Bicycle madness

If cycling were a poker game, my style would be loose-aggressive. It might be plain compensation for the fact I don't own a car, but when I ride my bicycle I consider myself to be the king of the road. Which translates itself into a pretty offensive way of getting from point A to B (feel free to replace this euphemism by a sentence involving 'my life' and 'an old school strategic board game which - under the pretext of spending an evening with friends - has the sole purpose of driving a wedge between people') and getting rid of that universal amount of traffic-related frustration while pedaling the streets. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time a relative or friend of mine gets my middle finger shoved into the face because he or she honks the horn. Despite the fact that this is (more than) often meant as a simple 'Hello there!', my brain seems to interpret traffic horns as insults, and therefore reacts by extending the longest member of the digit family.

Anyway, this post is not meant as an excuse to sum up bicycle frustrations (although I just have to mention the biggest of them all: shattered glass on my path, often neatly shoveled onto the bicycle lane by the nitwit who wasn't able to steer clear of a car accident in the first place), but rather as an excuse to share my ideas on something that has been puzzling me for a while now: the fact that some people enjoy the act of smoking while riding their bike. There are definitely non-trivial actions which can be performed on a bike, while actually riding it. I haven't tried it myself, but professional cyclist seem to be able to pee while riding their bike. I do have experience with the following activities though: skipping tracks on the iPod, tying my shoes, making notes, sending text messages (often: "Will be there in 10 minutes, I am on my way!"), getting stuff from my backpack or preparing lectures.

Smoking while riding a bike, however, doesn't make any sense. At all. You don't see people eating hamburgers while jogging, do you? Although it would actually be a good idea to have top floor burger restaurants in tall buildings without elevators only: the Mac Stamina, your stairway to junk heaven! The thing is, I am more than willing to understand that you can enjoy a cigarette after dinner, or while going out(side), but how can you possibly do that on a bike? Unless traffic stresses you to an extent which goes beyond my understanding, or you just want to make perfectly clear why you are excessively panting and easily out of breath, holding the culprit in your hand. Because in that case, erhm...

Nah... It still doesn't make sense.