May 14 2009
The bike is just the vehicle
This appeared in Switch Magazine, May 2009
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.
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