a girl and her bicycle(s)

in my past life i was a walking courier for charrette.  i carried enormous rolls of blueprints on my shoulder from one end of arlington street to the other end of mass ave.  one day while walking past the boston public library i fell in love.  chained to the fence was a gamboge sears tote cycle.  everyday i walked past... lightly running my fingers across its knobbly paint job... curious whether its owner was watching me covet their ride.  the bike never moved.  it was never chained five rungs forward or seven rungs back.  it was perpetually standing in the same location.

and then one day it wasn't.  the bike had moved to the right side of the sidewalk.  it was leaning against a sign post, cut from its chains.  as i walked past i nonchalantly placed my hands on the handlebars and kept on walking.  that bike became my first trusty steed.  i rode it from blackstone park to post office square.  the thing weighed about 65 pounds.  but it made this lovely rhythmic clicking sound as i pedaled. 

and then came robin.

purchased for me by a lovely soul [who was probably tired of waiting for me to catch up with him as i rode my cast iron frame on miniature wheels].  after robin swept me off of my feet, i rarely rode the gamboge anymore.  one day my friend rode it to the fenway and left it locked to a meter outside of el pelon.  it stayed there for a very long time.  then one day it was gone.  i like to imagine that another person fell in love... coveted my ride... then one day magically found the lock cut and gracefully walked away with her.

robin and i have had a long history together.  he faithfully carried me from one end of the bean to the other.  i rode him... rain & shine.  night & day.  sober & drunk.  and all without handbrakes.  or a helmet.

 

robin... i don't spend nearly as much time with you as i used to.  but you still make my heart race every time we fly down the road.   ♥