Joyful advance people and bike rack. (Or snow fence.)

Today's post doesn't so much feature bike rack as the main attraction, but serves as an accent for advance people enjoying the moment.

To the left is my very dear, darling Z. Javaid, who is celebrating not only a very large, very perfectly framed flag (god help us, but that's a whole other blog just waiting to happen) but a successful trip in Las Vegas. Framing her perfectly timed jump is some all-American bike rack.

Next up is A. Evans and J. Quinn, and while no bike rack is in this photo, they are frolicking through Cleveland, Ohio, happy as clams (if clams could skip, hold hands, and wear clothing). Pretty awesome. I am including it here not only because I find this shot to be full of happiness and life, but also because the hint of snow fence (a distant cousin of bike rack) really adds a shot of color.

For happy shiny Advance people holding haaaands....FOUR bicycles out of four.

Tall bike rack spotted...well, just about everywhere

I haven't done a themed bike rack post in a while, and finally it got to critical mass - apparently tall bike rack is out there, and my dear eagle-eyed readers have been noticing. Well, here's a round-up of some crazy large bike rack!

First up is another J. Dach special, spotted at Soldier's Field in Chicago - super duper tall bike rack! It practically resembles a door, and serves as such for this stairway. Good luck getting through that when it's locked into place.



The next is from P. Bauer, who spotted this iteration in Chicago as well (what's up, tall bike rack Chicago) - here at Wrigley Field right outside Pat's ridiculously baller apartment. (Side note - who has a SEGWAY in their apartment? Pat and Jack, that's who.)




OK. As as a delicious finale, here's one featuring the very lovely D. Barnes in her BRATW debut, as photographed by the equally lovely J. Quinn. And no, folks, this piece is from Milwaukee, which is also in the Midwest...is it because the folks from the heartland tend to be taller and thus, the bike rack matches as such? Are the bikes bigger? Or are the obstacles just larger? So many questions. So little time. All I know for sure is that D has some killer pants on. Oh yes grrrrrl.

Tall bike rack. Coming to a town near you, if that town happens to be in the Midwest.

Because I like my bike rack to be tall, grey and handsome (don't read into this too much, folks) - THREE bicycles out of four.

Baller bike rack in Oakland

Of course the shiniest, most pimped out bike rack would come not only from Oakland, California (I would do a North Bay hand-pump represent-thing here if I weren't, you know, SOCAL 4 LYFE) but also from R. Montoya, who is kind of a big deal as well.

I've never even seen gold bike rack before. Either this was a subtle shout-out to the Olympics this year and America dominating the medal count (USA USA USA etc) (I think) or someone got upset with C3PO and recycled him into something more useful.

And, in a stellar example of using bike rack to really, really block off a crowd, the Giff sent in another Oakland pic. Pretty awesome. I don't really envy the person who has to dismantle all of that (there has to be at least a few hundred zip-ties holding this puppy together) but I admire their handiwork. Hats off to you, bike rack constructor, you.

For crazy bike rack configurations and allowing me to finally, FINALLY insert a Star Wars reference in this blog, FOUR bicycles out of four. "Hella" nice work, NorCal dudes.

Tiny wee bike rack in Exeter, New Hampsire

Today's hilarious bike rack adventure comes from J.W. Slider, who is not only a very talented writer but also excellent at spotting my favorite barricade. My friends are the greatest. Anyway, he found this variety in Exeter, New Hampshire, just hanging out in a room, waiting for its closeup.

Not sure what this is used for -  a little hard to get the scale of this thing, but it appears to be no taller than 2.5 feet tall. This is not the first time we've seen bike rack in miniature - remember this fine specimen from El Paso, Texas? I guess there's a demand for it somewhere...is it used to keep tiny horses at bay? Little kids? (Me? I am admittedly five feet tall, so this would take me a second or two to hop over.)

For bike rack that's barely over two feet...TWO bicycles out of four. One for each foot it covers. Thanks Slider!

Drink all day, play all night...it's BR in Miami, bitch!

I spent maybe five minutes making up ridiculous lyrics to go with this photo. I failed. Have you looked at the lyrics for "I'm in Miami"? They are ridiculous enough.

Hey! You looking kind of cute in that steel tubing bikini, giiiiiiiirl
Hey! This is what I wanna do, take off that steel tubing bikini, giiiiiiirl

Yup, not good.

Now I have LMFAO stuck in my head for the rest of the day. And maybe you will too.

Thank you to D. Sams for remembering me whenever he travels to exotic locales, and reminding me that Miami is way, way, way warmer than San Francisco right now. Damn, it is COLD out here.* Hence, two posts in a row (technically three!) of warm locations in the dead o' winter.


TWO bicycles out of four, because, you know, Miami is awesome (four bicycles) and the rest of Florida seems kind of meh (deduct two).





*Yes, I am whining about it being cold in California. I get that it's snowing all over the rest of the country but dammit, I don't live in the rest of the country for a reason! 

