Moto

October 23, 2017

Greetings from the wrench,

I am a little embarrassed to say I forgot it was there.  It has been moved around a few different times and each time I came across it I had the same thought as this time; I should do something about this.

But the fact is I don’t need a project.  I have enough projects I am not attending to now and the idea of adding something to the list is silly.

In the normal process of living we accumulate things and set them aside until a day comes that we have to choose to keep it or not.  I’ve shared here that we have been in the process of paring down our belongings, which is a good exercise.   I’ve learned that things get complicated if you think too long about anything you are deciding on.

Which is what happened when I was presented with a forty-year-old bicycle.  It is covered with dirt and rust.  Moving parts are frozen, things that should be connected are dangling free.  It has not operated as a bicycle for more years than it was ridden.

The bike was most recently stored in the ‘hill house’, a shed out in the woods where the kids used to play.  It has been exposed to the elements for so long I’m a little ashamed, and those years have taken their toll.

It is silly to think about restoring it.  Today is trash day and it would be smarter to wheel it to the curb where the scavengers will grab it for the steel and recycle it.

It is a Motobecane, a frame the company gave me when I cracked one they said wouldn’t break.  Eventually I rebuilt it into something rideable and one day I gave it to my Dad as a thank you.  It was a silly gift, really, not a practical bike for just knocking around the block.  But he took it gracefully and rode it for a while until Parkinsons told him he shouldn’t. 

At some point I got it back.  I don’t know what I thought would become of it but I kept it, and every time each time I came across it I had the same thought as this time; I should do something about this.

The something I should do is to get rid of it.  People throw away bicycles every day.   Even if I needed a bike I could buy one cheaper than I could restore this antique.  It is silly to still be thinking about something that straightforward.  Wheel it to the curb.

  

So I made up my mind, and went to the garage, and then lost my mind.  Most of you who know me saw this coming from the first time you read the word ‘bicycle’.

I know there are people who would use this bike.  They are walking miles to work, to get food, to visit friends.  I know there are kids who would use this bike to explore, to puncture limited horizons and see what freedom feels like.  I am not going to change someone’s life with a bike but it may make a difference.  More of a difference than what the scavengers will make.

My Dad and I never talked about what to do with the bike.  I imagine he thought one of the kids would use it eventually.  I’m pretty sure when he gave back to me he didn’t picture me rolling it to the curb one day.  So that’s not going to happen.     

I am going to put some tools and grease and time together with the potential of this old Moto frame and then I will find the next rider.  As I wrote those words I remembered that often the silly things I’ve done have also been the most worthwhile.

Hope this finds you pedaling,

David

Copyright © 2017 David Smith