How Do They Make That: Bicycles - Booked by the Cover

[ I am pumped for this one! The cover is packed with images we haven't seen much of in the past. I decided to enlist the help of the Wheel of Names yet again to help move this episode forward, and the winner was this one. ]

Welcome to the Book by the Cover Blog(cast), a spin on a podcast that I'm not currently able to record or-well-cast.

Today's book is How Do They Make That: Bicycles by Rachel Lynette.

The cover includes three main images. Two of them take up two quarters of the cover at the top and the other image takes up the bottom half. The bottom image appears to be the main one-it has three completed bikes in the front and more of them in the back. The two images on the top are of different stages within the process of building a bike: the tubes in their raw-ish material form and hands along with a handle bar. Nope. That is not the handle bar. As I make the image a larger, I see it is the gear with the spindles. Image size matters!

In the background of that image I initially misinterpreted, there are a bunch of tools on the wall. There seems to be pliers, a stack of wrenches-maybe a hammer. The guy who is working on the bike has hairy arms and a blue t-shirt on. Person. The person has hair on their arms and a blue t-shirt. I say all of this just to emphasize all of the details we can consider to inspire the itinerary. 

The text on the cover is in neon colors: green and pink. There is also a little logo in the bottom right-hand corner. The corner itself is neon yellow and the logo has a mix of the sme yellow color, red in the center and blue on the outside. The text of the word, bicycles is green with the pink in the background, and the beginning of the title is above that in white text with a green background. The test there is more of the title of the series than this particular book: How Do They Make That?. 

The other image that takes up a quarter of the cover has the tubes in bundles. It looks like there are 19 tubes in each bundle, and the bundles themselves are in the shape of hexagons when looking at the open sides.  There isn't much else to comment on here, but it does remind me of a history lesson I taught years ago.

[ Ideologies often focus on visual representations of power to define and enforce themselves. To demonstrate this with the example of the fasces symbol, I placed one popsicle stick on students' desks and asked them to break it in half. They all did with no problem whatsoever. 
I then passed around a bundle of popsicle sticks held together with rubber bands and asked students to try to break them all in half-no one was able to break the united force of popsicle sticks. The activity was a way to get students engaged at the start of the lesson as we went through a unit on the way governments and leaders represent themselves visually vis a vis fasces and other symbols. The fasces symbol can be seen associated with many political parties throughout history. 

Essentially, those bundles of tubes remind me of fasces. 

Woooow. 

In an effort to link fasces, I found an example of a fasces and ax combination. That's not what I'm referring to, and I'm wondering if an ax-less fasces was meaningful at certain times in history (like the ones you can find on the front of the Lincoln Memorial.) 😮 

But that's weird, because the word literally means just bundle. 

Ugh. I'm getting fear mongering vibes. 

We might have to find a book on this separate topic for another time. Haha. ]

Well then. Let's get to the itinerary portion of it all.

For the TSR takeaways post on this book, the travel piece listed a tour of Moots Cycles Factory in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. This option is such a great match that I'd like to add it to the itinerary for this blog as well. 

With that in mind, let's see what we can find in that area of the country that also reflects what we have here on the cover. 

Online Googling...

We have snow tubing-also in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. That was easy.  Now, for something related spurs; it'd be great to have it in Steamboat Springs as well. Most of the blogs have been road trips, so I'd like to keep this one as local as possible. 

High hoping...

There are two options: Spur Ranch Jewelry and F. M. Light & Sons. The first has spur in the name and is also a form of metal working. The second potentially sells spurs. Neither location seems to offer an experience per say, but they do offer an activity-shopping-that people tend to do when they travel. So, why not. Also, F. M. Light, according to its history page, started as a store on wheels.

Rereading some pages with a little more patience...

Horses are a common thread throughout the local culture in Steamboat Springs. Horses and bikes are used for racing. 

Um. What. the. what...

This town has a winter festival where they do Skijoring. Skijoring is a sport where skiers are pulled by horses as they race. Now this isn't super bike related, but being that it is a Steamboat Springs-focused itinerary and bikes are known for their racing, why not add something tightly related to the town and loosely related to the text. 

And that's it for this local spin around town take on the cover of How Do They Make That: Bicycles.

Ideally plan your trip during the Winter Festival, go see how to make a bike, do some snow tubing, shop for cowboy gear and jewelry, don yourself with it at the Skijoring event in style!

Please take care and do reach out for help planning added travel, study, and right bookings to your excursions. 

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