My New Ride
My old bike was really old. When I got the bonus to be able to get a new bike, it was just after the 10 year anniversary of Kim Fern’s death from cancer. She built my bike. And, she didn’t build it just before she died, you know?
The first location of North Portland Bike Works was on the west side of the street on Mississippi Ave. There was a Halloween cover band/benefit show there after they’d been open for a few months. The show was in the empty space next to the bike shop. I’m pretty sure it was 2002. Jacqueline and Doug were still married. I’d taken some trucker speed, Josh was on ecstasy, most people were drunk. After this show we rode downtown to see Dead Moon, our halloween tradition.
A lot of money was made for NPBW at the door. I think that’s why I had a hook up from Kim at the shoppe for a long time. I’d got a bike from Alex while he was working at the shop before starting NPBW with Kim. That bike got stolen when I was downtown at the Keller Fountain reading my mail and the newspaper after going to my PO Box. They’d unscrewed the street sign and pulled my bike off the pole, busting the lock after they left the crime scene.
So, Kim built me a new bike. The red bike on the right.
I’ve become a car person, and a walker, but I used to take that bike all over town. I’d carry my records in the bike for DJing, piling up laundry to do it for free a few miles from my house, or groceries, or a number of wild cargo piles in the back milk crate.
Things that made me get the new bike: The rust. My right hip arthritis that made it harder to get on and off the bike without a curb as assist. The bonus check from work. Missing the bike as a reliable option of transportation.
The new bike is good! I’m still working out how high the seat should be, it’s almost right, but still not quite. I like the fancy panniers that do not actually affect the balance of the bike, even though I only have one. The step-through is a life changer. It reminds me of biking in Amsterdam -riding onto the ferry and jumping off like a local - and Berlin.
Did you know you’re supposed to get a new helmet every 2-3 years? I’d probably be fine with 5. But I’d had mine for 20 or so. So, got a new helmet, too.
I’m still walking as my primary mode of transportation away from work, but as the rain comes less often, and the sun is out longer, my new bike will become number one.
Today I took the bus downtown to the Portland State encampment to support the divestment of PSU from Boeing to support the end of the genocide in Palestine. I love the bus! I love the remembering and widening of my transportation options, and I love my new bike.
