Nikki Giovanni’s Ride

How many books of poetry have been called “Bicycles?”

How many poems have you read with the title “Bicycle?”

Nikki Giovanni wrote the poem and the others in the collection. In both, the bicycle is not merely a metaphor for life. Rather, it’s an expression of how she lived her life:  in love, not only with her wife Virginia Fowler or with everything that’s beautiful, but with being. She was who she was and, like love itself, nobody could take it away from her.

Therein lies the power of so many of her poems, essays and children’s books. She was not just another writer with a facility for language and a sense of imagery.  Rather, her works exude her authenticity and warmth. Having met her once, I can attest to the latter.

When I say she was in love, I do not mean that she was content with everything as it is or was: Much of her early writing was inspired by her involvement with the Civil Rights movement. Rather, she knew that it would take more than anger to change anything. If anything, she understood that real change would involve embracing the élan vital, even if she never used that term.

So why am I talking about Nikki Giovanni in the past tense? Well, two weeks ago, her ride, if you will, of 81 years ended two weeks ago. I read about her passing the following day, but I waited to write about her in the hope that in the right moment, I could do something resembling justice for her. I don’t believe I have with this post. So, I’ll do what I believe to be the next-best thing, at least in the context of this blog, and share the poem that’s the subject of my second question.

Bicycles

Midnight poems are bicycles
Taking us on safer journeys
Than 
  jets
Quicker journeys
Than walking
But never as beautiful
A 
  journey
As my back
Touching you under the quilt

Midnight 
  poems
Sing a sweet song
Saying everything
Is all 
  right

Everything
Is
Here for us
I reach out
To catch the 
  laughter

The dog thinks
I need a kiss

Bicycles move
With 
the  flow
Of the earth
Like a cloud
So quiet
In the October 
sky
Like  licking ice cream
From a cone
Like knowing you
Will 
always
Be  there

All day long I wait
For the sunset

The 
first star
The  moon rise

I move
To a 
  midnight
Poem
Called
You
Propping
Against
The 
  dangers

Dressed Up For The Holidays

 Three more days until Christmas.

‘Tis the season for—what else?—tacky sweaters.

Not Good Times For GT

 Hetchins frames have curly stays.  Mercian Vincitore and other custom frames have curly lugs. On the other side of the coin, early Cannondales had oversized tubes that somehow seemed even bigger and some of the ugliest joints and paint jobs ever seen on a bike shop-quality frame.

Those are a few of the bikes that, if you don’t know enough to tell them apart from others from a mile away, you can see are different from others.

GT bicycles also fit into that category. Even if the decals were removed, “in the know” cyclists would know they were looking at a GT because of its “triple triangle” frame design—and everyone else could see that the bike is different. Not all GTs had that feature, but if you were to see a frame that has it, you could be all but certain it’s a GT.

When I was an active mountain biker during the 1990s, GT was one of the most respected names. It’s also one of the first names associated with BMX, one of the few cycling disciplines I haven’t tried and where Gary Turner, the brand’s founder, got his start. Their road bikes have also been well-received.

I have never owned a GT but have had opportunities to try them and can say that I understand why it had more “brand loyalty” than most other names: As I recall, the ones I tried were responsive and offered good traction even with slick tires in dirt. I might’ve bought one had a too-good-to-pass up deal on a Bontrager Race Lite in my size hadn’t presented itself.

In spite of their bikes’ virtues, GT, like other iconic bike names, hasn’t been immune to the “crash” that followed the bike industry’s “sugar high” during the first year or two of the COVID-19 pandemic.  This week, Jason Schiers, the company’s managing director, announced that there will be layoffs by the end of this year. The company also said it’s not releasing new products and plans to sell off its existing inventory through 2025.

Not being an industry analyst, I can only guess at what, specifically, benighted GT. So here goes: I think they are most closely associated with two disciplines—mountain biking and BMX—whose popularity has fallen off in recent years, as participants in the latter have aged out and the kids are opting for video games. In the meantime, the sorts of riders who might’ve gotten involved with mountain biking 30 years ago are opting for gravel riding or are riding eBikes.

Anyway, even though I’ve never owned a GT, I would be sorry to see the brand’s extinction.