Hello world, you haven’t heard much from me. I am the other half of this crunchy duo. Truth be told I am a little bit soft spoken. That is until you get me on one of my many geeky topics. Then my friends, I will talk your ear off and the only way to escape my chatter would be to fake a stomach bug.
Lately, one of those topics has been my fourth favorite mode of transport. Although, circus cannon would be my first choice and fan boat my second and third, these are not all that practical in the city. Which leaves the only real choice, Bicycle. Now, if I could I would have an amazing carbon fiber frame with brand new track hub wheels and the list would continue for miles. Unfortunately, like the air cannon and fan boat this too is unreasonable.
Like so many other things these days most bikes are made to be replaced in a few years. If you even begin to use them more than the casual ride they begin to give in. I will save the whole cheap crap monologue for another day and get to my point. This leaves a whole lot of partially broken and old bikes in the hands of a general public that would rather go buy a new one and really has no idea how to fix them.
Enter (stage right), Buffalo Blue Bike and Green Options Buffalo. This group is devoted to making Buffalo- a city that more than embraced the automobile so many years ago- bike friendly again. Blue Bike is one part bike-sharing cooperative, one part pedal powered advocacy group, one part bike shop and approximately ten parts amazing. The bike shop is where I tend to find myself at least once a week.
The shop is filled with all the tools and know-how you could ever need to fix a bike. It also has something even more amazing, two large rooms filled with old and new bikes to be rehabilitated or mined for parts. A large majority of this bike will see the road again as a complete bike. Nothing goes to waste here. If a whole bike can’t be used, parts from it can.
So I spend a few nights a week in this amazing place learning the finer points of bike maintenance, repair and building. Before venturing into Blue Bike to buy Nikki a bike, I had never dreamed of repairing more than a flat tire. I now get my hands dirty and learn a lot each week. Plus, I have rebuilt a beautiful gift for my lady. She hasn’t seen it yet. There is nothing more fulfilling than learning with your hands. I won’t go into what mistakes I have made. I will say there has been a lot of them and some frustration too. But it all makes it more fulfilling in the end. Maybe one day I will get my carbon fiber frame, but it would seem at this point I would probably build it my self. No really, I already have plans for it. I will keep you posted.
On a slightly bizarre note I tracked a fluffy lap dog through my neighborhood tonight. Only to be lost as it scurried into a yard. I couldn’t let the guy wander the streets all night alone. He wanted nothing to do with me. Oh well, I was just trying to help.
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