2024-04-14
+a small black bike i had when i was around five. maybe a huffy? +it had training wheels, and a thick foam pad velcroed to the center of +the straight handlebars, presumably so that if i hit my face or chin on +the handlebars i would hit foam and not metal. this piece was +fascinating to me, and i would constantly remove it and replace +it.
some bike i had, possibly the same one, when my family moved in +the first grade. before the move, my dad was trying to teach me to ride +without training wheels and i couldn’t do it. after the move, i hopped +on that bike and rode it like i’d been doing it all my life. +magic.
skip to high school. a white mountain/hybrid bike that hung up on +hooks under the back porch of my parents house. i remember riding it +maybe once? the tires eventually rotted due to disuse.
a small blue bike that i bought at a bike store in san diego. way +too small for me. i used to ride it to work. my first bicycle adult as +an adult. kicked off a (so far) lifelong obsession. i don’t remember +what happened to it.
a blue schwinn. craigslist find. love of my life. i ended up +plastering the frame in all kinds of stickers. got me through many years +of year round commuting, and lots of trail riding. took a bicycle +mechanics course at the local co-op, and endlessly wrenched and tinkered +on this thing. it was eventually stolen right off my front porch. years +later saw somebody riding it down the street, and then saw it in the +bike cage in the parking garage of my office building! no mistaking it +with all those stickers. left a note on it wishing the new owner luck, +and hopes that enjoy it. left my number in case they wanted to get a +coffee and bond over our shared experience. never heard back from them. +so it goes.
a giant orange fixed-gear single speed. craigslist find. a real +fixer upper. i was kind of scared of this bike. it was slightly too big +for me (a first!), and the frame had a slight dent so it wobbled at high +speeds. stolen from outside a restaurant downtown where i left it locked +up over night.
surly crosscheck. black. the first store bought bike since that +small blue one, and my first “nice” bike. heckin good bike. stolen right +out of my backyard. followed by a bikeless period of mourning.
blue gitane. current bike. craigslist find for ridiculously +cheap. kind of worried it was stolen, but what can you do. helped me get +through the pandemic. because of a back injury, this bike is probably +currently being ridden less than any other bike i’ve had in my adult +life. but i still love it. it is a good bike.