My Wheels In The World 1w1d2e

My Wheels In The World

Alex Guffey

Copyright © 2021 Alex Guffey All rights reserved First Edition Fulton Books, Inc. Meadville, PA Published by Fulton Books 2021 ISBN 978-1-63710-742-3 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-63710-743-0 (digital) Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

My Bicycle Beginning My Bicycle Lifestyles My Barnett Bicycle Institute Experience My Bicycle Injury My Bicycle Influences My Bicycle Trail Pictures My First Bike-Track Experience My First BMX Bike My Bicycle Job Search My Bicycle Pipe Dream My Bicycle Tattoo Seeing the World Differently from My Bicycle My Bicycle Repairs Riding My Bicycle as a Hobby My Bicycle Foreshadowing My Rollerblades-to-Bikes Transition My Bicycle and My Health My Bicycle Withdrawals

My Bicycle Future

1

My Bicycle Beginning

I didn’t learn how to ride a bike until I was six years old. When you’re a kid, you don’t think about too many complex things. You just want to be a kid and do kid things. I was born in 1983, long before the internet would be around. So what types of things do you think about when you’re a kid anyway? Probably mainly things like “I just want to play, so how would I go about doing that?” Technology in 1983 didn’t control everything and was not very advanced. The biggest thing happening in that field had to be just television, movies, and the start of video games. Little did I know that even at just six years old, I was already the kind of person I would be in the future and that I am today. I wasn’t that into technology, except for what I just mentioned; I liked television, movies, and video games. But none of that would have the same impact and effect on me as riding a bicycle. I loved playing with toys as a kid. My family wasn’t rich. We were middle class. Now that I am an adult, I look back on where we lived and what we had and how we lived and what our lifestyle was, and I would probably say that we weren’t even middle class. But when you’re a kid, especially at six years old, you don’t think about money. You probably don’t even have a good concept about how much or how little money you have, or even what you should do with it or could do with it or how much things cost. At least I never thought about money in that way. It’s the parents’ job to worry about all that stuff. I was just a kid. I just wanted to play. And the way that I went about doing that was with toys. Lots and lots of toys. Action figures, water toys, Hot Wheels, GI Joe figures, wrestlers, Ninja Turtles, coloring books, puzzles, Nintendo games, all kinds of footballs and baseballs and Nerf toys, etc. You get the idea. Notice how I didn’t mention riding a bike. That would come later. I had three brothers and a sister around all the time. What would you guess we did all the time? Play with toys. And where would you guess we did that?

Outside. We were outside all the time. When there is no internet and when technology doesn’t rule every aspect of your life, you go outside and you play. You play in every way possible with whatever you could get your hands on. From sunup to sundown, sunrise to sunset, me and my sister and my three brothers and all the neighborhood kids would play and play and play some more. That was life. Even at school, we would have activities outside. So where does riding a bike fit into all of this playing when I was a kid? Don’t worry, I’m getting to that. The things in your life that have the greatest impact on the person you will become are not the things that happen first. They aren’t even the things you think about until they happen. I never asked for a bicycle in any situation. Honestly, maybe I did, but I don’t . Toys are what kids want all the time, and I wasn’t any different. I didn’t go to stores and look at bikes. I didn’t look at or watch other kids riding bikes and wish that I had one. I never viewed a bicycle as something I wanted to do more than playing with toys or playing video games or watching television. I never looked at a bicycle and thought to myself, I want to ride that or I want to learn how to do that or know how to do that. I would just run. If there was somewhere I needed to go, the way to get there was to run. I still didn’t want to ride a bike even when I watched my brothers riding a bike. It’s not that I would have been scared or just didn’t want to ride a bike. I just never thought about it as a means of transportation or fun at all. But then one day, my mom decided she wanted to teach me how to ride a bike, and I was willing to learn, never knowing in my head at the time how big a part in my life it would become. I can picture in perfect clarity and detail the street that we lived in Sterling. It was not a cul-de-sac. It was a long street, but oddly enough, I can that it was not a very busy street as far as traffic goes. My older brothers learned how to ride bikes before I did, but instead of always running to keep up with them, I had a tricycle that was more like a big wheel. We have a ton of home movies that were filmed on big camcorders that required a VHS tape, and most of the time, when you saw me in them, I would be riding that big-wheel tricycle. I couldn’t tell you for sure if I was ever recorded riding a bicycle on that street. That’s a question to ask my mom. I don’t being scared during that time my mom was teaching me. I don’t even know where the bike came from or when I officially received it. Maybe I got a bike for Christmas or a birthday, or maybe it was just a hand-me-down bike from one of my brothers after they got a new one. What I do is at first, I was not in love with it. I certainly did not think it was the most fun thing I had ever done. But my mom never faltered, never

skipped a beat in her bike lessons for me. She would say, “Start pedaling,” and then would proceed to hold onto the back of the seat and run behind me as I would speed up. Once I got going, no matter how fast I would go, my mom would still hold on and keep pace with me. What would happen next always makes me smile and laugh in disbelief. Parents lie to kids. Let’s get that out into the open right now. It’s no secret. It’s no surprise. It’s not even something that kids would be upset about later in life as they got older and became adults or parents themselves and will finally able to understand why their parents lied in the first place. When you’re a kid, you trust your parents. You believe what they tell you, no questions asked. But parents lie. It’s a fact. They will tell you what you want to hear to make you happy. So when I’m learning how to ride a thing with two wheels and two pedals and I shout out in question to my mother, “Are you still holding on!” she replies in a blatant little white lie, “Yes, honey!” I believe her and keep pedaling and keep going faster. But she let go a long time ago. She may have never even been holding on to begin with. But I don’t know that because I don’t look back. I don’t care about anything, other than right here and right now, I am doing it. I’m riding a bicycle for the first time in my life on my very own, and the thing that started my life on that bicycle path was a lie from my mother. I looked back on that day when my mother told me she was holding onto that bike when she wasn’t, and it just makes me laugh every time now. That really was a coy plan on her part. Her knowing me and knowing how stubborn I was and knowing my tendency to lose my patience, she played that cool trick and knew that it would work like a charm. And now, all I can do is thank her. Thank her for introducing me to the two-wheeler, thank her for having patience of her own with me, and thank her for bringing in the thing that would ultimately shape me and be my saving grace in the most dire of times and situations. I didn’t know this at the time, but knowing how to ride that bike and always having one of my own from that day forth, would help me in more ways than I could ever imagine.

2

My Bicycle Lifestyles

I was seven years old now, and I knew how to ride a bike. When you have a recreational device in your arsenal like that, it opens up all kinds of possibilities. Even though you would probably still walk or run to get where you were going around the neighborhood, you’d rather take the bike. Even though you could just ask your mom to maybe drive you somewhere, you’d rather take the bike. And if I myself at seven years old, that notion would always ring true. I would rather take the bike. So, having a bike now and having the chance and opportunity to ride it whenever I wanted, what kinds of activities were there to do involving a bicycle? When you’re a kid and have an overactive imagination, you could probably use that bike for anything and everything. I don’t riding my bike much in Sterling after I knew how to. I’m sure I did a lot, or as much as I could, but the thing that probably has at least part of what to do with that is when we moved. My family and I moved to Colorado from Sterling in 1990 during the summertime. And after we were all settled into our new home with the weather being late summer and still very nice and warm, you can take an educated guess as to what I wanted to do. Go outside, right? Well, my brothers and sister and I, and also my mom, did exactly that. We went to the pool. We went to the playgrounds. We went to the baseball fields and basketball courts. But whenever I got the chance, I would ride my bike. And when I had more people to hang out with and do things with other than just my siblings, like the other neighborhood kids and kids from school, we would be outside even more. We would be outside all the time. And we would ride our bikes everywhere. It was the most fun and leisurely activity. Back then, during that time, it was a bit different. Okay, it was a lot different. Parents, of course, wanted their kids to be safe, and they knew their kids were safe doing what they did outside all the time. Parents didn’t worry or were concerned. They trusted their kids. They knew we wouldn’t be hurt. They knew we would be smart. They knew there wouldn’t be emergencies or any trouble at

all. And they were right. There never were those things. No one even got hurt really if they crashed while riding their bike. And don’t get me wrong. I crashed on my bike a lot. You know, those things happen. When you’re a kid, those things just happen. It’s not a surprise. When I crashed, it wasn’t because I was being stupid or reckless. They were just accidents. I know whenever I was on my bike, I would probably be showboating or trying to be a stunt double or some kind of dare devil, being all arrogant and thinking I was invincible. And when I was being those things, that is when I crashed. But again, I was never seriously injured. I would just be going too fast, or trying to ride no handed, or no footed. I would take too sharp of turns. I would get my shoe laces stuck in the pedals or gears. I would run into someone else on a bike. I would hit a parked car. I would jump the sidewalk curb. I would do all that and crash, with it being my own fault every time. I would return home with my knees and elbows all bloody, and my mom would just smile and shake her head, but she would never be mad. She understood that I might come back some days looking like that, so she would get the ointment and the bandages and fix me right up. I constantly had healing wounds and scabs and cuts and scrapes all over, but I accepted that and would learn to live with it. That was the territory that came with the bicycle. But my mom would be okay with it. She knew I would return home every day, with nothing worse than cuts or scrapes, like something that would involve the doctor’s office or emergency room, and because of that, she could sleep worryfree and comfortably every night. And every night, I would fall asleep and dream about riding my bike all day again. I would say it went on like that for a few years, maybe even a few more years after that. I would ride my bike as much as I could in all seasons. I would ride it with friends. I would ride it to my friends’ houses. I would ride it downtown. I would ride to and from school sometimes. I would ride it to the gas station, get snacks, loop the bag over my handlebars, and then ride on my merry way. I’ve lived in a small town almost my entire life. When you do, you have the unique opportunity to ride your bike almost everywhere, which is what I did. All the kids had a bike. I would just be riding home on any given day and see a stock pile of bikes laid out on someone’s front lawn. Sometimes, I knew whose house it was, sometimes I didn’t, but that’s how it was. Bikes would be on lawns, while the kids inside were eating or taking a break or perhaps playing video games or watching television. We had to get off our bikes sometimes. We couldn’t live on them all day, every day, which is what I would have loved to do if I could. I can’t speak for anyone else at that time, but my bike was a big part of a lot that I did. I had a bike, and I rode it and I used it. But it was yet to be a huge part of my life.

