Railroad picture of the day
As a bicyclist, I’m a fairly sluggish one. I don’t accelerate sharply away from stops (and I do either stop or slow down to less-than-walking speed when I reach a stop,) I almost never push my speed, and you’ll never actually see me stand out of the saddle and pedal as if I was pretending to be a bicycle racer.
Unless there’s a train involved.
When I went out for donuts today, I was stopped waiting for the light at 17th and Tacoma when I heard an Amtrak engine blowing for the crossings in Milwaukie. I knew the train wasn’t coming from the north (unless it was really late) so that meant if I could make it down to where the Springwater Trail crosses over the SPYellow Menace fast enough, I’d be able to see the train.
And it turns out that if I push the bicycle up to the 104" gear, then stand up and pedal as if I was trying to outrun a nuclear explosion, I can actually not just meet the train but get there early enough to park the bicycle, pull the Pentax out of the saddlebag, and get pictures of the thing.
And I didn’t even snap the bicycle in half, though it was making some really interesting creaky noises when I was pushing it up to veryfastindeed speed.