Saying Goodbye to Bicycles
Categories:
[Activities]
Tags:
[Health],
[Relationship],
[Cycling]
My love affair with bicycles started long before I met Jenny. My first bicycle was a Univega hybrid that my parents bought me to commute to school. I didn't get my driver's license until I was 24, so bicycles were a necessity. After I got my driver's license, I kind of put bicycles to the side. My work was active enough—I was in construction. It's funny but the least paid positions also tend to be the most physically demanding. I didn't have the energy after work to ride bicycles anymore. I rediscovered bicycles with Jenny when I was 37 years old.
She had a matching pair of his and hers Raleigh Sport bicycles from 1967. One she found on the side of the road, the other she purchased for $100.
Jenny looking like a postcard for Switzerland.
They had three speeds—and the shifters were not working. Or maybe they were working intermittently. They looked good, and they made us look good. What dandies we were in 2016.
The hardest part of bicycling wasn't the bicycling itself, it was loading the bicycles in the car. We never did get a rack.
We started going further out.
I got a job as a bicycle mechanic.
Proud, bringing it home for Jenny.
I purchased and built a mountain bike for myself, and I built and brought one home for Jenny. Mine is the purple Surly Krampus, and hers is the green Surly Krampus. This is the steepest part of China Camp. We had to walk them up and walk them down to avoid severe injuries.
Powerline, China Camp.
The Old Pasture, Tilden.
Three Amigos, Tilden.
Pascale waiting to go at Dirt World.
Me and Pascale.
Coming back up the hill after a run.
Pascale, me and Jenny at Dirt World in Richmond.
Jenny getting confident.
Jenny getting good. Just look at that form—Perfection.
I was pretty proud of the bikes I built and I was having fun with Jenny…
…even when we had to come back home and spend an hour cleaning them on a rainy day.
China Camp general store.
Our favorite trails were in China Camp.
Jenny still has the beautiful green Krampus that I custom built for her. I think she is keeping it more for sentimental or nostalgic reasons than practical ones.