Labor Night. September 6, Sunday, 2020. OG North End, in the mountains. Paul Goldfinger photo ©.

By Paul Goldfinger,  Editor. Blogfinger.net

It is my impression that this summer has seen more bikers than ever before in Ocean Grove.  Perhaps there is a need for diversion in the face of the COVID stranglehold on our lives.

This is born out by the fact that local bike shops are short on inventory.  A popular design for the folks are the new “step through” models which resemble “girl’s” bikes, but the step over bar is even lower, and gender has been abolished by the bike industry.  Men can now be seen riding bikes with those low bars.  But having studied anatomy, I can tell you that both genders need low bars.

The bikers especially like to pedal around the Grove at dusk or at night, as in our photo above.  They enjoy traveling  in small groups of 2-6 bikers.

The Tour de France types are not interested in our town.   They need a place to stretch out their spandex and their $5000.00 racing bikes.  But those types do wear helmets unlike the OG bikers (as above.) Every biker should wear a helmet–not only the kids.

OG is a lovely small town where it’s fun to bike as a social activity, and thus it is easy to be distracted and to make mistakes like failing to pay attention to one way streets and stop signs.   Cars in the Grove tend to make quick turns onto tiny streets.  Yesterday we saw a car race eastward on Main.  I estimated his speed at 50 mph.  Another hazard is when a driver opens his door when parallel parked, creating an instant collision.

“The Top of the Hill” from the Broadway show Zorba. It’s the original show cast album recording.