What's in a name?

Finally! After several days of serious weather, I was able to get back out for a bike commute today! This morning was very pleasant, as the light rain served to keep me cool once I started to warm up.

Between this morning and this afternoon's ride, I covered 23.3 miles, burned 1091 calories and saved another $3.62 on gas.  The price of gas has crept up another six cents in the past three days to $3.73.
Not too bad, if I say do so myself!

Some reflection on giving a bicycle a name after the break...




As I was describing, I sort of inadvertently referred to my bike as "she." Now, I don't know if it's typical cyclist behavior to name one's bike, as boaters name their marine conveyance, or musicians name their instruments (Eric Clapton's "Brownie" and "Blackie").  AND if it is the case that I ought to name my bike, how do I go about it?  Do I go by the color (red)? The type (road)? The level of responsiveness, speed, comfort? I honestly wouldn't know where to begin!

To start, I guess we need to determine if the bike ought to get a male, female or androgynous name.  Given that bike don't have gender (or sex for that matter, grammar police), I'm not sure there's an objective way to solve this dilemma. And if there is, I'm not sure I want to know. I do know that some bike frames have different geometry for male and female riders (a lady's bike usually has an angled top tube):

However, the question isn't about the gender/sex of the rider, but of the bike.  And since that is impossible (I hope) to determine, I don't think it matters.  That being said, I think I personally would prefer a more feminine or androgynous name.

But now what? I could go with a famous name from literature (Daisy? Juliet? Arwen? Scarlett?), cinema (Ilsa? Dorothy? Ripley? Annie Hall?), mythology (Antigone? Helen? Artemis? Pele?), history (Catherine? Amelia? Indira? Florence?) popular culture (Natalie? Beyonce? Gwen? Britney? [NO, by the way.]), world geography (India? Georgia? Shannon? Paris?)

There's just too much to think about, and I need to get to bed... I'll leave it to you, dear reader! If you're so inclined, leave a comment with your thoughts about bike naming.  Here's a nice shot of my bike that may help you come up with something appropriate. Thanks!