I got an Orions 10-speed for my 15th birthday—my first real grown-up bike. It was serpent-green and had curly drop bars. It looked way cool, but I was confused and intimidated by the dual shifters. I fumbled around and eventually chose one speed at random, deciding that one would do just fine. I rode that …
Category: Bicycles
Its not me. Its the bike.
The next person who leans out a car window and gushes at me, ‘oh i really admire you it’s so amazing that you ride your bike all over the island‘ is gonna get popped in the head. Listen: Its not me. Its the bike. I am a five-foot-nuthin 51-yr-old woman. I’m no athlete, and I’m …
Carmen changes a tire
My sexy Panaracers were looking weary and scarred. Two years of assault by the thorns of New Mexico and the unpaved roads of Cortes Island meant the time had come to get me some new rubber. Horny Gord at my bike shop recommended a pair of light and sturdy Continental Touring Plus tires. “They’re a …
Searching for Patti’s bike
Patti’s bike got stolen. The old sad story: locked with a flimsy cable lock outside the caf´é and, snip! Gone. Patti is PattiPow: choir leader, local hero, my loyal chum and my steadfast companion. And Patti’s bike is Patti’s bike: her well-tuned Brodie that fit her so well, her wheels, her ride, her own steadfast …
Bike crazy Cumberland
I’m at the library in bike crazy Cumberland BC. I had not been off-island (Cortes, that is) for months. So in defiance of the Weather Forecast (pooh i say!) i leapt abike and pedaled off and away, cross island and through Campbell River and beyond. After 30 flat but boring kms on the old Island …