27 August 2011

Riding a bike while wearing a skirt - nope, not in NYC

First they came for smokers. Then for burger munchers and trans fats maniacs. Then it was the turn of salt licking fiends. After that, the donut-eaters-in-forbidden-ares got their due.

You would guess that by now a man like Bloomberg could relax in his office chair, comforter or whatever, sip his alcohol-, cholesterol- and trans fats- free vegetable cocktail with imitation salt and enjoy the scalps of all the above mentioned criminals gracing his office walls. And you would be wrong.

Because evil comes in myriad different forms and should be confronted, subdued and fined, no matter the dangers associated with acts of utmost bravery. Here is one unexpected evildoer:

Jasmijn Rickman, who ironically enough is a bike company general manager in Holland, was subjected to some cop harassment while in town for the New Amsterdam Bike Show last month. Riding her bike one day around the city, a police officer pulled her over and said that her exposed legs were "distracting the cars."
Yeah. If she is distracting even the NYC cars, imagine what does she do to the drivers...
Understandably, Rijcken didn't at first believe the police officer, . "I thought he was joking around but he got angry and asked me for my ID," she confessed to the Daily News.
No, dear Ms Rijcken, the cop wasn't joking. There is another city regulation says cops joking on duty is verboten, because it may interfere with their mayor's acid level. And then he may want to forbid some acid-causing foods, like pumpernickel* or ziti**. Or ice cream***...

(*) (**) (***) All these are random foodstuffs examples that are in no way associated with stomach acid percentages. The NYC managers are asked not to get their knickers twisted.

10 comments:

Francis Sedgemore said...

The cop gets all hot under the collar about Ms Rickman's exposed pins, and doesn't notice that her fixie has no handbrake.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Maybe it's an old-fashioned one where you brake by backpedalling? She is from Holland, remember, where they use all kinds of old bikes still.

jams o donnell said...

Glad to see that crime is so low in NYC that they have time to deal with such evil doers!

SnoopyTheGoon said...

And burger-munchers, salt lickers and other riff-raff, don't forget!

Francis Sedgemore said...

No, that's a fixie, like wot I ride (but with a front hand brake). And a well trendy one too! The kind of machine to which you refer has a much larger rear wheel hub.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

I see. Good to know.

Dick Stanley said...

That doesn't really qualify as "a skirt." And there are laws against "public indecency," even in Nu Yawk.

Dick Stanley said...

So how does she brake the thing? Drag her feet?

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Why, it's a lovely skirt, methinks ;)

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Maybe she stick her foot between the spokes?