The good news is that volume has increased, and the CKHCI is up from last week's low of 67. But the bad news is that the index remains low at just above 70:
While any uptick is encouraging, it remains to be seen how things will play out as we move into the holiday buying season.
Moving on, I've prepared a quiz in order to further dampen your enthusiasm as we move into the weekend. As always, study the question carefully and choose your answer. If you're right you'll see the item or some other confirmation that you're correct. If you're wrong, you'll see part I of the episode of "Family Ties" in which Alex P. Keaton gets addicted to speed.
Also, please note that, as usual, this quiz contains a melange of material, some of which I came across myself and some of which was forwarded by readers. I just want to take this opportunity to thank the many readers who send me links and photos. Please know that, while I'm not always able to respond, I'm always grateful to receive it and I consider myself very fortunate to receive so much email, even when it is somewhat disturbing.
Good luck, thanks for reading, and ride safe this weekend.
--BSNYC/RTMS
1) What lies beneath the tarp in Opinionated Cyclist's latest video?
--Green beans
--Yellow moons
--Orange stars
--Dead bodies
2) The Agency for Cycling Ethics (ACE) has:
--Named Jonathan Vaughters to its Board of Directors
--Added "wheelsucking" to its list of ethics violations
--Won the coveted "Golden Stream" award from the American Urinalysis Society
--Gone belly-up
3) According to a recent Seattle Times article, what may signal the death of the bike messenger?
--New and prohibitively strict insurance requirements
--Court system e-filing
--A statewide ban on self-righteousness
--The rise of the Mogo scooter messenger
--A great armada of refuse, plying the Hudson Street bike lane under a gloved masthead
--A new Terry Gilliam film shooting in Manhattan
--Part of a citywide bike lane cleanup program
--The morning after yet another Transportation Alternatives soirée
5) Who can come to S.P.I.N. (Super Power Inclusion Night) at the Derailer Bicycle Collective in Denver?
--"Wimmin"
--The final destination for a great armada of refuse
--The set of a new Terry Gilliam film
--Bigvalueguy World Headquarters, located in the Republic of Texas
7) Cipo's back!
--True
--False
8) What is VeloNews technical editor Lennard Zinn's advice to a rider with a scuff on his Dura Ace crank?
--Get over it
--Get over yourself
--Home anodization
--Crank replacement
9) According to old crappy 10-speed expert Cameron, when it comes to old crappy 10-speeds shoddy cyclocross conversions may be the new shoddy fixed-gear conversions.
--True
--False
How do you know when a man is waaay too excited about his new Sora-equipped road bike?
--The crotchal region of his half-shorts is distended
--He is slavering copiously
--He has taken a photograph of himself with it in flagrante delicto
--It is impossible to be excited about a Sora-equipped road bike