I’ve mentioned this before, here and there. Back when I was younger, I got rid of my car, in order to finance a new and wonderful racing bike. My reasoning was simple. I’d read several articles about cycling as a means of accomplishing practical stuff. I already had a bicycle. I was using it as a racing and training tool. I could convert that bike to handle my transportation needs, sell the car, and buy that “bike of all dreams” racing rig.
I was a young optimist.
I sold the car, bought the racer, and started living in a motorized society, without owning a motor vehicle.
Believe me when I say this. It is much easier to do this now! In those days, before the internet, cell phones, and lycra… Well, we’re often told it was a simpler time. That isn’t as true as might seem.
I started my grand adventure in Summer. That had two significant benefits. There is a lot more daylight in the day, and it doesn’t get cold.
Everyone I worked with thought I was stark staring out of my mind. I was working in a factory. A very rough and dirty factory it was. I lived and worked in a mostly rural area. There were a lot more pickup trucks than cars in the factory parking lot. There was no bike rack. I chained the bike to the railing at the plant entrance. I carried my work clothing in a backpack. I kept my heavy work boots in a locker at the plant.
Fairly early on, I added a cargo rack to the back of the bike. Then came some panniers. That made hauling stuff a lot easier.
Sometimes it rained. I didn’t mind. It was warm, and the rain was refreshing. I always had a dry change of clothing inside the panniers. I learned to carry a small towel with me.
Summer does not last. In the Appalachians, as Summer grows old, early evenings begin to get cool, and the days start off even cooler. I began riding in more clothing. The days were shorter too. I got caught out in the dark from time to time.
I quickly learned that riding a bike on a rural road, without lights, at night, was tricky and downright dangerous. I looked for solutions. The first one was a rig that attached a flashlight to the handlebar. It didn’t work well, but it was better than nothing.
I next tried a generator and light. The first one I tried was pathetic. It was a “bottle type,” where the generator was driven by friction against the bike’s tire. It added weight, increased drag, and didn’t give me much light. The bulbs burnt out with great regularity. It wore out tires. It was only slightly better than the flashlight. (During this phase, I was using both the flashlight and the generator light.)
My lights were pathetic. A kindly bike shop proprietor and an older touring rider pointed me in a better direction. I ordered another generator, and a lightset. These cost a bit more, and came from Germany. They worked much better. I could see well enough to actually ride at a modest speed.
Then came the cold. I started out by simply wearing more clothing. Long pants (jeans) were not terribly comfortable, but they kept my legs a bit warmer. Add a hooded sweatshirt. In the next month I would learn about the amazing difference between wool and cotton. If good, effective, cold weather, cycling clothing existed I was not aware of it. By December, I was beginning to think I’d possibly made a huge mistake. The racing was long behind me. I rarely had the occasion to take the wonderful racing bike out, and I was almost constantly cold, or wet, or cold and wet.
January was bitter and dark. It was a constant fight for survival. February was a bit less cold, but made up for it with almost constant rain, sleet, or snow. March lasted forever, not cold, not warm, cloudy and wet. When Spring finally arrived, I greeted it with joy that has lasted to this day.
Late in that year, I acquired another car. It wasn’t very reliable, and so the bike was still my transportation mainstay. I miss that year. I learned a lot, and grew a lot. I miss it. But I don’t miss it much.
No comments:
Post a Comment