Fwd: Re: lemniscate and bicycling

[Mary Krimmel]

Orion gave this fine response to a question I asked on a geometry list. The 
question was inspired by some of the discussion about line 137 of Shade's 
poem. Orion is clearly a man of many talents.

Mary Krimmel

>Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003
>From: orion <orion at elenzil.com>
>To: Mary Krimmel <mary at krimmel.net>
>Subject: Re: lemniscate and bicycling
>
>Hi Mary.
>
>i am something of a bicyclist, and
>my short and brutal answer is that i imagine
>the poet was just discounting or romanticising
>the dual tracks which would be left by
>an ordinary person bicycling a figure-8.
>
>altho i think impressionistically speaking,
>this is totally valid: you look, and
>you see a figure 8.
>
>for a Precisish lemniscate,
>from a regular bicyclist,
>i agree the figure would
>have to be failry large.
>Say 25 feet along the major axis.
>Even then, since it's in sand,
>you'd need to be extremely deft
>to do it nonchalantly.
>
>A unicyclist would have trouble
>making a smooth lemniscate because
>much of the nature of unicycling
>involves turning slightly left & right
>with each cycle of the wheel.
>Especially i think when turning,
>and doubly-especially in a medium
>as difficult as sand.
>
>I'd think it more possible in fact
>that the rider was skilled with a
>2-wheel bicycle, and was performing
>a large wheelie all the way around.
>
>In my experience it would be impossible
>to carve a figure-8 without having one
>wheel follow in the tracks of the other.
>
>I'll try to do some experiments tomorrow.
>
>Is Pale Fire good ?
>I just recently read Lolita and found it
>to be one of the best-written books i've
>ever read, hands-down.
>But then i read Invitation to a Beheading
>and found it, uh, tending towards simplistic.
>
>okay.