Evening all.
I was once asked what I love more, my bikes, or the young woman who asked the question.
I found out in short order that honesty is not the best policy in all relationships. Fortunately everything has worked out for the best. I have had many happy and loving years, filled with all the things that make life worth living, and I owe it all to keeping the bikes.
Hope things work out as well for the rest of you.
Tom Harriman.
(with 4 bikes in a studio)
San Francisco, Ca 94110
> From: Jon@FAI.US
> To: thomasthomasa@yahoo.com; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:55:52 -0500
> Subject: Re: [CR] True Appreciation of what's Real
>
> Tom,
> We are in the same boat brother, but it seems we can at least be grateful they
> are willing to occasionally ride.
>
> For me it comes with a quizzical disgusted look - "Why would you want an old
> bike when you could just buy a new one you won't have to work on?" I just stand
> there speechless. Why bother to explain?
>
> Jon M. Crate
> Marietta, Georgia
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org
> [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Adams
> Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 9:55 PM
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: [CR] True Appreciation of what's Real
>
> So a package came in the mail today, flat and wide, well secured by tape,
> requiring several strokes from the trusty Swiss army knife to remove the
> contents. And what do I see, but a NOS 50 tooth bis Stronglight 99 chain ring.
> Oh Joy, oh rapture! I held it in it's swiss cheesy glory, reveling in it's
> airy, delicate structure, my mind already a-whirl, picturing long leisurely
> rides down shaded country lanes, happily twirling this ring on a fine lugged
> steel steed, myself somehow magically slender and black haired again. I slowly
> emerged from my meditation to see She Who Must be Obeyed looking at me oddly.
>
> "Look dear!" I squealed. "A chain ring!" "Terrific", said she, "why am I
> looking at it?"
>
> Crushed, deflated and demoralized, I slunk from her presence. Oh my darling,
> after so many years of patient evangelizing, still you're soul is dark and
> closed to the true path. Still you think of a bicycle as merely a tool for
> recreation, instead of a holy metaphor for all that is right and beautiful if it
> is lugged steel, or the embodiment of evil and decadence if not. Still are you
> more concerned that your jersey matches your bar tape as opposed to being
> happily mesmerized by a chain ring with 108 holes in it, declining to agonize
> over whether the bolt holes should or should not count in the count, or what
> value to assign to the hole with the over shift peg in it. No, instead you ask
> "What good do the holes do?"
>
> In truth I always knew this sad day would come. For never did the beloved
> object respond favorably as I read to her from my dissertation on the relative
> merits of the flat fork crown versus the sloping, or that heretical
> hybridization, the semi sloping. Just to annoy me, she would fall asleep as the
> second hour of the recital started. But never before had I despaired of being
> some day able to bring her to the true faith.
>
> But now I can deny the truth no longer: she does not love bikes as I do, nor
> can I hope to convert her. But I will be big about it: I will understand that
> due to some defect in her genetics or upbringing she is incapable of ascending
> to the true heights of appreciation, where counting the number of holes in a
> chain ring is not an act of lunacy, but a simple ritual of devotion. As an act
> of charity, we will remain together. After all, who else will I get to stoke
> the tandem?
>
> Tom Adams, broken hearted but unbowed,
> in Manhattan, KS USA