It was yet to be a big part of who I was. It was yet to define a huge part of my life. That would come later. Peer pressure. You know what it is. You know what it does. It’s following and doing by example. Everyone knows the phrase: “If all your friends went and jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?” Peer pressure is what happened to me in a big way, right around the time middle school was ending and high school was beginning. It took the form of rollerblades. I didn’t have a lot of friends. I just had a close few. I started being friends with them after I moved to Windsor. I was friends with them for a long time until what always happens eventually happens; you have a falling out, and then one day, you’re not friends anymore. But I’m not here to talk about that. They were into rollerblades. More specifically, they were into in-line skating, and oddly enough, not bikes. They had probably been into in-line skating long before I knew them, but what’s weird is I never saw them riding bikes. I saw how ionate they were and how much they loved rollerblading, so, not surprisingly, I was curious and intrigued about what the hype was. So I got myself a pair of in-line skates. The kind that you could jump with and do tricks with, and get some wax on bars and then grind with them. I was never good at doing that kind of stuff, but rollerblading was super fun, and I took to it right away. Then, as you can probably imagine, I did not ride my bike much after that. Had it not been for unforeseen circumstances and just general life getting in the way, it might have been rollerblading and not bicycle riding that would ultimately become a very big part of who I was. But, alas, that was not the case. It “wasn’t in the cards” for me. I had a lot of fun in that short span of years where I in-line skated everywhere and did that all day, every day, but it would end. The bicycle had bigger plans. It was not done with me. In fact, it was just getting started. Your biggest ion has a funny way of finding you and then losing you and then finding you again. In my case, that bicycle was a fickle ion. I can insert any number of relatable phrases here. “You never know what you have until it’s gone.” “You never knew how good you had it.” “You never know you’re in the good old days until you’ve left them.” You can’t search for a ion. There is no way of ever knowing what it could possibly be. You don’t know anything about a ion until it gets up really close to you and then slaps you in the face. Riding a bicycle didn’t do that to me at first. I would have known. I would have felt differently about it at a much younger age. But it wouldn’t slap me until later, but that time was getting closer. My bicycle ion was coming, and the form it arrived in took me completely off guard.

Riding a regular regulation street bike or mountain bike was fun. In-line skating was fun. But the thing that found me that was extra super fun was when I happened to be in college and working jobs with public works and parks and recreation was a big surprise and very unexpected. My boss was into it. He had been doing it for almost his entire life. It was BMX racing and BMX riding at the skate park. I talked about peer pressure earlier. What happened to me after I started working for this boss was a form of peer pressure, but it was way more concentrated and potent. I was following by example, but the interest and intrigue to me for BMX racing and skate-park riding was more of my own doing, and my decision to pick it up was almost entirely my choice. My boss wasn’t a major influence for it. He was more like a guide. I fell in love with it, even before I started doing it. The first time I went to the skate park, I already had a BMX bike. That’s always been the type of bike I have preferred. I’ve owned other types of bikes, but a BMX bike was the one I liked more than the others. So I was very comfortable with the bike I was working with at the skate park. I never really had any interest in the skate park before my boss introduced me to it. I’m not going to lie. I was kind of terrified, and I didn’t really know what I was doing. It took me a long time to finally drop into a ramp. I wasn’t afraid of crashing. I had crashed plenty of times before on a bike. The fright I felt was anxiety because I was doing a new thing, and I had a mental block on it. I knew I could do it. The physical ability wasn’t in question. And when I finally did do it, the feeling was pure exhilaration. It was relief. My adrenaline was kicked into high gear. I was hooked from that point on. The skate park was awesome. I did and tried more things there every time I went, and every time I was my boss. Those times were some of the most fun times I had ever experienced. I would fly around that park on my bike, I would meet new people, I would go every day after work to the skate park with my boss, and we would ride for at least a couple hours every time. That ion I mentioned for the bicycle was getting stronger. As cool a memorable experience the skate park had to offer, I was in for yet another surprise. I was about to take my bicycle and myself to new levels. It turned out my boss didn’t compete professionally anywhere doing stunts at a skate park at any sort of a national venue. What he did compete in professionally was BMX racing. He had been doing it since before he was in high school. The first time I went with him to a dirt bike track was absolutely amazing. It was awesome, to say the least. At this point, I had a different BMX bike because the one I had been using at the skate park and before that, the one I had been using to just ride around town with, had a bent seat post. So then I replaced the seat

post, and I ended up selling it. It was a good bike, but it was time for something new. It was time for a bike better suited for skate parks and BMX racing. My boss kept a lot of different types of BMX bikes, and he seemed to always have a different one. He was kind enough to let me use one of his bikes. It was actually a one-of-a-kind bike. He built BMX bikes. He ordered bicycle parts. Then he would assemble bikes piece by piece. So the bike he gave me was actually a complete custom-built bicycle. It was one of the first he assembled. And he was kind enough to let me use it. I eventually gave it back to him because he wanted it, so I got myself a brand-new BMX bike. I couldn’t believe how much fun riding my bike at the dirt track was. We would go to a few different dirt tracks. There were places my boss would go to race. These dirt tracks were legitimate. The thrill that I got from riding these tracks, going superfast, taking the jumps, and zipping around the tight turns, was incredible. Sometimes, we had time to go to a track after work, and we would be able to get in some practice laps before it got dark. The times I spent at those dirt bike tracks were some of the most special memories I can recall. I never realized, or even knew before all that, that riding a bike could be used for that fun of a time. Although I never got into professional BMX racing, what I got to do with my boss at those tracks was one of the best times of my life, and I will always cherish and it. I very nearly did professional racing. There were a few times I got to practice race against other guys. We were timed, and I would wear a helmet and have an official uniform and gloves and everything, but that is as far as that would go. My bicycle life had other meaningful plans for me, but the ion had a hold of me now. It was planting its roots.

3

My Barnett Bicycle Institute Experience

The year was 2015. I know I am skipping ahead here quite a few years. I was long done with college at this point, and my time in the parks and recreation and public works was done too. I had been working in retail for some years and also doing some babysitting for the mother unit. The year 2015 was a tumultuous year for me personally, but I won’t get into that. It’s not what I am here for. But one thing did happen in 2015 regarding bicycles that would be an integral part for me in the ion development. I had a bad breakup in May that year. I was devastated by it. But not surprisingly, it was bicycles that prevented me from hitting rock bottom, and again, they were my saving grace. It was at this time that I was kicking around the idea of having some kind of a job involving bicycles. When aspects of your life start to crumble, you turn to what you love the most. And that for me was bikes. I decided to go on a journey and do something that was completely out of my comfort zone that I had never done before. I was going to take a one-week bicycle repair and maintenance course. I had no idea what to expect from it. All I knew was I loved bikes, and I thought it would be fun to work with them. I mean, it’s a two-win situation if you could get paid for doing something that you love and that is very important to you. So I started to get into with Barnett Bicycle Institute. I called them, I emailed them, and they filled me in on all the information I needed and sent me everything I needed before the course began. I made my payments, I scheduled when I wanted to do it, I studied my guidebook packet they sent me, and all that was left was to wait for my class. Once all of this was set up, I immediately started to forget my breakup that had happened just two months before, and I was 100 percent ready to move on and turn things around using bicycles. This bicycle repair-maintenance-assembly class was in Colorado Springs, and I drove. Colorado Springs is a good two and a half hours away from where I live. It was the first time I had driven there, so I generally knew where I was going. And it was in July, so the weather was nice. Prime bike-riding weather. I stayed in a

hotel for a week that was close to the institute. I was really nervous but also really excited. I knew it would be hard, and a different kind of challenge for me that I hadn’t faced before. But after the first day, I knew what to expect going forward, and then I was more excited than nervous. Bicycle repair, maintenance, and assembly are almost exactly what they sound like. I had a few different instructors; there were about fifteen other people in my class that were from all over Colorado. Reasons varied for why people were taking the class. Some people just wanted general knowledge about bike repair. Some wanted to have their own bike stores someday. Some of them just wanted to work in a bike shop. Some just wanted the experience of how to do something like that. I was taking that class for a few different reasons. I just loved bikes. I wanted to be around them. I wanted to do things involving them. My curiosity just got the best of me, and I wanted to see what something like this was like, and the main reasons, I guess, why I took the course was just to have some fun and gain a little knowledge and experience for my own personal reasons. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, and it wasn’t, but I’m very happy I did it. I picked up a little streetsmarts with bikes. It was a super fun experience. It was a life achievement. It was having the confidence and pride in myself to be able to tell people that I did this. Life moments and experiences are worth more than physical things, and this time I spent at Barnett was nothing short of that. I don’t have a job or career in bicycles. I don’t work in a bike store or shop. But I’m not ashamed of that. I’m not down on myself because of that. I was given the opportunity to do something with bikes, a once-in-a-lifetime event that I was a part of. And for that, I am happy and thankful. This was just another step, another checkmark in my life with my ion—my bike.

