An Amusement & Diversion for The Genteel Cyclist. Daily.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Mystery Photo Contest No. 16: What is it?

If you can guess what's actually going on here -- or make me chuckle with your version of what you think is going on here -- you'll win a fat fistful of Pinch Flat News stickers!




11 comments:

brother yam said...

Oh, this one's easy...

This is the initial training for the Wehrmacht's secret FahrradKommandoGruppe (FKG) and were to be used in the invasion of the Low Countries. They were to be deployed by moving vans or low-flying bombers so that they could hit the ground running -- as it were...

Chad Parrish said...

I know what this is, it is a commuter set up so cyclists can ride to work in Minnesota winters. The warm coolant from the engine is run to a mesh of copper tubing that is passed through the square thing at the back of the car. As air flows over the copper tubing it is heated so the cyclist is able to ride while being blasted by warm air, hence why he or she is able to wear so little clothing and ride in the winter.

--Chad

bikingbrady said...

The giant wind vortex was set up for training for those not used to cycling in the wide open windy state of South Dakota. It's the only way anybody could find to bridge the gap to the awesome cycling abilities of South Dakotans.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

~gomez~ said...

It's an early prototype of Buckerroo Bonzai's Ubber-Thruster.

-kw said...

It's a suicide attempt — one of thousands that took place on velodromes in the roaring 20s. Something to do with reefer madness, opium ingestion, brandy drinking, or the like.
The cyclist is Eric Cheslak and his attempt at ending his life was assisted by the great, great, grandfather of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, Josh "Doc" Kevorkian.
Doc was so nicknamed because of his work as arborist and tree doctor. He made a little money on the side (There's no money in making trees live … everyone knows that.) by clearing brush after windstorms, throwing the branches into his tree grinder, and selling the wood chips to local gardeners.
Cheslak tricked Kevorkian into drafting for him under the guise of breaking the hour record — the tree grinder acting as a giant wind buffer. The suicide attempt, however, proved to be unsuccessful (hence the term attempt) as each time Cheslak tried to surge into the grinder's blades his front tire flatted, slowing him down considerably.
Cheslak ended his attempts after running out of tires and years later became a Roman Catholic Priest.
Kevorkian published his experiences in the his best-selling memoir The Benefits of Assisted Suicide, in which he spelled out many different methods of stopping suicides by "assisting" people improperly, thus keeping them from expiring.
His great, great grandson, on the other hand, came away from the memoir with a slightly different interpretation of the text.

The Driver said...

It's how the first Fixie rider was able to come to a stop.

Matt said...

You're making this too complicated, guys. It's nothing more than a sturdy rear bumper to minimize damage from getting hit by cyclists. The Company did a similar front bumper to address the growing deer problem, but sadly the sightlines were poor and that aspect of the project was discontinued.

Anonymous said...

KITT and the support semi during Knight Rider's PBS days.

Tim said...

I think this is a guy trying to set a speed record using a car to draft behind. Maybe he was just showing the configuration in a static setup and not actually moving when the photo was taken.

Anonymous said...

This is the precursor to the Motorola race radios. The DS, sitting in the back of the team car is using the "Cyclist's Ear Trumpet" to urge his rider on. Amazingly, the ear trumpet was much more effective that modern race radios.

Anonymous said...

brainwashing. its for brainwashing... youll never be as good as kevin bacon. never. never