I have been riding bikes of one kind or another since I was old enough to keep my balance on two wheels. It used to be that my bike meant freedom, freedom to get where I wanted to go when I wanted to go there before I was able to drive. My first bike was a hand me down no-name orange and yellow, single speed bike with moustache handle bars, it was two sizes too big for me I couldn't even touch the ground without listing severely to one side or another; I think it was the size of the bike that helped me to learn to ride I was scared spitless of falling over if I stopped moving. I eventually moved on to 10-speeds and then on to BMX bikes where I found my niche until the Mountain Bike found its beginnings. Looking back on those BMX type bikes I have owned in my time I can't believe how small they look now but oh what sweet memories those bikes still have in my mind. My first real decent bike was a Mongoose, back when they didn't have more then one, next up was a black red-line, then a Torker and finally on to a GT Pro Performer. I had a love for all things chrome back then and paint was what you got on your bike when you couldn't find a chrome one in stock. After riding bikes for any amount of time you either learn a few things about interacting with the world on a bike or you give it up because of too many close calls.
Riding a bike you learn your surroundings much more then you do zipping by everything in a metal casket on wheels. You almost can't help but notice things you never would in a car, you notice that the road isn't as flat as you once thought it was all those time you drove on it. You realize that there is a HUGE difference between pavement and cement, you learn to appreciate 10 miles for more then just a 5 minute journey by car. You really get to know the difference between 5 mph breezes and 20 mph winds and which one you would rather ride in, you learn to better judge whether or not that cloud just looks like rain or is rain; generally only after getting caught out in one or two down pours though. After riding the same bike for awhile you really do start to form a bond with it, it becomes more then just metal and rubber it becomes a friend, a companion, someone to keep you company when everyone else abandons you and you ride alone. You learn what creaks, pings and noises are normal and which ones are not and whether or not the non-normal ones are major or if you can make it where you are going and back, if you don't you spend a loooooooooonnnnnnnnnngggggg time taking your bike for a walk rather then riding it because it never fails on the way out. One thing I have really started to notice lately is how open spaces are disappearing , places that used to be open fields last year suddenly spring up as apartment or housing developments, this is especially troubling if you have a preference for the dirt over the "road". I guess it is progress and there is money to be made for building the next newest, greatest development but couldn't we tear down the slums and build there rather then just let the inner cities rot while the rich spread further and further from the center? I don't pretend to have all the answers but I think if more of us spent some time biking through our world and really getting to know where we live I think we would not be so quick to pave over it all. Cement is not the answer!
"They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
No, no, no
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot"~Counting Crows~
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