Hawaiian addendum

A little post script - neglected to include a photo from O. McMillian on yesterday's post in Honolulu. Towering stacks of bike rack, gleaming in the sun. Yay! Thanks sir.

Bike rack in paradise

First of all - my apologies to my dedicated readers (all seven of you...whom I love very, very much) - I know I've been slacking off the last couple of months, but I'm back and ready to write about that ol' steel tubing I love so much. I have so much to catch up on - so much bike rack, so little time! Who knew when I started this blog that we'd hit so many different countries and cities? I mean, I will do a comprehensive bike rack stats post in the next week, but I know we've posted photos from six continents already. (Oh, Antartica - I can only dream.) 

So to counter the dreary days of December, I'm going to start with a little tropical punch. Bike rack...in Hawaii! 

To the left, we have a stack of bike rack hanging out at in Honolulu, ready to be deployed. Note, this may be the first (and last) time I've ever seen something that is used as barricade being barricaded off by something else. Was the caution tape and cones necessary, guys? 

Next up: bike rack in the true barricade style, replete with STOP sign. Kind of redundant, if you ask me.

This tropical specimen is courtesy of one J. Dach, whom is always on the lookout for the rare spotting of a wheeled, double-sided rack such as this one. Also, note the colorful taping of the back piece. What's up with that? Does it help it blend in more? Or was it just in a festive luau mood? I like to think it's sporting the bike rack equivalent of a lei.

And now, bike rack actually being deployed. Here's another case of redundant bike rack - if the thick tropical hedges (read: there are some serious bugs in there) weren't enough to counter anyone jumping into the path, hey, maybe some bike rack will.

To finish off our tour of Hawaiian bike rack, check out the bike rack that's getting set up at Kaneohe Bay on Oahu. Military men + bike rack = true tropical heat. Just saying. 

And to answer your question, yes, I felt kind of weird and pervy for taking these photos, but the soldiers in the photos were all about me taking pictures of them. So that was also weird, but hey! All in the name of bike rack.

We end with a tribute to what I think is one of the more, uh, interesting squadron logos on a helicopter ever: "Easy Riders." 

Yes, that is a Hawaiian warrior about to pierce the hell out of a shark. Don't mess with him. Or his bike rack. And that easily gets FOUR bicycles out of four. Naturally. 

Sassy bike rack from (Little) Italy

K.Defilippi has sent some super sassy bike rack photos from her vacay in New York - pretty amazing, I must say. Makes me want a latte, some pasta and some fine leather goods. Little Italy has got some awesome bike rack.

Set on a busy street in New York (Broome, to be exact), blocking off pedestrians too busy to watch the traffic whilst eating some gelato.

The paint job on these babies is pretty impressive - I have yet to see any bike rack in the American flag motif - one day. One. Day.

I love that this photo includes the whole street and the stalwart of New York photos - the yellow cabs in the background. Just bringing it all together here.

And to really top off the entire thing, Karen includes a photo of her showing her Italian pride - ladies and gents, that's as good as it gets right there.

Not to be outdone, D.Ceasar has also submitted some bike rack from Italy - from L'Aquila. Of course, D, next time I expect a sassy pose out of you, too. 

For bike rack both from and about Italy - and making me hungry for some pizza - FOUR bicycles out of four. (Horrible accent here) Thats-a-spicy-meatball!

Apology and a token Pollard to you

I know. I'm woefully behind on my posts. It's been a busy few months, but I promise, I have some great ones in the hopper - including more bike rack from:

• around the Capitol
• Lollapalooza
• Denver
• Italy
• Vegas

....and some awesome themes including:

• bike rack in the middle of nowhere
• baseball themed
• more holidays
• parking lot specials

To tide everyone over in the meantime, please enjoy an Alcatraz addendum, in the form of my dear, dear S.Pollard. 

More London bike rack and an accidental Love Actually recap

Ahhh, London. I've never been personally, but I hear it's pretty awesome. It DID look cool pretty awesome in Love Actually. (And guys, I know you love this movie. It always get cited by dudes as "I don't watch chick flicks, but man! Hugh Grant was great in that!" Anyway. I digress.) I mean, they have bike rack directly in front of the Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street. (Remember that scene where Hugh Grant just got elected PM and walks into his residence for the first time and gets inside the hall and sighs like he's thinking "Good lord..." - I've done it again. Sorry.)

According to P. Padilla, the journalists just lock their camera tripods to the bike rack, so that they can take off and have a cuppa tea or whatever it is they do, and also have prime PM-watching space. So smart, those Brits. I love that the journalists clearly came equipped with some ghetto bike chain.

As for the bike rack - kind of an interesting flat  base design going on here, too, that's different from most other bike rack I've seen before, but I appreciate that there is a bit of a handle-like design on the top to facilitate it's movement around.

