Another woman, a little girl on her bike, maybe a bit older than me. White hair in a loose pony tail, wearing a dress. When her light changed and she crossed in front of me at the intersection she grabbed a bunch of hem and sat on it to keep it from the spokes and…
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…with my bike, Windy! A while ago I wrote about how buying a bike reminded me of falling in love. I’ve spent some quality time with Windy now, and she’s not perfect, but she’s been a good pal. I had a little trouble with some of the Simcoe‘s features. For a very scary month it even seemed there…
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My last bike, a ca. 1973 Raleigh Cruiser had three speeds, but only the second gear worked after I owned it about a month. I just stayed in second gear. I did that for almost a year, summer, winter. I stopped missing the other gears. I forgot all about them. My previous bike had seven….
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Bone, officially, so says the manufacturer, Simcoe. But really that slightly greyish warmish off-white of almond milk. Or Nougat! Actually. 38 lbs of metal, plastic, leatherette, and disintegrating 40 yr-old padding is my brand new Simcoe. And a red silk rose in her hair. A red, black and Nougat-coloured Tango queen. Windy.
Really! It’s super emotional. And you kind of take a chance, too. Riding around the store and around the block is like a first date. Some dating folks don’t call the first date a date. They call it “the obligatory introductory drink”, or “date zero”, and all sorts of other un-date-like things. But I digress!…
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Stranger with white helmet: Noticed you going westbound on Queens Quay today around 11:45. I had decided to walk because of the snow storm. It is better to leave my bike at home in the morning than at work in the evening. You passed me on the sidewalk, a little close I must say, on…
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This is the Bobbin Birdie in sky blue. I hate this colour. Or I thought I hated this colour. Two days ago I definitely hated this colour. This bicycle is on sale at Curbside on Bloor for 4 hundred dollars, regular 650. Also comes in flamingo pink, and pale yellow. I happen to have seen…
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The other day I saw her. On her bike, a beautiful Opus Zermatt, one of many bikes I’ve been admiring for weeks. This Opus has elegant shapes and lines, brown handles and seat, with everything you’d want in a city bike, except a chain guard, and it is the colour of a spring meadow in…
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That moment when you get to where you parked your bike, and you find not a coffee cup in your basket, or a bell or a seat missing, or a nasty note attached. No, you find just an empty pole. You wonder at first, as one does, whether you forgot you parked it somewhere else….
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Rode to work today. Yes, on my bike. That I fixed. By myself. I rode gingerly. Afraid to go over bumps, afraid to change gears. This morning I finally had that thank you meal with R – you know, the guy who was right about my keys returning once we cut off the lock, …OK, he…
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