Pics: It’s the 3rd annual X-mas photo challenge!

We’re welcoming submissions for our 3rd annual Christmas photo contest. Check out last year’s winner and send your images to wafflesandsteel@gmail.com.

Living in a college town is wonderful. There’s the young vibe. Funky shops and eateries. Smart people. The game day buzz. The sleepy summer when the town empties out. One of the few downsides is witnessing – almost daily – the various ways the kids abuse their bikes. There is a student who rides around town on a vintage pink 3Rensho that she borrowed from her mother. I’ve seen it carelessly chained to a bike rack, the paint job on its top tube touching the rack’s rough metal.

A couple weeks ago, I noticed a LeMond ‘cross bike locked to a rack outside a bookstore in downtown Ann Arbor. The rear derailleur is digging into the pavement. The downtube is touching the bike rack. When I passed it on my way to work, I was hopeful that the bike had not been abandoned because it was locked down with a helmet. I figured the owner cared enough about it to remove the wheel to be on the safe side. But the bike was still out there when I walked by on my way home. It was there the next day and the next and the next. A week went by, and the bike was still braving the elements. It was heartbreaking and painful to watch a machine bearing the name of the greatest cyclist in U.S. history being abused in such a way. I started scheming about ways to cut the lock and rescue the bike. I would leave a note urging the owner to call me if he wanted it back.

Thankfully, when I walked by the bike rack yesterday, the LeMond was gone. Who knows why it was out there so long? Maybe the owner got drunk and forgot where he put it. Anyway, I’m the one who tried to spruce it up with the fake poinsettias from the basement of my workplace. For the photo contest, this is the image to beat.