Urban bike rack in Montreal

This is a post I've been meaning to put up for some time now, but I think I was saving it for a special occasion - well, that time is now. Thanks to A. Watson for a very artsy submission, straight from Canada, eh? (Couldn't resist.)

She found this masterpiece in Montreal (as it so eloquently says on the bike rack itself), which combines my two of my all-time favorite things - fun, colorful graffiti and, you guessed it, bike rack.

Because this is Canadian, I think there might be something lost in translation. Is this is a squirrel that's chirping? Is it a cartoon bubble expressing his preference of moves in Tic-Tac-Toe? Either way, it brings some color and joie de vivre to otherwise homely gray steel.

Which brings us to the next question - is this bike rack guarding the tiny little bush from further harm? (I mean, you have to squint a bit to see it, but the green shrub is back there.) Does it need two pieces? Is there a rogue army of gardeners prowling Montreal in search of unnecessary pruning?

Anyway. For bringing us such stellar compositions of urban life in a sort-of foreign land: FOUR bicycles out of four.

Gorgeous Chicago sunrise as seen through bike rack

The inimitable J. Dach (getting a lot of post-time in lately) sent me this beautiful photo, and he really just summed it up nicely:

"The sun rises over downtown Chicago and a piece of bike rack as the NATO summit kicks off."

Such a lovely sentiment. Who knew the Dach was such a poet? (Maybe we all did.)

For bike rack in silhouette, with the skyline beautifully framed and the probably ridiculously early hour Dach had to be up to get this: FOUR bicycles out of four.

Alcatraz bike rack: you're on notice

(Note: the original blog post up and DISAPPEARED recently. I don't know what happened but it's as if it never existed. WTF, blogspot? Tumblr is making a run for my business...anyway. And apparently, unlike other people's posts, this one isn't coming back, so I've recreated it as best I could.)

S.Finke sent over some bike rack photos from a trip to San Francisco and Alcatraz recently. She's correcting in asking why anyone would "want to put more bars on Alcatraz" but since it's there, why in the world would they treat it so carelessly??

San Francisco! For shame. That's twice now that tipped-over bike rack has been found within your boundaries.

Anyway, there are some other lovely, non-tipped-over bike rack photos in this bunch. Thank god. 

See? Look here. Bike rack that is upright. Just ignore it's sad cousin to the left and in the background.  (The dude taking photos is clearly also ignoring it. Jerk.) 

Sam also took some lovely, artsy photos in what I'm calling Lover's Lane and Al Capone's cell block, in sepia tone, with some of the landmarks of The Rock. OK, so maybe it's not actually the real jail cell, but close enough. 

To top it off, she found Alcatraz banners specifically made to cover the bike rack. (OK, maybe not exactly to cover them, but whatever, let it go.) Bike rack, gettin' poetic and wordy and stuff. 

More artsty bike rack in a location best remembered for an awesome Nic Cage and Sean Connery movie? FOUR bicycles out of four, but a serious deduction (minus TWO) for the fallen bike rack. For shame, Alcatraz. FOR SHAME. 

Artsy and branded bike rack in Rio

To continue with the Brazil bike rack blitz this month, today's veritable feast for the eyes comes from S.Finke (also, a feast for the eyes....rawrrr or some other animal sound inserted here) from her recent jaunt to the party capital of the world. We've got a variety of beautiful pictures capturing both the late-night Rio de Janeiro scene AND bike rack, in tasteful sepia tones. Me likey.

And, we also have a shot of Mr. D.Teater here, doing his best Japanese girl impersonation, complete with peace fingers and head tilt, in front of what looks to be GIANT bike rack. That's not a visual trick, friends, that is just some very, very, very tall bike rack. What a beast it would be to move that. The bike rack, I mean, not Duncan. 

Next up: getting architectural and all fancy in front of what looks to be some government buildings - or at least an old and fancy palace of some sort. To fit the fancy nature, looks like Rio sprung for some custom white bike rack, complete with their own branding and pretty blue logo to match the blue domes. 

Here's what looks to be a variation on the theme - squared off edges instead of roundness; a little less rusted (I mean, hard to keep perfectly clean in all that humidity, no?) and gridded off lines. How exotic.

Pretty fabulous, I must say. Just missing a carnival girl in a thong and a headdress! THREE bicycles out of four.