Making (Bike) Love
On giving back, and bike love…an excerpt from The Competitor in Me, available on e-readers everywhere.
One day, I was making dinner for my daughters and I when my husband’s friend stopped by and told me he had a surprise for me. For me? Why me? I hardly knew him! His kind words of encouragement for my new goals lifted me up. He saw a part of me that was not a mommy or an office worker. He thought of me as an athlete, as a competitor deserving of this fantastic bike. It was weird and uplifting all at once.
The girls were more excited than I was. He pulled out a blue 10-speed bike from his trunk. It was a vintage Schwinn Paramount, with Campagnolo components. Translation: a very high-end bike in its time, now still light years ahead of my Schwinn World Sport that I’d had since college. He said he knew I was getting into triathlons and felt I needed a better bike. A kind way of telling me it was time to ride like a big girl.
The Paramount was a gift to me and if I ever wanted to sell it to call him first. You see, this friend of ours hung out with cyclists at a bike track and out on the road. A good riding friend of his died a few weeks ago. The friend owned several bikes, so his widow kindly gave each biking friend a few bikes. I was now the happy owner of one of the Dead Guy Bikes.
My friend said the bike was in beautiful shape, that it only needed a good cleaning, so I took it to a shop. The worker at the bike store looked ecstatic when I wheeled the bike over to him.
“Where did you get this?” he asked.
“From a dead guy.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Nice guy.” He handled the bike as if it were made of gold instead of steel.
“Yes. I would like to ride it. If it fits me. Can you help me clean it and tune it up?”
“Love to. This is a fantastic bike. And I think it will fit you.” His admiration for my bike made me feel even luckier than the day I received it! Beyond lucky, I felt like a bit of a She Beast-girl stud. This was going to be something special.