4

My Bicycle Injury

A lot of things come with owning a bicycle. One of the nonphysical things is injury. But some people don’t think of that at first. At least I never did. Granted, it was at the back of my mind, but not something I was concerned about. Sometimes, you just crash on a bike. It comes with the territory. It doesn’t matter how well you know how to ride a bike. You could be a professional or amateur at any level. Crashes are just part of it. A lot of the time you would crash, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you were injured. Considering all the different types of bicycle riding I’ve done in my life, and not once seriously injuring myself, I would say that surprises me. So I was indeed surprised the first time I was seriously injured, and honestly, I was starting to think it wouldn’t happen, all the way up to when it actually did. I can point out scars and talk about all the times I’ve taken a dive and hit pavement until the sun comes up, but none of those times resulted in a major injury for myself. The only thing they were was reckless accidents, mostly from my own stupidity. But this time, it was serious. I look back at it now, and even though I suffered a bad injury, it could have been a lot worse. I could have died. The last three places I have lived have provided me with the opportunity to try different types of bike riding in unique locations. My first Windsor home that I owned and lived in on my own was right by the lake. I had the choice every time I took my bike out to circle the lake path, do a big loop around the town, or jump on the bike trail that connected to the lake path. I have a quirky thing that I still do to this day. I don’t know if anyone else thinks that it is silly, but I kind of do think it is. Around the time I began to ride my bike on almost a daily basis was immediately after I moved to my Windsor home by the lake. I still had the first BMX bike I ever owned, but before I moved to my Windsor house, I was living in my mom’s log cabin outside of town, kind of in the country, so I didn’t have the chance to ride my bike out there. It was just sitting in her barn, unused, with two flat tires. When I moved, I cleaned it up, fixed it up, and got it ready to ride.

And that was the rebirth of my bicycle-riding days, and the start of my quirky thing I do that I still consider silly. Once in Windsor, and the around-the-town bicycle trips picked up where they left off some years ago, it was time for the inaugural town loops. I am a creature of habit. Not to any sort of extreme unhealthy lifestyle creature of habit, but enough to say that it could have been borderline obsessive-compulsive disorder. Mapping out a loop around the town wasn’t hard by any stretch of the imagination, but creatively drawing out the route, and which direction to start does take some attention to detail. Once I had my bike loop journey in my head, I would set out with my legs and begin the memorization of which streets to take and where to turn. After the first ride or two, I had the route down, and like a wily squirrel after a nut, I would stick to the exact same way and never deviate. You may think at this point why I’m not speaking of the injury. That’s okay, you are free to think that I’m steering away from the eventual serious crash, but I’m merely laying the foundation of events and circumstances that would lead to my inevitable near-death occurrence. It’s only when I get away from my comfort zone and change my daily routine that trouble may strike. And this particular day, I did not do my loop. Sometimes, change is a bad thing. That would prove to be correct the day I left on my bike toward the worst crash I would ever experience. Another thing about this fateful bike ride is that it was at night. I know, probably not very safe or smart. I rarely take a bike ride at night. I don’t have a bike with a light, and I don’t have any kind of helmet with a light on it. I don’t think cars need to look out for me because I stick to the side of the road and sidewalks and don’t ride in the street. I keep a close look out very carefully for any cars that may be near me or that I see coming in my direction. But that night was so nice out. It was warm, and there wasn’t any breeze, and I was just itching to take my bike for a spin. When I get that itch, it’s very hard to ignore. I get it in my head, and once it’s there, it doesn’t leave my thoughts until I do it. Bicycles are the only thing that make me feel that way. The way I took this night was on the bike path connecting from the lake, and I was just going to go from the east end of town to the west and then back because the bike path goes the whole way. One thing before I finally get to my injury crash, I used to work in retail. One of my managers was someone I really got along with. I had a lot in common with her. We had the same type of personality. We liked the same type of things. At that time, she was still working at the store I used to work at. I would sometimes go inside and visit and talk with her for a few minutes. She would let me bring my

bike inside, and I would walk it next to her while she worked. This night, I saw she was working, but I chose not to go inside even though I wanted to. I sometimes think about why I didn’t go in. I’ll always wonder. Maybe I could have avoided what was to come next. But, alas, the crash happened. I circled around the King Soopers parking lot, and I must have lost track of where I was because the street I began to cross has an open median through the middle of it, but there aren’t enough lights to see the whole street. So I sped up and was going a favorable speed when it felt like I hit a brick wall and came to a dead halt in my tracks. I rammed into the median, and I flipped over my handlebars. I was airborne for maybe two seconds. When I came down, all my body weight smashed into my right shoulder, and immediately, I felt shocking blinding pain. My adrenaline shot me right back up, and then I noticed two pairs of headlights coming at me. I grabbed my bike with my left arm and had to pick it up instead of pushing it because my right arm was hanging at my side, useless. I had to run across the street, and I said earlier I could have died because two cars could have run me over. I ran with my bike as fast as I could and got out of the way just seconds before they ed. It felt like I dislocated my shoulder. I would find out later at my doctor visit that it was a very bad sprain. I had to go through rehabilitation and physical therapy for a couple months, and that was very hard. What was even harder than that was not being able to ride my bike for a few months while I waited for my shoulder to heal. That was probably the worst pain I ever felt in my life. The ironic part was that it came from doing the thing I love most. I wouldn’t have ever thought that could happen. I sprained my shoulder because I was being stupid, and I wonder why I was being stupid that night because I’m never stupid when I ride my bike. It was a series of unprecedented and unforeseen events that happened just as they should have in that particular order. Was I meant to sprain my shoulder so I would be taught a lesson? I think the universe might have scolded me just for one night. It was saying I should have been more cautious, more careful, and nicer, and friendlier to my ion. Show it more respect. Be more understanding of it. One day, your ion will be your life, and my sprained shoulder was meant to be a part of my ion. Why didn’t I go in to see her that night?

5

My Bicycle Influences

It’s possible that I wouldn’t love riding a bike so much had it not been for a few specific people. If I would have learned to ride a bicycle on my own, or done any of my bicycle activities by myself, maybe it wouldn’t have meant so much. It actually might have been pretty boring. But sometimes, you are lucky enough to have had those people to do those things with. My bike is my ion; that much is clear. But it could have been just a bike that was never a big part of my life. So here’s to the people that helped me discover my love of riding a bicycle and helped me to use that to become the person with a bike I am today. First, to my mother. If not for her, I wouldn’t have learned how to ride a bike. No, I’m being truthful. Sure, maybe I would have been curious enough someday to figure out how to do it on my own, but my interest in riding a bike never would have piqued to the level it is now if my mother hadn’t introduced me to that two-wheeler. Maybe she decided it was time for me to keep up with my older brother, and that Power Wheels tricycle was not getting the job done. I don’t know how many bikes I had when I was a kid. Considering how much I crashed, all the different ways those bikes got beat up, all the wear and tear from throwing it down on the ground, using it for almost every outdoor activity, and that they weren’t the most expensive high-tech or sophisticated bikes the market had to offer, I’m guessing I had a lot of bikes as a kid because they were always breaking. Where would a new bike come from? Well, I don’t have that answer. I bet my mom knew where every bike came from, because honestly, I don’t. Maybe they were Christmas gifts or birthday gifts, but if they were, that sure didn’t happen every year. Whenever I got a new bike (not new, used, but new to me), I didn’t question where it came from. I bet though, every time, it was just a hand-me-down from my brother, and he got the official brand-new bike. So, in a way, my older brother was an influence too because I saw how much he loved to ride his bike, and most of the time, I was right there beside him with mine. Maybe I never would have loved it so much had I not been on it every day.

Maybe I was following the trend, or just doing what every other neighborhood kid was doing, or maybe I was just following all their example, but everyone had a bike, and one day, I would ride my bike because I wanted to and because I loved it and enjoyed it all on my own volition. But before all that, there was my mom and my brother and my friends and all the neighborhood kids that would be a big influence on my bicycle-riding future. Of course, family was a big influence on me when it came to how important my bike would eventually be. That much doesn’t come as a shock. My bicycle beginning wouldn’t have happened without them. But someone else may have been an even bigger influence than them. I can’t say I know that for sure, but the evidence is nothing less than overwhelming. I talked about the BMX skate-park and bike-track racing? Well, that was a huge part of my life. That was a very important part of my life. And the person with me every time through all that, my boss at the time, couldn’t have been more of an inspiration and motivator to me during all that. All those moments on the track and doing crazy tricks at the skate park and possibly even having more fun than anything else in my life. My boss was right there next to me for every second of that. He was more than a boss. He was a mentor, a leader, a positive example, a hard but fair teacher. He ed me through all those bike experiences and was encouraging and helpful, and he showed me tips and was always right there to help me have the best time I possibly could while riding a bike. I may have even picked up a few life lessons from him as well. I loved jumping on my bike even more every day when I knew I was going to spin some tires and soar over jumps, and whip around tight turns and drop in some ramps. And even though those times didn’t last, I cherish the moments spent with him and with both our bikes. He was a big influence, and I am thankful for that and always will be. The most important thing in your life and the most important people in your life is equal to none. The time you spend with them both is greater than everything. I love riding my bike. I’ve said that a lot, I know. It’s the most important thing to me. But the only conceivable thing that could make that better is having it with the people you love. My mom, my brothers, my friends when I was a kid, and my boss were all great influences, and I appreciate and I am grateful for them being such a huge influence on my ion—my bicycle. I know it wouldn’t mean as much had they not been there for every special moment I spent riding my bike.

