All right, I'll admit it: the culture snob that is moi might actually look at It's A Wonderful Life. Again.
You see, inside the heart of this fan of Mizoguchi (especially Osaka Elegy) and John Coltrane is someone not above a little sentimentality and a happy ending or two every now and again.
Anyway...If you've been reading this blog, you've probably noticed that I like telling stories of folks who get bikes to kids who might not otherwise get them, especially during the holiday season. What's not to like about a kid riding a bike for the first time?
That is the experience 400 kids in Portland, Oregon had the other day. Their "Santa Claus", if you will, is the city's nonprofit Community Cycling Center. Since 1995, the program has provided over 10,000 bicycles to children from lower-income families.
It's not hard to understand why someone would volunteer for such a project. "Everyone can remember the joy of their first bike and the feeling of being on a bike as a kid and the excitement and freedom and joy that comes with it," says Kassandra Griffin, who works with the Center. And other organizations, including Trauma Nurses Talk Tough, aid the Center's efforts.
The Nurses provided helmets for the children who received bikes. Like other volunteers, they are motivated by the sense of community their work provides and seeing the delight of kids--who are given safety lessons--taking their first rides. "I've been an emergency nurse for 12 years," said Geri Gartz, "and...this is one of the best experiences I've had in my career."
What's not to like about seeing a girl like Nolia Okada getting a pink bike, especially when her family "couldn't afford" it, according to her mother Momo Okada. "She's going to practice and we can be riding together."
Could this be the beginning--or, at least, part of--a wonderful life? One can hope.
So, it looks like my "meeting in Kool Orange" might be turning into a friendship. Or, at least, a cycle-buddy relationship.
Yes, Bill and I went for a ride the other day. He was on his Kool Orange Schwinn Sports Tourer from 1971, and I pedaled my 1981 Trek 412.
I know: I have to post a photo of it on my sidebar, with my other bikes. I've had it almost a year now. It's still a work in progress, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep it--even after I get the Mercian Vincitore Special I've ordered!
Anyway, Bill--who said he'd been feeling a bit under the weather--was moving at a rather sprightly pace through the backstreets of industrial Brooklyn when we chanced upon a shop in Bushwick.
"Can I help you."
"No, just want to take a look. Any shop with two Bob Jacksons looks promising."
Those bikes were, as it turned out, an entree, an appetizer or whatever you want to call it. Haven Cycles has quite the selection of vintage bikes: I noticed, among other bikes, a classic Raleigh Competition, a Schwinn Paramount track bike and a Serotta track bike equipped with Shimano's 10-pitch gearing and gold-anodized Super Champion Arc en Ciel tubular rims. There was even a Raleigh ten-speed made for the British market (it had the lamp holder brazed to the front fork) and the usual selection of ten- and twelve-speed bikes converted to single-speed city machines--including a lovely metallic lavender Motobecane.
I was especially taken with the Bob Jackson of Robin, the co-owner, who outfitted the bike with Surly's best rear rack, a White Industries triple crankset, Phil Wood hubs and, of course, a Chris King headset. The frame was intended for loaded touring, and that's how Robin equipped it.
Anyway, she left a comment on my post from the other day, describing an incident later that day that bore too much similarity to the ones I described in that post. She and co-owner Jon were, fortunately, able to re-unite a stolen bike with its rightful owner a year after it went missing.
After our visit, Bill and I continued riding through back streets of Brooklyn and Queens on a chilly but beautiful late fall-verging-into-early winter day. He--a photographer--commented that the day's light, as lovely as it was, looked more like early winter. I agreed and couldn't help but to notice that the day definitely felt like winter once we started crossing the bridges over Jamaica Bay into the Rockaways and back into Brooklyn, near Floyd Bennett Field.
Yes, we rode into the sunset. Please don't read too much into that: We rode into the sunset, but not off into the sunset!
Anyway, after that, we rode to his place and he introduced me to King's Kitchen, one of the many Chinese restaurants in his neighborhood: in Sunset Park, right next to the namesake park and a few blocks from Maimonidies Hospital and a point where Asian, Hispanic and Hasidic communities converge.
Few things warm the bones after a cold ride like a bowl of congee! In all, it was a day of happy endings, wouldn't you say?
You've heard the expression, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me!"
You haven't?
Well, this post is proof.
Hmm...Maybe the "sticks and stones" should be changed to "rims and spokes". But they don't break people's bones--unless, of course, they fail and said people crash as a result.
Anyway, here's a whip made from inner tubes:
Of course, one has to be appropriately dressed. So here's another way to use those old inner tubes:
And your chains can be turned to faithful friends who will stand guard:
I hope you're enjoying the weekend!
