Things about bikes that are AWESOME
My friend Lori consistently turns up Internaut gems, such as 1,000 Awesome Things, a blog cataloguing, as you might imagine, 1,000 things in life that are awesome.
They are simple, subtle things, each small item battleship big and mountain range grand, in its own way. No surprise that bicycles are on there.
Take awesome thing #640, Whipping Down the Hill Really Fast After Pedaling Hard All the Way Up. Read it. Awesome, right? You know it, you've done it!
We talk all the time, constantly, about how awesome bikes are, but what are the little things, the special things, the minutely mammoth moments that stick in your mind like winter oatmeal to your ribs?
What about:
- The sun slanting just so, angled so you ride beside your shadow, and you pedal faster, and he pedals faster, and you race each other to the store, laughing.
- Patting your bellies and burping, and saying, "Excuse me," with your two friends, pulled up to a stop light after a big pancake breakfast.
- When riding through Atlantic Station one afternoon, a pretty young woman on the sidewalk cups her hands around her lovely smile to shout after you, "I love your socks!" exactly what you secretly hoped that morning would happen when you selected them.
- Meeting someone for the first time at the bike rack, at the end of the day, and each of you saying, "Oh, so you're that bike."
- Riding farther than you ever thought you could, be it 10 or 100 miles, and having someone say to you, "Wow, that is really far."
- Adding those new grips or that new pump, fastening that new bell, and feeling your bike move somehow that much faster, imbued with that much more agility.
- Hopping off your bike at St. Charles Place and walking it casually, coolly, up the sidewalk to Ponce de Leon past all the motorists waiting through three lights, and knowing they are grinding their teeth as you stroll to the head of the line.
And what else? I want to hear from you what about bikes are awesome, and don't gimme this garbage about completing a triathlon or century race, or carbon fiber, or anything like that. I'm after the jubilations and joys you can get only from this regal vehicle.
- Kyle's blog
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Copyright © 2009 Atlanta Bicycle Coalition.
Comments
After reading this post and all the comments yesterday, I woke up this morning, and for the entire day I've been saying to myself over and over, "Awesome!". Sometimes I'm saying it out loud and for the tiniest reasons too.
When you pull that turn, a wide arcing loop, maybe a little too fast, maybe a bit too tight, and you lean against it as far as physics will allow, wondering whether your wheels will work their magic, if your tires will bite the asphalt at that angle.
Your mind can only roll slow-motion footage of your fall-to-be, your knees and palms feel the phantom scrape of pebbles and grit, and you're thinking, "Roll and protect the head," and everything is danger, Will Robinson, danger!
But suddenly you're leaning back level and still whipping along, and you just pulled the most incredible, physics-defying, in-your-face-Isaac-Newton action turn, and you are AWESOME.
The commentary (usually):
"Did you RIDE here?"
"How do you ride in heels?"
"Is there a baby back there?"
"I used to ride..." (said somewhat sadly)
"Oh!" (brightly) "Out for some exercise?"
"I need to get me one of those!"
"Can I have your bike?"
"Can I ride?"
I get:
"Don't you sweat?"
"How far are you riding?" or "How far did you ride today?"
and, of course, because of my ride:
"That is a TALL BIKE!"
Waiting at a light by Emory University Hospital Midtown, a man ran up the sidewalk, eyes wide, hands waving. The exchange:
"Hey, mister! Mister!"
"Uh, yeah?"
"Can I, um -- gimme your bike?"
"Uh. No."
1) Riding down 141 (near or around Alpharetta) and having people look at me strangely because I'm using - cough, cough - the bike lane.
2) Completing the Southern Tier Plus (Atlanta to San Diego, SD to SFO) single-speed when about 40000000 people said it couldn't be done.
3) New Tires - either on my 20 inch or road bike - make life so much fun.
4) Bicycling Camping - hands down, the best experience you will ever have, which in turn is about the best thing in life.
5) And, yes, riding further than you thought you could... so satisfying.
Kyle, you know I've got a ton of these. Mankind has found that bikes really are one of the most highly concentrated forms of awesome.