6

My Bicycle Trail Pictures

When I first began taking my bike out on the Poudre River Trail Corridor, which runs almost the entire way in all directions in Northern Colorado, I never thought about taking pictures. After I moved from my mom’s log cabin to my own very first Windsor place, I didn’t think about taking my bike to the trail. I just wanted to get it fixed up and get on it as fast as I could. So sometime after December of 2005, after I was all settled in, I was making plans with the bicycle. The middle of winter is obviously not the best time of year to be going on bicycle rides, granted. Now I’m not one to be focused on making long-term plans. I hardly ever make short-term plans. Okay, I’m not good at making plans, I it. But when it comes to my bike, I’ll go out of my way and maybe even push back other things to make plans. Whenever it wasn’t snowing or not very cold, I was going on the bike, and that still rings true to this very day. Not many things trump it when my horniness for a bike ride strikes. All you can do is shake your head and just believe me when I say that my bike is the most important thing to me outside of family. Riding my bike in Windsor again was a thrill. I had forgotten how much I missed it and loved it. It’s one of my favorite pastime. Going through all the residential streets and neighborhoods, going by old houses I used to live in, recognizing houses of friends I used to hang out with, just rekindling all those memorable times really triggers my nostalgia. I was having so much fun just riding through town that I didn’t think about taking my bike anywhere else. I knew there was a bike trail, but I was never itching to go out there. I guess I didn’t realize what I was missing. This may not have been the first time I went out on the Poudre Trail, but it’s one of my first recollections of it. When I was a kid, I would be out of the house, outside, or running around everywhere with friends. I’d be gone all day. Does anyone ever think about or wonder what your parents did while you were gone? I know I didn’t. I was a kid, what did I care? But one thing I found out my mom did was take long bike rides herself. I guess she would go whenever she had the

chance, like when all the kids were out of the house. She had her own multispeed road bike, and when she had the time, she would go ride it. You know where she would go? On the Poudre Trail. And she would take long rides. I recall the longest bike ride I’ve ever taken. It was about twenty miles. My stopping point to turn around and go back the other way was some kind of a cultural, mini museum learning center. So in a conversation I had with my mother, she revealed this was a location she would ride to often. Just to get to this learning center from where we lived at the time is around ten miles, and she did this a lot. My mom clearly was in better bicycle-riding shape than I was. So back to one of my first times to take my bike on the trail. My mom wanted to go, and she invited me to go along with her. The way that we went was a first time in doing so for me, but not the case with my mom because she was telling me about all these steep hills we would encounter. And so we went, and it was a blast. She’d have her road bike, and I’d have my BMX bike, and we’d take a long bicycle ride through the wild nature on the Poudre Trail. What I didn’t know at the time was how much that trail would be a part of my bike future and the beginning of my pictures. Sometime after that day, I was hooked. The bike trail had grabbed me, and it would not relent or relinquish, but it’s not like I wanted it to anyway. I didn’t know anything about the Poudre River Trail. I didn’t know how far it went. I didn’t know how many people would be out there or on what kinds of bikes. And I certainly didn’t know about all the types of animals that were out there. But I do know what it was like to get one of the best pictures I’ve ever taken. I’m not a photographer. My extent of knowledge about cameras and taking photos does not sur anything more than a camera on an iPhone. So the day I saw a deer shockingly close to the path in an area with other people and houses around was a surprise, to say the least. I can’t if that day was the first time I got a picture of a deer, but it was one of the very first ones. It was the middle of the day; there was another person that had stopped to take a picture of the deer as well; it kept walking closer to me and was not scared or bothered at all by my presence. It was just grazing and acted like I wasn’t even there. It didn’t run away until after about ten minutes, so I got plenty of good shots of it. And then it crossed the path! I would never have guessed they did that at all, let alone let someone get that close to them! And so maybe that was the event that stoked the fire, or at least started it, for my photo-taking adventures on the bike trail. My love for my bicycle is still second to none, but from that day I saw that deer and all the future days I would see deer and other animals, I would develop a love for taking photos and an even greater love for being out in nature. Since

that day and up until now, and also for days to come, my photo count stands somewhere between five hundred to six hundred pictures I’ve taken on the Poudre River Trail. I love my bike, but I don’t think I could ever fathom the love I’ve found for being outside, being in nature, taking great pictures, and being close to those animals that stem from riding my bike. If one day in my life I do something that is more substantial than a hobby that involves the photos I’ve taken on the trail, I would owe that to my bicycle, and the same goes for anything with the wilderness or with animals. I’m open to opportunities and offers that may come along in my lifetime that could be created by riding my bike. It has shown me an importance I would never dream about. That is how much my bicycle means to me. It is responsible for the most memorable and happiest times of my life. The least I could do is document it.

7

My First Bike-Track Experience

My ex-boss Justin was an avid BMX racer. He got into it at a very young age. I’m sure he still does it. He feels the same way about racing bikes that I do about riding my bike in general. So after I started working with him at the cemetery, I found out just how much into BMX racing he really was. At that time, the most intense, complex thing I ever did with my bike was ride it around town. He introduced to me a brand-new, thrilling, adrenaline-churning sport—BMX biketrack racing. He did several things with BMX bikes. He always had about five or six different bikes, and I’m pretty sure he used a different one for each time he raced. He was very technical, hands-on, and smart about them too. He was able to assemble a bike from the ground up piece by piece, and all the parts were custom ordered. Later, he would actually start his own BMX business. I think it was online only, but he had bikes and bike accessories as well clothing. But last but not least, he was a very good BMX racer. He was in the older age group of guys, usually, and he raced against guys half his age. He would tell me about all his races, how he did, and I would see pictures and videos of him in action from time to time. It was a very exciting time for me in my “bike career.” Since he had some extra BMX bikes at his house, he was kind enough to let me use one. I didn’t pay for it, because one day, I would give it back to him after I had a different bike. This wasn’t just any ordinary BMX bike either. This was one of the first ones he used, and he assembled it himself. It literally was a one-of-akind custom bike that could not be replicated, or have one found even remotely like it anywhere else. The time I was allowed to ride it was awesome and very memorable. I would, one day, give it back to him, but not before I got to take it to my very first BMX bike-track experience. I it like it was yesterday, as the saying goes. I knew one day I would get to go to the bike track with Justin, but it was finally the day. It was a normal summer day—warm and very nice. We were going to be heading to the bike track right after work, so I had my bike with me in the car. The workday couldn’t

go by fast enough. We didn’t go home or anything, just straight from the cemetery to the track. The said bike track was in Fort Collins, and it was a regular watering hole for Justin to go to and practice some laps. They held official bike-racing practice a couple days a week, and on other days, the guy that ran the track would allow people with bikes to come by and just do some laps for however long they wanted to. I should mention that after this day, Justin gave me a BMX jersey with a number on it and an official helmet, because honestly, I thought I would be getting into BMX racing myself. On the drive there, however, some storm clouds had begun to form, and it looked like guaranteed rain. The sky looked like it was going to hail, actually, and the clouds were either heading to or were already at the track. It did indeed rain, but not before we got to the bike track. I jerked my bike out of the car as fast as I could, waited for Justin, talked to the track owner for a few minutes to get the down low about rules and things that were allowed and what I was able to do, etc., and then we hit the track. I was super pumped. My nerves were flowing, but it was from excitement and eagerness rather than fright or anxiety. I got in one lap, and that was it. The sky opened up its floodgates, and the rain came pouring down. It was torrential too. Within seconds, the dirt track had become mud, and water puddles were everywhere. There would be no more track riding that day. Although the storm and rain only lasted for a few minutes, it had made the track unrideable for the rest of the day. You see, what happens is, when you ride a bike through fresh mud, it leaves a distinct tire trail, right? When the mud dries and it becomes dirt again, the tire trail tread remains, and it takes considerable work and maintenance to smooth it out again. A bike track has to remain smooth and without bumps or ruts to get the best usage out of it with your bike. I learned that it takes a lot of care and maintenance to keep a bike track operable and rideable. So I may have only been able to get in one lap on the bike track, but it was the most awesome and adrenaline-inducing twenty-second thrill ride on two wheels I had ever experienced in my life. After that day, I was almost positive that I would get into BMX racing. All it took was that one lap, and I was hooked. BMX dirt-track racing and flying around those turns and launching into those jumps was the coolest, most funfilled time I ever spent on a bicycle. I went to the bike track with Justin many more times after that day, and I started doing the practice laps for actual races, not just at the Fort Collins track, but at a few more bike tracks as well. And we would go to several different skate parks as well to practice other non-bike race tricks. Had I continued to work for Justin, maybe I would have gotten into BMX racing more, and he would have been there to help me and guide me and show

me the ropes at actual races. But one day, I didn’t work at the cemetery anymore, and neither did Justin, and that kind of prematurely put an end to what could have been a more serious and substantial thing in BMX racing. But I don’t dwell on that. Life got in the way, as it usually does, but I’m grateful for the time that was given to me that allowed me to experience BMX racing, if only for a short while it was. It wasn’t meant for me. Life would have other plans for me involving my bike. That’s fine with me too. Plans can change all the time, and they do, but as long as I have my bicycle there with me to welcome them, I will gladly accept what happens. ion never dies. It just takes different forms. Those forms for me are the shape of a bicycle, and I know I will never change that. The Poudre River Trail was calling, and I was listening more closely.