Next up - some pretty spectacular bike rack found in the hall of Christ Church in Oxford (not to be confused with the bunch of other Christ Churches in England...and there are quite a few). Sigh of relief for you, dear reader - I'm not going to talk about Love Actually! Because duh, Christ Church wasn't in that movie, but it WAS in the Harry Potter movies as the site of the great hall. Thanks to B. Shannon (or Shenanigans) for submitting this - not only is this in a great spot, but looks like standard bike rack is also available across the pond for all your barricading needs.

For making me turn on the Pointer Sister's song that ol' Mickey Blue Eyes is dancing around to, and remind me that the last Harry Potter movie is coming out this month (!!! Let's hope it's not the emo-fest the last one was), THREE bicycles out of four.

U2, "the Claw" and bike rack in Denver, Colorado

S.Moss and T.Mounsey went to investigate the set-build for U2's 360 concert tour in Denver last month. Here are some insane stats courtesy of Sarah and The Denver Post (and, uh, Wikipedia):

- "The Claw" set: 360 degrees around (get it? 360? In the round??? They're so clever.) 

- Takes 47 semi trucks to transport - with THREE sets leapfrogging the continent (see picture to right...that's a whole lotta carbon offsets, U2)

- Currently world record holder of the largest concert stage set-up

- Is the largest grossing concert ever at $558 million (worldwide)

Anyway. Where is the bike rack, you ask? Turns out, during the load-in, U2 showed up and did their own little ropeline...with bike rack, naturally. Duh. 

(Note - the bike rack is a little hard to see, but it's being mobbed by the legions of crazy people, I mean fans, to the top left of the photo.)

And, check out that little mini-motorcade! Big Black Suburbans and all. How the hell do you get to be advance for rock stars? I want in! 

More bike rack is protecting the giant trailers presumably being used for the band/roadies/groupies etc. Damn.  I bet those double-wides are super sweet. 

So, here's a photo of the sets - was all the hoopla worth it? Probably, as long as U2 didn't sing "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of." Ugh. That song makes me cringe, every time. 

For a set that makes J.J. Abram's "Cloverfield" monster look tame...wait, I'm judging bike rack, aren't I? I am. So where does that leave me...ah, yes. On one hand, I kind of want the fans to club Bono and The Edge over the head for Spiderman: The Musical; then again it wouldn't be the barricade of choice for rock stars and politicans alike. I guess I'll split the difference: TWO bicycles out of four. 

An advance dream: pre-made bike rack covers

Sent over from S.Moss - pre-made bike rack covers, thanks to Electrum Productions and one J.Scott. Long gone are the days of trying to drape random fabrics and safety-pin them to bike rack: nope, they come fit and measured in a lovely blue banjo for all your barricading needs. I'm jealous. If only all my clothing fit as well.

For one-upping my tailor, THREE bicycles out of four.

Unseasonably frozen bike rack in NYC and New Hampshire

It's warming up here in California, and thoughts of cool, frosty ice cream treats haunt me all day. Seeing as I need to fit into a bridesmaid dress in the near, near future (and I doubt Spanx will save me this time), I'm stuck to licking ice cubes and thinking about chocolate malted crunch cones (Thrifty lovers, you know what I mean); I'm doing a post on frosty cold...bike rack. Brrrr.

Dave E. tells me he "risked frostbike" (ha ha. OK, he really said frostbite but did I not warn you about the bad puns??) to take these photos by taking his gloves off in New York City, on Lexington Ave. between 94th and 95th. And, he got the added bonus of NYC Metro in the background. Brava! The snow on the top of the rack looks like shaved ice!

Although, not to call you out here, Dave, but there isn't really much snow on the ground, it looks sunny and that car looks fairly snow-free in the background. But props for you for geting a bus with Oprah on it. That's got to be worth something.

And, now for a photo taken by yours truly with the assist of Kathryn E., who not only lent me her camera but pointed it out during a sketchy shuttle right into downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We stopped our driver in the middle of the street, and in the middle of a "slurry," I ran out and scared the beejeezus out of an oncoming car. Sorry, folks, but the paparazzi have come to your sleepy hamlet, in the name of bike rack.

Not the clearest photo, but look at the big flakes of snow! Clearly snowing, and damn cold, too.

For taking my mind off the cappuccino crunch in the freezer - TWO bicycles out of four. Mint chip, it ain't.

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.

St. Paddy's Day bike rack in SF

The Turnerator sent me a very timely reminder that today is St. Patrick's Day, a holiday which I always seem to miss due to work or other things that suck. (Today, I celebrated by driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Hooray. Not.)  

Anyway, I'm glad he spotted some bike rack that was in the spirit of the day, bedecked in green and covered in Guinness. Yup, that's about right. 

Adam (and Lisa) did not miss St. Paddy's day last year, along with an unfortunate fellow who was drunk enough to have run face first into a stop sign, apparently. Good times. Too bad there wasn't a piece of bike rack to prevent it! 

For bike rack that refuses to be pinched: THREE bicycles out of four. (If only there was a pot of gold, it'd be four.)