When people get back on a bike after a long hiatus, they tend to operate from the heart more than the head. They are after a feeling as much as a function. Freedom, speed, simplicity? Maybe, but I call it magic. They want to feel the magic again.
Recently a friend dropped off a bike she wanted to use for a triathlon. She is a very rational person and wanted me to check it out before she used it. When I said it might not fit her, she said she just wanted to ride for the summer and do one race so it wouldn’t really matter if it was too small. In other words, she felt the magic and so this other stuff shouldn’t matter. I had to explain that bike size was like shoe size so since she wouldn’t wear the wrong size shoes for the summer and a race, we should look at it.
It also shows up with the garage sale bike where someone sees a bike that has sat for years and “worked great when I parked it there”, which is code for “your magic ride awaits.” Then the mechanic says it can work but what was once grease is now essentially glue and so it needs some work, they are so heartbroken. As if the magic has disappeared. Maybe this isn’t “the bike” after all.
Older people who come in and get scared off by all the gears, which is legitimate, suffer from this too. They are quick to say they only need one gear, like they had when they were a kid. And the shop has to try to explain, kindly, that their knees may not agree and that they live where there are hills so gears might be integral to actually enjoying the bike. So the shop has to work to connect them to the magic in a bike that will actually be enjoyable too. This is where being a good salesperson is actually a gift.
It’s beautiful to see people so blinded by the magic really. It speaks to the underlying allure of the sport that otherwise rational people will turn a blind eye to reality in a quest to feel the magic once again. And if this describes you, don’t despair. The magic is still there because it’s actually in you. Your bike is just the vehicle.
Red Bike was a gift from my brother. It was a hand painted old red bike with twin headlights and a big wire basket. It wasn’t pretty but it was art. I took about a million pictures of Red Bike this winter as it sat outside and the snow crept up to handlebar height and back again. I had never ridden the bike until after the winter when my friend Scott pried the fender out of the back wheel and got it to roll.
Then one windy night it crashed over on some rocks and the headlight cracked. I knew it was bicycle abuse at that point and that since I would realisticly never get it riding, I would do better to cut it loose.
So I made a sign that said “free to a good bike friendly home” and put it at the end of the driveway. It had been living for a year, unlocked at the far end but the sign and moving it to streets edge was all it took. About an hour later a white Vanagon pulled up with a smiling couple. They asked if it worked and I said it sort of did. Did it have brakes? I said it might. They did a short lap around the van and off it went. How fitting. I had a white VW once. They have good karma. I mentioned this to the driver and we talked about engine repair briefly, a commonality that can’t be ignored by another VW driver. And they were off. We all smiled.
She said I would see it around Bath. I told her to look for us on the tandem. It’s so good to see Red Bike end up in a good home.
My goal is to make a photo montage of the winter of Red Bike. In the mean time, here is what she looks like.
Danny Macaskill has been treating us to mind blowing trials riding videos via You Tube for a while now. Every time I see one, I get totally inspired. The other day I took my otherwise usesless backyard and started making my own humble trials riding course. It’s a start anyway, and it’s spurred on by videos like these. I dream of being able to ride out of the 180 on just my back wheel or huck up onto a parkbench back, stall and continue on. I”m 40 so i’m not counting on getting there, but I’m not giving up either.
Anyway, here is a tribute post to a rider with phenomenal skill. Though I will say, I cringe when I see him going for pure drop height. Save the knees Danny. Take it from someone who knows. You’ll still want to be able to do it at 40. Trust me. Style and technical trumps vertical anyday.
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