8

My First BMX Bike

Try to think back to the very first bike you owned that actually meant something to you. I don’t mean the first bike you ever owned. I don’t even the first bike I ever owned. I mean the first bike you had that was more than just a bike. Was it nice? Was it expensive? Would you rather have ridden it than drive your car? Did it have sentimental value? Did you almost love it like a person? All legitimate questions if you are somebody that loves your bike and if it actually means something to you. Maybe you have felt that way about something in your life. If you have to think about it and can’t say outright without hesitation that there is something like that in your life, I suggest you look and find it. It may sound silly. It may be ridiculous. But I know some people out there can understand where I am coming from. How is it possible to love an inanimate object like that? How can such a feeling arise for something that is not alive? I could sit here and write and write and write for days all these words in this story, and it wouldn’t begin to scratch the surface the way I felt for my very first BMX bike. I’ve been in love before with someone. A couple someone’s actually. But they left. My bike never left. A profound statement, but also true. I can’t find a person I love that stays, so I found a thing I love that does. That’s the ion. And yes, it is possible, and also common, for a ion to be for something rather than someone. It’s all about how it makes you feel. There’s no words for it. It’s all about emotions. The day I found my first BMX bike was the beginning of my ion. It’s funny how I all my bicycle moments like they were yesterday. I guess that is just how the brain works. You the things that made you happy the most. You try to forget all the rest. I knew the type of bike I wanted was a BMX bike. You don’t really know all the different types of something there is until you’re shopping for it. This goes for bikes as well. I don’t need to go into that right now. I just knew that I didn’t need to look at a bunch of different bikes. What was surprisingly difficult was deciding where to go to look

for a BMX bike. That kind of bike is never in a lot of demand, and not every store that sells bikes has BMX. I knew that general department/retail stores were not going to have what I was looking for, so I had to try a bike shop or some kind of specialty store. I certain people telling me they thought I was joking when I said I wanted a BMX bike. They just didn’t take me seriously for some reason and said that I really wasn’t sure what I wanted. But all that was just noise. Having my heart set on something does not happen often with me, but when it does, I dive in headfirst. The place I found my bike was Sports Authority. They are a sporting goods store, obviously, but I didn’t know what their bicycle inventory would be like. They didn’t have many, and I didn’t look for long, but I knew my search was over. BMX bikes aren’t big. They’re not meant to be big because of what their main purpose is: for use at the skate park or dirt track. Well, no issue there because that is precisely what I would be using it for. I can see why some people questioned me getting a BMX bike. At the time, I had never been on the bike trail, the skate park, or the BMX track. I didn’t know where I would be riding it. But that didn’t matter because I knew I’d be riding it anywhere and everywhere. That’s how excited I would get about riding my bike. Anyway, the bike I found was white, and it was heavy. I don’t know why it was heavy. I checked it out, gave it a fast once over, and the clerk let me ride it around the parking lot for a few minutes. That’s all it took. That was the bike I wanted. But I don’t what brand of bike it was. I just loved it. It was meant for me. I had that bike for many years. I mainly used it for riding around town, and that was the bike that sat in my mom’s barn with two flat tires for a little bit, waiting for me to move so it could be ridden again. And ultimately, that was the first bike I rode at the skate park with Justin. You can see why I loved it so much. I got a ton of use out of it. But then the seat post got very badly bent, and some other wear-and-tear issues started to happen on it, and I understood it was coming down to the end of its life. I got it fixed up a few times, but it was time to part with it. I knew that Justin would be giving me his custom BMX bike, so I sold my very special white BMX bike at a garage sale. Nothing lasts forever, and bikes are no exception. I cherish the time I had with my first BMX bike. It was the start of my bike life on the track, the trail, and the skate park. Now you can understand why I loved it. To me, it was more than a bike. It was a lifestyle. It was my life. It was a part of who I am. Now you can see how I feel about it. Nothing else makes me feel that way. That’s why it is undeniably, irrefutably my ion. You always your first. In my case, it’s a bicycle.

9

My Bicycle Job Search

I did want to have a job working with bikes. I love bikes more than anything, arguably, so it only made sense that I did something that lets me work with bikes while also getting paid for it. That’s why I took the week-long bicycle repair and assembly class at Barnett back in 2015. I ed the class. Well, I got a certificate anyway. Before the class started and before I was even in Colorado Springs, I was pretty certain the reason I was doing it was because I wanted to work with bikes. I don’t know if that meant a career or just a job, but I was fine with either one. But after the first day of the class, I was starting to have a little doubt. It was hard. To be completely honest, I didn’t think it was going to be as hard as it was. I’m not that much of a hands-on person. I’m not a do-ityourselfer. I’m not that good at fixing things and putting things together. So then you may be asking yourself why I was taking a bicycle repair and assembly class. That answer is easy. Regardless of not being a DIYer, a hands-on person or fix-it person, I loved bikes, and I just wanted to be around them. It didn’t matter in what capacity. So the class was hard. It was very difficult, in fact. It was technical; it was a lot of memorization and repetition; it was dirty and involved a lot of parts, maintenance and service with bicycles. But I completed it. And I was very happy I did complete it. I felt accomplished. I felt it was a very important achievement. I felt good about myself when it was over. I set a goal for myself and I did it. But that was just the first step on my voyage to find a bike job. When I got back home that summer, I didn’t waste any time. I went straight to work. Before I continue, just for a second, here is a little something personal about me. I do not get motivated often. In fact, it rarely happens. I have a lot of ions. I have a lot of interests. I’m into a good variance of things. But a lot of them don’t get me motivated. I guess I can’t find enough reasons to attack something and give it my all. There’s just not enough there for me to give 100 percent. As much as I can recall, there’s only been a few instances in my life

where I did give it 100 percent. You know that saying, “It’s like a light switch got flipped.” That is exactly what happens to me when I get motivated about something, and finding a job at a bike store was what I was super motivated about. It was bikes. That’s the bottom line. Bicycles just do that to me. When they’re involved, that light switch stays on. I tackled the bike job search right away. The first thing I did was update my resume. I had a copy of my resume around somewhere, but I basically had to rewrite the entire thing. I had to direct it and focus it specifically on bikes. Since I was only looking for a job about bikes, the resume had to reflect that. The objective, experience, job history, s, etc. had to be about bikes in one way or another. After that was done, I made a bunch of copies. I knew there were quite a few of bike stores/shops in the Northern Colorado area. I didn’t know how many resumes I needed, but I had a lot to be safe. I did a lot of research on bike shops. There were two types of businesses that had bikes. The first was retail, corporate, and department stores that had bike departments, like the Walmart’s, Target’s, Dick’s—those types of places. And if I did want to work in a place like that, the job would mainly consist of just ordering and assembling bikes. That didn’t really appeal to me. I had worked in retail before. I knew the ropes, but I just didn’t want to do that again. I wouldn’t be happy there. I would be miserable. So those stores were out. So that left smaller, more bicyclecentered and bicycle-oriented bike shops. There were a lot more of those. I went all over the Northern Colorado area. Some bike shops were looking for help; some were not. Some were localized; some were a national chain. Not a lot of them were hiring, but if I just let them see I was very interested, motivated, and excited about working with bikes, I would find some type of work. I let places know I took a bike assembly and repair course. I let them know about my experience and history with bikes. I let them know I could work no matter what the circumstances because of my knowledge I gained from Barnett. But trying to find a job at a bike shop was hard too. I stayed at it for a few months, but nothing was materializing. I did have a couple hands-on, kind of, bike assembly interviews/auditions, but I just wasn’t feeling it. Bike shops were too small. They didn’t have a lot of employees. I wouldn’t be able to find enough hours to make it into a full-time job. Some places just weren’t offering more training. I didn’t have a job, working anywhere, prior to my bicycle job search. The retail thing had fizzled out, and I was actually doing babysitting for my mom, watching my sister. It was good money, so that is why I began doing that. I did that for a couple years, but I was ready to get back out into the work force. Hence the taking of the bike course and following job search. But it just didn’t work out.

There were too many conflicting factors and complications, and life, as the saying goes, just got in the way. But I was not sad or angry or mad. I felt content. I felt satisfied. The bike course, the bike job search, the whole thing, was a valuable life experience. I’m very happy I did it all. I’m grateful I was given the time to create memories for myself with the thing that absolutely makes it worth living each day—my bicycle.

