1 - Shrinking, Dying

I'm dying here without my bike and thus no rides. Upstairs, downstairs, inside, outside. Anywhere.

They said it would be done yesterday and it wasn't. And they haven't called me yet today.

And now I'm constantly feeling tired, feel like I'm shrinking. Like Chief Bromden in One Flew Over.

Maybe better call them now. Let them know I'm dying here and there'll be no one else to pick it up...

LPK
Dreamwidth
10.28.2020 (a) 

2 - How I Roll

It was 4:30 in the afternoon, and I was about to draw my final breath when the phone rang.

"Hello, this is Mello Velo and your bike is ready."

"OMG, you're a life saver! I'll be there as soon as I tear up the DNR and cancel the organ donations."

Silence for a moment and then, "Um, OK, we're open until 6 today." Click.

Mello Velo Bicycle Shop & Cafe was started a decade ago by a group of newly-graduated SU students who suddenly found themselves with thousands of dollars in student loans coming due and assorted liberal arts degrees which had seemed like a good idea, four years earlier, in their high school guidance offices.

(In the interest of journalistic integrity, I feel compelled to admit that some of this is speculative on my part. But it does enhance the story, right?)

About 45 minutes later, I walked into the bike shop which is on the geographic outskirts of their alma mater. And farther yet from the philosophical outskirts of higher education. Thankfully.

As I walked though the door, I heard a barely audible whisper from behind the service counter.

"Pssttt! This one's for you, Michael."

I'm pretty sure Michael was a psych major in his undergraduate days. (More speculation, more enhancement.)

Anyway, Michael calmly wheeled a sparkling clean Black Allegro out for me, resplendant with her new fenders and brake pads, tautly-adjusted cables, and repaired and lubricated derailleurs.

With equal calm, I slid my credit card through the machine, thanked them for their service, and exited the shop. Which seemed to exhale its collectively-held breath as I walked out the door. (More... never mind. You know what I was gonna say.)

Back home, I made a few adjustments of my own to the new fenders--because that's how I roll--and then, under relatively clear skies and in the very midst of rush-hour traffic, I took the ride that body, mind, and spirit had been begging for over the past two days.

Because that, too, is how I roll...

LPK
Dreamwidth
10.28.2020 (b) 

3 - Glad I Finished

Finished reading Ken Kesey's One Flew Over tonight.

Glad I'm done with it but glad I finished.

It wasn't an easy read, given how things are right now. Given how I am right now.

When I started, I didn't think I'd read it before. But when I got to the end, I knew I had.

Years ago, probably just out of college.

Those times which, like the Chief, I hadn't been back to in a very long time...

LPK
Dreamwidth
10.28.2020 (c)