09/03/2021
From the Rivendell Bicycle Works newsletter…
“September 3rd 2021 - Sappy? Possibly.
I pass an elementary school every morning on my bike commute and I often catch eyes with kids, their faces pressed against backseat windows, checking out this strange adult who forgot his car. I wonder what they think when they see me; do they pity me or do they think it's cool? Do they wish they were on bikes too? Or are they grateful they're not?
As a kid in LA, I never saw bike riders in a commute setting. Occasionally I'd see road riders with the tight clothes but I never gave them a second thought. Outside of bike riding, nothing so seemingly mundane has had such a huge impact on my life as the first time I saw skateboarders in Venice around 1996; It absolutely mesmerized me and I became obsessed enough to spend the next 22 years of my life exploring it. Along with almost everything else, skateboarding informed the type of bikes and riding style that I'm into now.
I doubt the kids on the way to school are as enchanted by me as the first time I was when I saw skateboarders, but I hope that they see enough "cool" riders out there that riding bikes becomes an attractive option to them. I'm always happy to see groups of kids (and adults) on PK Rippers doing wheelies and fixed gear riders skidding down Twin Peaks because I know that kids being chauffeured around by their parents will see how much fun the bike riders are having and want to join in.
James, who grew up in Daly City, has a vivid memory of being 9 years old and seeing bike messengers doing track stands in a Denny's parking lot; That's all it took to plant the bike-riding seed in his brain. Sergio, who grew up in Modesto, stumbled across a BMX mag and was immediately hooked. Antonio, who's from San Leandro, doesn't remember a specific story but acknowledges that the fixed gear scene played a big part in getting him into bikes.
And it's not just kids either - Morris, a customer of ours, took up Rich's practice of waving to everyone he sees while on a ride and a neighbor he always waves at but until recently has never spoken to told him that he's getting a bike because of how happy Morris seems when he's riding. That could be the start of an exciting new chapter in his life, and Morris's riding style had a lot to do with it. Another friend of mine, Andrew, rides his kid to school every day in an e-cargo bike has no doubt made bike riding seem more feasible to driving parents queued up for 15 minutes just to drop off their kids.
We're all ambassadors and rolling advertisements for a different, sadly still radical way of interacting with cities and that's something to be proud of. Bike riders beget bike riders so every bike commute, no matter how minor, contributes to a less car-centric city in ways we might not even realize. It's also why inclusivity is so key to the future of riding - kids need to see people that look like them on bikes.
For me it's another great reason to wear normal clothes, ride beautiful frames with useful, good looking bags, and do as much as possible in town by bike. Who knows if you'll be the rider that inspires a driver or a kid to pick up a bike; if enough of us are out there doing it, in the myriad of ways that are possible, they'll eventually see a style of riding that hooks them.
-will”
✌️❤️🚲
MoCo Cyclery