10

My Bicycle Pipe Dream

A pipe dream is defined as an unattainable or fanciful hope, fantasy, or daydream. With that being determined, you could say that the likeliness of me getting or having compensation/income by employment at a bike shop was a pipe dream. Think back to when you were all a kid. What is that one school assignment we all had at some point? It was “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Mine was easy. I can’t what age I was when I first had this assignment in school, but I think I may have been in elementary school. I wanted to be an author. I knew that for the longest time. So for this loaded question for a grade, like I said, mine was easy. It was an author or a writer of some kind. How many people actually do now for a profession what they wanted to be as a kid? Some, obviously, but I’m willing to guess aside from some that not many are doing what they wanted as kids. I’m not one that is doing what I wanted all those years ago when I was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” But I wanted to be an author. Not someone working in a bike shop. So which one of these is my pipe dream? A pipe dream is supposed to be unattainable, right? It’s not realistic. That’s why it’s called a dream. You could make a case that my pipe dream is actually an author and not a customer service associate in a bike shop. But according to myself, I’m going to argue that the latter is in fact my pipe dream. I love writing. I have always loved it, long before I ever loved my bicycle as much as I do. I still love to write to this day, even if it is just a hobby, but I would like it to be more than that someday. Maybe this story will help make that happen, help me to get on the path of more publications. I even went to college in hopes of getting a writing job. That’s why English and liberal arts was my major, and that’s why I was taking creative writing and English classes. There are a lot of professions involving some kind of writing, but the only one that ever interested me more than anything was being an author. But, as I would find out, that would prove to be more difficult and complex than I originally thought. I lacked the street knowledge and first-world knowledge. I had to

devote 100 percent of my time and focus to writing, constantly thinking of new things and ideas. I didn’t have the concentration or motivation. The publishing process is long, detailed, and complicated, and it would take much time and patience to wait for even one story or book to get published. It was just not realistic. All in all, I still love writing, even if it is just a hobby for me now. I’m good at it, it’s fun, I’m creative when I do it, it relaxes me, and it lets me show off my ingenuity and originality when it comes to writing a story. But an author is not a pipe dream. It’s clear that doing that for a job is very attainable, and not a fantasy or daydream. There are a lot of authors. I still hope to one day get paid for what I put into words. Working in a bike shop is probably not a pipe dream either. There are tons of bike stores/shops all across the country, and even though BMX bikes are not in demand and are not even the most common kind of bike you’ll find there, a bike store clerk or associate is very attainable and achievable. But the point is that it’s my pipe dream. It’s more unlikely for me to work in a bike shop than not. So I wasn’t meant to work in a bike shop or work with bikes at all, and that’s okay. I have to follow the trail laid out for me. The fact that I’m writing this with intentions of having it published may very well be the thing I’m meant for, or at least one thing that’s in front of me on my path. Maybe the reality, and not the pipe dream, is for me to write about bikes rather than ride them? Outrageous insight, wouldn’t you agree?

11

My Bicycle Tattoo

What better way to immortalize your ion than to have it permanently displayed on your body in ink! Everyone has a different opinion about tattoos, of course. Some people have their skin completely covered in them. Some people don’t even have one. It’s normal to think that if someone tells you they’re getting a tattoo, they would have a logical, reasonable, and justifiable reason for wanting to do so, correct? I’m sure that most people who do have at least one tattoo, they got it because the content and information behind the tattoo is important to them. I doubt that many people went and got a tattoo just to get one for no reason. That doesn’t make much sense to me. So if you resign yourself, and you have made the final decision to get a tattoo, it should be something very close to you and something you are ionate about and have strong feelings for. Eventually, I got to that point about my bicycle. A lot of people know I love riding my bike because I talk about it, I take pictures related to it, and I let people know how it makes me feel. Everyone knows it is of great importance to me. But not everyone sees me ride my bike. Only a handful of people see me ride my bike, and that’s it. They don’t know the story behind it, why I do it. To them, all that is clear is that I’m riding a bike because I like it, or because I’m working out, or because I’m going somewhere, or simply because I just wanted to go outside for some fun on my bike. Believe it or not, it does matter sometimes to certain people that other people know what their ion is. People love to share things. They love to let others know what they love. They love to see in other people how much their ion means to them. And that’s probably one main reason why people get tattoos, because they just love to show it off. I don’t know why it should be any different for me. I have a tattoo of a BMX bike. I can’t think of any other way, outside of actually riding my bike, that shows how much I love my BMX bike and riding it, so I got a tattoo. It’s my ion, and I want to express it in as many ways as I can, and that won’t change. I’ve gotten many compliments from people who see it saying how much they like it, and that makes me feel good. That tells me I made a good decision in wanting to display

my love for bikes in that way. I’m reminded every day, when I look at my BMX bicycle tattoo, how much it means to me, how important it is to me, and that it will be my ion forever, no matter how old I get.

12

Seeing the World Differently from My Bicycle

I can’t take complete credit for the title of this chapter. I have some bike artwork in my house. They are just a few pictures and knick-knack type things. One of them is a wooden plaque picture. It says, “See the world differently from a bicycle.” It’s by Second Nature by Hand, which is a retail home décor store. So I modified it a little so I could use that saying on the plaque as my title for this chapter. I can’t where I bought it, but at the time, I was looking for some bicycle-themed decorations for my house. And then I found that. I wasn’t expecting to find anything that closely reflected my feelings when referring to my bike. But I thought it was perfect. If anyone ever sees that picture in my house and should happen to ask about it or comment on it, it’s a nice icebreaker into a conversation about what riding my bicycle really means to me. So what is something you do or have that makes you see the world differently? What does that even mean: see the world differently? I think it’s a detour way of thinking; that is, an alternate viewpoint of how you would normally see the world on an everyday basis. It doesn’t mean seeing the world literally through your own two eyes. It’s more of a figurative viewpoint or a metaphor, if you will. It’s a feeling you get when you are engaged in that one thing that makes you see the world differently. Everyone has that one thing. You don’t even have to think about it. You immediately know what it is. No other thing in the entire world makes you feel the same way it does. You know that saying, “Words can’t explain it”? That’s how that one thing makes you feel on the inside, and it makes everyone feel a certain way. You could talk and talk until you’re blue in the face. Words would not do it justice. That one thing makes people feel happiness, elation, excitement, joy, nirvana, nostalgia, etc., it makes you wish you could feel like that all the time. Riding my bike makes me feel all those things, but if I could choose only one word for myself, it would be free. I’ve heard the expression, “The things you own end up owning you” or “Your possessions own you.” I agree and disagree with this. I don’t believe a single

possession or a single inanimate object can be equal to emotions you have for a specific person. They are not alive. How could those emotions be equal? But could that one possession remind you of someone? Could that one object be connected to a person through past memories and experiences? In that case, maybe they could be equal. I’m trying to convey that there is more happening for me on my bike than what I’m seeing and feeling in the present time. “Live in the now” as one might say. Although I may be doing just that, when I’m on my bike, what one might literally see and doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. No one can see what I’m thinking. No one can see what I’m feeling. No one can see what I’m experiencing on the inside. When I am riding my bike, everything else goes away. There’re no problems. There’re no concerns or issues. There’s no doubt or fear or anger. There’s no insecurity or hindrances; no interference or annoyances. There’re no distractions. There’re no disruptions. There is nothing. It’s just me and my bicycle. I’m completely focused on what’s ahead of me, and I’m completely aware of my bike under me and between myself and the path. Myself and the bike are connected. We become one. I’m here, but I’m also not here. My bike takes me away. It takes me away from everything that might be bothering me. It takes me away to a place only I can go to. It takes me to my own personal space of serenity and peace and relaxation. Can an inanimate object make you feel the same thing you might feel when you’re with a person? I think what I just touched on is as close as it can get to that. I have been in love before. You could say I have been in love a couple times. But to be perfectly blunt and straightforward, my bicycle has never left me. That’s why love for a thing can be as great as love for a person. Possessions may end up owning you, but they don’t leave you. The love I have for my bike is a different kind of love. It’s not weird or creepy or strange. What I feel when I am riding my bike cannot be measured or compared to anything. You do things that make you feel alive. You do things that make you feel invincible. You do things that make you feel indestructible. You do things that make you feel you are on top of the tallest mountain and no one can topple you. That’s how my bike makes me feel. If I was only allowed to keep one thing for all the rest of eternity, I would take my bike. It’s really an easy choice. If the world is ending, if everything around me is crumbling, if it all is coming down, I’m grabbing my bike and not letting it go. It’s not just a physical item. Having that bike and riding that bike isn’t just that it’s there in a physical sense. It represents what I love doing. It is a two-wheeled metaphor for what I stand for, what I believe in, my type of lifestyle, and all things my life represents while the bike is involved. When I am on my bike, I have a sense of everything being bigger than myself. I have such a

grand and profound contemplation of everything I cannot see. I want to hold onto everything I am experiencing while on that bike. It makes me feel I am more than what I am on the outside and on the inside combined. It makes life worth living; it makes every day worth waking up for, when I know I can head out into that world that I see differently when I have my bicycle with me.

13

My Bicycle Repairs

Anyone that’s ever owned a bicycle knows the territory that comes along with it. I know this as well as anyone who rides their bike as much as I do. It’s not like taking care of a car or something that has an engine or that you need to start, but it still requires some technical and handyman skills. A bike has a lot of moving parts and small pieces and elements that work together for it to handle and operate correctly, and if one of those things breaks or malfunctions, it may affect the performance of the entire bicycle. I wouldn’t say I have a lot of knowledge about those kinds of things that concern a bike, but I do know the basics. If learning the basics was the only takeaway I gained from attending Barnett Institute, I’m okay with that. I wouldn’t even consider riding a bicycle if I didn’t at least know the basics. I can’t assemble a bike, I know. And I can’t do all the repairs either, I know. Anything involving bicycle maintenance and repair is a trade skill, and if I ever want to do something with bikes for a living, I’ll just go to trade school. It would be a nice pet to have. Knowing that’s an option will always be at the back of my mind, but I don’t need to go into it right now. You don’t need many tools to make a lot of repairs on a bicycle. And a lot of repairs you may need to make on a bike are basic. The most common one is a flat tire. I’ve had so many flats on a bike I’ve lost count. There’ve been instances where I had a flat tire three times in a span of a couple months. Goat heads, or as I call them, stickers, could be categorized as a bike tire’s archnemesis. They are everywhere. They are unavoidable. You can run over one at any point during any season. Just hope you don’t run over one because it will flatten your tire. To fix a flat, you just need a new tube. It’s easy enough to teach yourself how to change a bike tube. You just need to figure out how to remove the wheel. A flat tire doesn’t require a trip to the bike shop, but it’s just easier for me to do it that way so I’m not buying new tubes all the time. The best way to get around a goat head flattening your tire is to go with an extra thick and durable tube with the bicycle goo already in it. Once you do that, it’ll be a long time between flats, hopefully.

