le Tour de Milk Crate. Dramatic action photo of the day:

With hopes of an eighth Tour victory dashed, having suffered in the hills and fallen far behind in the overall standings, an aging but fiery veteran of the race, hoping to salvage a stage win, explodes off the front in a cheeky solo attack on the flats near the fairgrounds.

(Thank goodness we’re into the last week of Tour de Milk Crate.)

* * *

Finally, if you’re the sort of person who believes peak oil is upon us — and that it will bring about economic collapse, mass societal paralysis and the downfall of civilization — you might take comfort in the preparations being made by this gentleman. Spotted along Coburg Road, he has devised this bicycle aided lean-to — conveniently integrating his need for efficient petroleum-free transportation and cozy, weatherproof shelter.