"Bikes to the Bars" Story an Excuse for Typical Times Temperance Lecture

You know, it never fails: the Times does a neat little item about "Bike to the Bars," a hokey but still enjoyable plot to get bikers to local craft brew joints, and in the middle of the fun finds it necessary to tell readers, "Still, booze and bikes don't always go together." And then they won't shut up about it. Did you know David Byrne once fell off his bike drunk? And that "even Europeans are starting to question pedaling under the influence"? No, we don't know why this should influence us one way or the other, either. Then they get Transportation Alternatives' Wiley Norvell -- a wonderful cycling advocate, but not our mother -- to nanny up as well: "There's a difference between drinking and intoxication... We stress that you should never ride intoxicated." Since Susan Cheever declared drinking declasse, the Times can't even promote a goddamn beer bash without going Carrie Nation. (Sometimes wealthier characters such as luxury real estate customers get a pass from them, but us proles, never.) Well, thank God there's still one publication out there that treats readers like grown-ups.