Including changing a flat, you may have to remove the tire for other things as well: spoke problems, chain problems, headset or stem problems, fork problems, etc. The best tools for fixing things on a bike are wrenches, the best type being an Allen wrench. Get yourself a park tool. It has numerous sizes of Allen wrenches, and you will probably need them all for something. My park tool is great for everything. It has six different-sized Allen wrenches, and I’ve already used a few of them for tasks on my bike. It’s a great thing to have. Once you have to start doing repairs on your own bike, you’ll see what I’m talking about. I’ve had to make several major repairs on a couple bikes I have had before. The owner of my local bike shop knows me well. I’ve known him for a long time, and I go to him for just about anything concerning my bike: doing repairs, getting bike accessories, and even buying new bikes. He’s even given me a deal and cut me a few discounts on some things. My chain has broken a few times. I know how to change or replace a chain. I just go to the bike shop to get a new one. I can do the rest of the fix on my own. You don’t even need any tools to change the chain. I’ve gotten a new seat post before. You just need the park tool to remove it. I’ve gotten a new seat before. Two bigger repairs I’ve had to get done before on my bike, which needed an extended stay in the bike shop, were getting the brakes fixed and getting new pedals. I had a pedal snap off while I was riding it, and a cable attached to my handlebar brake broke as well. Believe me, those are indeed major repairs. Miraculously, I did not crash when either of these things happened. I credit that to my pretty good balance I have on a bike and nothing else. When things start to break or wear down more often than they should on a bicycle, it’s time for a new one. Although I will ride the same bike for as long as I can, all the way up until it’s on its last wheel, when it starts to fall apart on a regular basis, then it’s time for a new ride. That’s happened to me once. Good thing it was during the summer, because I ride my bike every day in the summer, and I was super excited when I went bike shopping. I love shopping for a new bike. I can’t wait to break it in, and be on it so much that one day, I’ll need to make a major repair on it too. I don’t get down or upset every time something on my bicycle needs to be fixed. Like I said, it’s just part of the territory. It will be good as new every time. The only thing that I would say is, unfortunate about it is not having your bike when all you want to do is ride your bike. But there is nothing better than when my bicycle is running smoothly, and all those moving parts are working together flawlessly and in harmony. It allows me to just focus on the ride and be one with the bicycle. It makes me want to ride it all day, every day. If I could stay on my bicycle all the time, I would make any repair necessary no matter how much it costs. When you love something as

much as I love riding my bike, you would do anything to be able to keep on doing it. That’s why riding my bike will always be my ion.

14

Riding My Bicycle as a Hobby

My bike is a lot of things to me. It’s a possession, of course, but an important possession. It’s a means of transportation. It’s a form of exercise. It’s a type of fun. It’s a convenient recreational activity. It’s a sport. It’s an escape from everything when life gets a little stressful, so that makes it a stress reliever too. It takes me to places that relax me. I can take it to places to think and reflect. It’s a conversation starter. It’s a great form of interaction. It’s a tool that lets me view the world and everything in it. But one thing that my bike is to me that may get overlooked is that it’s a hobby. I’ve talked about my bike being a job, a trade, a ion, a love, a competition object, etc., but it’s a hobby! Riding my bike doesn’t have to be any of those other things. If I were to choose one thing to use my bike for, one thing that would give it the most meaning, it would be as a hobby. A bicycle does not require anything from you, other than knowing how to ride it. But what does something being a hobby even mean? It’s something that you like doing. It’s something that interests you. It’s something that takes you away when life gets hard. It’s something you can do with other people. You don’t have to make money off it. You don’t have to make a living off it. You don’t have to do it, or even need to do it. You have a hobby because you genuinely want to do it and that it makes you feel good. That’s why, probably, riding my bike is the number one thing I always want to do. If it ever does become only being a hobby, that’s fine. I don’t need a reason. I’m going to ride it. The fact that I’m always thinking about doing it and that I prefer doing it over anything, all the time, simply for no other reason other than I can, maybe makes it one of the best hobbies there is. There will always be hobbies, and there will always be people that do those hobbies. What’s your hobby? Why do you do it? My hobby is bike riding. I do it because it’s not my job. I do it because it’s not my trade. I do it because my bike is its own thing, and I believe riding it and owning it is completely separate and individual and independent from everything else. It’s not related to anything. It’s my instrument, and it’s my vessel. If you can say all that about what your hobby is, you can see where I am coming from.

My hobby is a bicycle. If it’s taken away from me, I can’t say I know what would replace it. It’s that important to me.

15

My Bicycle Foreshadowing

I want to talk a little about a calling. A calling is different from a hobby, knack, or talent. A calling is something you may be naturally good at having never tried it before. A calling could turn into a job or career later in life, but I think that is unlikely for most people. A calling is something you would try out of the blue without any pressure from anyone and just because you are legitimately curious about it. Of course at the time you initially try it, it hasn’t become a calling yet. This is no doubt true about riding a bicycle. So going back to when I was six, during that time when my fibbing mother was showing me how to ride a bike, my calling was introducing itself to me for the first time, unbeknownst to sixyear-old Alex. When you’re six, I don’t even think you know what a calling is. But that is not important or the point. The way that the events in your life maneuver and manipulate your path toward the inevitable calling cannot be controlled, calculated, or conceived. Everything that happens in your life is for a purpose. It’s steering you toward where you are supposed to be whether you know it or not, and you couldn’t change it if you wanted to. That is what was happening when six-year-old Alex was tentatively and cautiously trying out the two wheels for the first time while unwittingly obeying, unquestioning, and trusting a little white lie spoken by his mother, “Yes, I’m still holding on, dear.” My calling made its big entrance in my life based through a six-word sentence lie that was thirty years in the making. It may have been cruel, at the time, had I known my mom wasn’t holding onto that seat, but I look back now and can only laugh about it. My whole entire life involving my bike and everything I’ve done with it since I was six was created from a lie. But that was my calling’s plan. That’s how my bike was supposed to be inserted into my life. Maybe I never learn how to ride a bike when my mother says she’s holding on when she’s really not. All the events that would occur in my life could have all been different had I just looked behind me to check if she really was holding on. Of course I didn’t, and the bicycle calling was born. It’s how it was supposed to happen. That was my bicycle foreshadowing. That part of my life was already laid out in front of

me. I thank you for lying to me, Mom.

16

My Rollerblades-to-Bikes Transition

Had my mom shown me how to rollerblade instead of riding a bike when I was six, I’m talking about rollerblades being my biggest ion in my life. Obviously, it didn’t take place that way, but hypothetically, if rollerblades were as big part of my life instead of the bike ultimately filling that role, then my life could have been very different. But rollerblades did, at one point, play a big role in my life. I can’t the time frame when the rollerblading started, but a few of my close friends I had in middle and high school were into rollerblading, and I thought it really looked like fun, so then I got into it as well. I think it was around six or seven years that I did rollerblading with those few friends. We acted like we were really good at it, but I was not good at it. I went through a phase where I would only buy sophisticated in-line skates. You know the ones you would use for grinding rails and doing tricks and jumping down flights of stairs. I did all that stuff, but again, I wasn’t very good at it, but it was super fun. During that time period, I didn’t ride a bike at all. I saw how much my friends loved in-line skating, but deep down, I didn’t like doing it as much as they liked doing it. I still liked, and did, ride my bike sometimes, but not much. I was with them a lot, and we skated a lot. But also deep down, I knew that they didn’t like riding a bike as much as I did. They weren’t into riding bikes. In fact, I don’t think I ever saw any of them riding a bike. I never really knew why that was. So that’s why rollerblading was just a phase for me because I always enjoyed riding my bike more. I just never rode bikes with them. It’s kind of funny. The people I did ride my bike with were some of the neighborhood kids that were not really close friends of mine. Eventually, the rollerblading phase did end and then it was time for the bike again. I knew that the bike riding wasn’t a phase because I always wanted to ride it. I suppose that never changed. As long as I’ve owned and ridden a bike, I always want to ride it. I think about riding my bike all the time. I guess that might be the only thing I think about all the time. Interesting development there.

I guess maybe the rollerblading was a phase for my friends too. After high school, I was just about done with the rollerblading altogether. I suppose they were too, at some point, because then they all got into skateboarding. That did not interest me at all. I tried it a few times, but I just didn’t think it was fun. It was too hard, and I just didn’t have the balance or technical skill to do it. I was getting more into bike riding anyway. I can’t how many bikes I’ve had in my life. It’s a lot. I don’t think there ever was a point where I didn’t own a bike. I may have gone through a few times where I didn’t ride it as much, but I always had one. It’s been my most consistent and steady possession, perhaps the only thing I’ve had all my life. Maybe the rollerblades could have been like that too, but somehow, I don’t think so. The time I had in-line skating was fun, but it just never felt the same way that bike riding did. Maybe in a way I always liked all the extreme sport things, like bikes and rollerblades and swimming and even playing roller hockey. But again, none of it was as important, or fun, or meaningful, or as much a ion as bike riding was. I called it a transition, but maybe it’s not. How can it be when riding and loving my bike was always there? I suppose it was a permanent transition because I won’t be phasing out of it.