- Tailwinds, and especially when you don't know the wind is blowing and you actually think you're at the top of your pedaling game. (This is only partially ruined when you notice the leaves on the ground are blowing ahead of you.)
- People look at you and because they're in their car instead of on their bike, you can tell from their expression they wish they were riding their bike.
- People look at you and because they're out walking, they're happy to see other people outside and wish you good morning with a big smile.
- People look at you and because they're on their bike, they're happy to ask where you're headed and offer to ride along for a while.
- In early spring or late fall, slipping between warm spots and cool spots depending on the sun and shade.
- Secret shortcuts where cars can't go, but connect two places you always go to.
- Showing other people your secret shortcuts.
- The bike is way easier to work on than a car.
- On a group ride, being surrounded by a cocoon of other riders all moving together.
- Traveling slow enough to notice all the birds feasting on the berries in the neighbor's tree, and then not feeling guilty about stopping to watch.
- How far you can travel on an Almond Snicker's bar.
- Boardwalks through the woods that you wouldn't be going down otherwise because they're too far to walk to and you just don't think to visit in a car because "it's just a waste of time".
- There are places in my memories that I've visited and revisited over and over just because of how wonderful it felt to be riding through that spot. It may have been the downhill curve on smooth roads rising amongst farms, or the smells, or the way the air felt, or just everything coming together. I may have ridden through only once, and perhaps it wouldn't be the same if I rode through again, but those moments are permanently etched into my brain, and they are awesome.
YOU showed me your super-secret shortcut from Midtown Promenade, which I have used three times since -- just because! And I stop to watch crows and hawks battle, all the time. Once some kids offered me potato chips at a stoplight.
Reading each and every one of these, Jett, I crowed, "YEAH!!" The tailwinds, the cooling/heating pockets. How about this: a quick, last-minute hop over a pothole, which was actually no more than it was -- a small hop over a small hole -- but in your mind, it played out like Evel Knievel over Snake River Canyon, and you knew that is how it really was.
This one - for me, on the commuter bike at least - is more "aw" than "awesome". I usually have so much pannier weight on my back wheel that my bunny-hop isn't good enough to clear the back wheel.
The strength of that back wheel to take such a beating however, is awesome.
A) Riding over any of the bridges that cross over the downtown connector during rush hour and laughing at the folks sitting it traffic as you cruise on by.
B) Knowing that whatever the price of gas is today, it still does not affect your ride.
C) 100 miles to the gallon (of water or whatever your fav beverage is.)
D) Zero Emissions.. Unless you had a burrito for lunch :)
E) Wearing cool cycling jerseys, especially from other parts of the country (or world)
F) Knowing that if you break down, you can still walk the bike to a MARTA bus or Station and get home, with your ride. Try that with a car!!
And finally G) The camaraderie of your fellow cyclists on a great discussion board such as this one..
My favorite spot in Atlanta is the Bike Bridge, the closed-off stretch of Mitchell Street connecting the Railroad District and Castleberry Hill. I know I can cut over, going either way, with a great city view, pause and stretch, maybe have a sandwich, then hop back on and go, at my liesure. And it's for bikes and peds only.
10 second investigations
==============
hm
wait
what was that back there?
stop
go back
look
10 seconds
try that in a car
wle
This is perhaps the greatest, awesomest thing about bikes. Well played, friend. Well played.
the zip factor
============
hop on
zip a couple miles
hop off
twice as fast as driving, 5 times as fast as walking
wle
knowing i can fix 95% of problems myself
============
that;s cool
with $30 in tools that i can carry on the bike -
- i can fix 75% of anything that would go wrong on the road
back at home with $70-100 more, i can fix 95% of anything period
try that with a car
or a washing machine
or a dvd player
or windows 7 :(((
wle.
parking in the building
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half the time [grocery store, library, whatever] i just ride up, lean the bike on the wall or something, and breeze in, helmet, pack and all
talk about a fast parking job
that;s pretty cool
so maybe you have to lock it to a guardrail outside
you're still inside faster than the guy trolling the parking lot then still having to walk half a block anyway
wle.