17

My Bicycle and My Health

My bike has done a lot of things for me. There is no doubt that at this point in my life, I need it. I know a BMX bike is probably not the most logical or practical choice of bike at the age of thirty-seven, almost thirty-eight, but it’s just the kind of bike I like. I’ve spent a lot of years riding a bike. I’ve even had different types of bikes too. I’ve had just regular street bikes before, as well as mountain bikes, but none of that ever had the appeal as much as the BMX bike did. I’m convinced that if I had to go through each day with no bike, I’d drive myself crazy. The amount of benefits my bike has made for me is long. I’m not big on exercise, but how many forms of exercise do I need in addition to riding my bike? I think I do well enough in that area with just the bike. The physical benefit is great, but I believe the mental part that my bike brings to the table is way more important. I need my bike for my mental health. I would be certifiably insane if not for my bike. It is such a huge stress reliever. When I am stressed, I go ride the bike; nothing more to it than that. I am all there in the head. I’m thin but still in pretty good physical condition. I do think I’ve got it all together mentally, physically, emotionally, and psychologically. I include emotionally because nothing makes me happier than riding my bike. My bicycle helps me interact with people on the bike path and around town, knowing people is important to your health. The physical health part, of course, is the exercise benefit and also to have fun. I try to be positive and see the lighter side of things, and my bike plays a big part in that. I include psychologically because, obviously, I’m not crazy and not in a mental health facility. I’m not much of a spiritual person, but being out on the bike path and seeing what I see makes me believe in some kind of higher power that is much greater than myself. As you can see, I’d be in rough shape without my bike. It improves and keeps my health in great condition in every way possible. I owe a lot of my life and all the good and positive in it to my bicycle. There’re many things I wouldn’t be able to tolerate or handle or achieve if not for my bicycle. I owe the kind of person I am today to it. This may be a little blunt, but I would die without my bicycle, or at

least not be that good of a person. Honestly, I mean every word about that. There’s just one thing that my bike may not be able to help me with, or maybe it could. Is it likely that I could meet someone special while riding my bike? Could I meet a significant other somewhere while riding my bike? Could I meet a lady friend out on the bike trail that loves bikes as much as I do and feels the same way about it? I can hope, and time will tell. My health could greatly improve again thanks to my bike if by any chance I could meet a girl. It’s helped in a lot of ways, so why not include a girl too?

18

My Bicycle Withdrawals

Living in the state of Colorado is tough if you own a bicycle. You have to navigate the seasons like no other place. It’s almost impossible to forecast the weather in this state. It really does change dramatically without much notice. Even though there is an official start date for each season on the calendar, Colorado weather does not care about that. Sometimes, on days, the weather does change drastically and caught you out on your bike; it’s a lesson learned the hard way, or so you might think. In my opinion, the best time of year to ride a bike is fall. It cools down a little from August to September. It stays very mild, is not blazing hot, and the sun comes out almost every day. Most of the severe stormy weather takes place before September, and it stays mild, for the most part, all the way through to the end of October, before it turns cold. So there is a two-month window that is optimum bike-riding weather, maybe the best weather all year to take a bike out. Summer is a great time of year to go on bike rides, but you do have to pay attention to the weather before taking your bike out. Mornings, in my opinion, are the best time to take bike rides in the summer. It’s not superhot yet, and there’re usually no storms that happen during that time. Since it stays lighter out during the summer and the days are longer, it gives you more time to take a bike ride before it gets totally dark. So, late evening, if no storms, is also a prime time to go on a bicycle ride. Mornings are still my favorite though. But since there is severe weather and rain in the summer, that’s the reason to pay attention to the forecast. Summer is the longest time of the year to take bike rides but still just the second best. Nothing beats that prime, ideal weather in September and October. Spring is very tricky weather for bicycle riding in Colorado. It can be the most unpredictable weather all year long. Springtime in the state of Colorado is a wild card. You would think that between March and May is perfect bike-riding weather, but you’d be wrong, and I don’t blame you. If I was visiting this state during that time, I would think, foolishly, I could be on my bike the whole time.

How mistaken I would be. Native Coloradans can attest to that. Spring in Colorado can have every type of weather: rain, severe storms, wind, hail, snow, and over a hundred degrees days. The weather can change faster on you in the spring than other point in the year. Especially check the weather report in the spring every day before taking your bike out, but even that may not help you much. Maybe just not take long rides to avoid a drastic weather change. I’ve seen many days where this happened. I experienced over eighty degrees, and then a drop down to forties and snow on my high school graduation day. Imagine that much of a change in temperature when riding your bike. I don’t have to imagine that. It’s happened to me before. Winter is not a good time of the year for bike rides, obviously. I have to accept the fact that in winter, I may not be able to ride my bike very much at all. I might get lucky sometimes in November and December, to the point in which it’s not frigid cold and not much snow. That does happen sometimes. The sun still does come out often in the wintertime to warm it up a little. It’s very difficult and not very much fun to ride a BMX bike when it’s a little too cold outside. Some winters are mild with not much snow, and if it’s not too cold, those are the days that can be good for a bike ride. January and February are probably the worst times to try and ride a bike in this state. Even if there is no snow, it usually is too cold. It can be a long two-month stretch if the weather only allows you to take the bike out a few times. I need to occupy my time doing something else, as hard as that might be, if that would be the case, but it would be a huge reward and worth the wait when that warmer weather comes in March. That ride would be that much sweeter. Winter can be tough if you are a bicycle rider in Colorado, but it can be warm enough and mild enough sometimes to take a quick bike ride every now and then. You just have to make it through that time because warmer weather and more bicycle riding days are right around the corner. I have serious bicycle withdrawals in winter. I just want to ride my bike all the time. I’m always thinking about doing it. It’s what I think about doing more than anything. Winter can be depressing. You can’t go outside much, stuck inside being bored and probably driving yourself crazy. That’s when the withdrawals hit the hardest. But if I can survive that, making it to the point where I can ride my bike a few more days a week as opposed to none, then that is a victory and a withdrawal vanquisher. All in all, Colorado is a great state for bike riding. You could say it’s made for it, with really only one season where you can’t ride it that much. We have sunshine days over 80 percent of the time in Colorado, and that usually equals a ton of time and hours to be logged on a bicycle. Doing the thing I love most cures my withdrawals, really regarding anything. Colorado is the perfect state to cure your

withdrawals, and I will go out on a limb and say that bike riding is one of the top withdrawals in this state when people can’t do it. A ton of people ride bicycles here, and they should. It’s one of the fittest states, meaning people go outside a lot. I am definitely one of them. So if you wonder where I might be when it’s warm and the sun is out, I’ll give you one guess, but you should be able to get it after one shot. I’m out on two wheels, giving my bicycle withdrawals a lengthy scratch.

19

My Bicycle Future

I don’t need to tell you what my bicycle means to me, even though I may have already. You have enough to gather for yourself to know that it means a lot to me. I’ve told you everything about my bike that you might have been wondering. I’ve tried to paint a painting. I’ve tried to draw a drawing. I’ve tried to photograph a picture. You get my gist, don’t you? One thing, one person, means more than any other thing or any other person to absolutely everyone. What is that one thing for you? I know what my life has been like with my bicycle. I don’t need to speculate what my life would have been like without it. It would have been a lot worse, period. I’ve had some really hard times in my life, more than I would ever wish upon someone else. We all need something to get us through those hard times. Otherwise, we would never make it. Life would be unbearable. My bicycle has pulled me through, pulled me out of those dark places I’ve been to. It’s been my saving grace. It’s been my healer. It’s been my comfort. It’s been my rock. I can honestly say that I don’t know what I would do without my bicycle. I don’t think I could come back from those dark places. Every time I’ve had a low, my bicycle has brought me back up. Every time I’ve been down, my bicycle has pulled me back up. It’s saved me more times than I could ever count. I understand, and I know it’s not a person. It’s an inanimate object. It’s a possession. It’s just a thing. But I have never loved something, or even someone, more than my bicycle. That might sound a little weird. I can’t sit here and write what I’m writing in these words and give my bike the justice and credit it deserves in these pages alone. I can’t express that here. It’s a feeling. It’s an emotion. And it overtakes me every time I get on that bicycle. It fills me. It fills my heart to the brim. It takes everything I’ve ever felt before and melts it into nothing. In that moment, it’s just me and a bicycle. All my yesterdays are stretched out behind me. All my tomorrows are laid out ahead of me. I’m in the now with my bicycle, and I will be in the forever with my bicycle. This is my bicycle future. This is me and my bicycle. This is my bicycle.

About the Author

Alex’s book, My Wheels in the World, is a work of nonfiction and describes and tells in detail his life experiences involving his bicycle. He has made his home in a small town in Colorado for over thirty years, and his hobbies include reading, writing, and of course, riding his bicycle. His family, friends, and the bicycle trail where he lives were motivation for this book. He collects books and works in the entertainment business. He also has had a writing page that includes works about fiction and poetry. This is his debut nonfiction book about his ion: bicycling.