Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Bike Rider's Club
A lot of weekends are not worth mentioning, but I keep on thinking back to a recent weekend in New York with my Colombiano amigo - Omar. Not only is he an awesome guide of NY (he knows it like the back of his hand, and his love for the City is second to none), but he is also a perpetrator of "all things unique."
He mentioned that he volunteers on Sundays to cycle around New York with kids and was wondering if I wanted to join. The answer was obvious, and we were awake as much as we could be at 9 on a Sunday morning (well, I was nursing a hangover and scraping out a raspy voice from singing on a rooftop the night before).
Hilarity ensued when we had to figure out how to get me to the bike recycling shop. After two bus rides, one missed subway, and few jogs around Queens, we arrived at the shop. I was turning all shades of green and blue, but all's well if you can fake it, right?
There's not much that can top the faces of kids who learn how to change gears on their 5-speed, climb up an incline, being chased by yellow cabbies... and do it all without stopping. There's also something about seeing awe-struck expressions of kids when they ride by Ground Zero. A fathers told his story of how he drove by the World Trade Tower hours before the crash. A realization that they are in the presence of a place of emotion and universally recognized site of humanity's tragedy.
One of the most important lessons learned is building the confidence in riding safely through the City. Hopefully, many of these kids will adopt the habits of biking to school and work in the future. For now, they ride the loaner Fuji bikes from the recycle shops. But they will soon want a bike of their own, and they will learn to take care of it.
As for me? I am going to get a nice and cushy spandex if I am going to take up cycling for real. 'Nuff said.
He mentioned that he volunteers on Sundays to cycle around New York with kids and was wondering if I wanted to join. The answer was obvious, and we were awake as much as we could be at 9 on a Sunday morning (well, I was nursing a hangover and scraping out a raspy voice from singing on a rooftop the night before).
Hilarity ensued when we had to figure out how to get me to the bike recycling shop. After two bus rides, one missed subway, and few jogs around Queens, we arrived at the shop. I was turning all shades of green and blue, but all's well if you can fake it, right?
There's not much that can top the faces of kids who learn how to change gears on their 5-speed, climb up an incline, being chased by yellow cabbies... and do it all without stopping. There's also something about seeing awe-struck expressions of kids when they ride by Ground Zero. A fathers told his story of how he drove by the World Trade Tower hours before the crash. A realization that they are in the presence of a place of emotion and universally recognized site of humanity's tragedy.
One of the most important lessons learned is building the confidence in riding safely through the City. Hopefully, many of these kids will adopt the habits of biking to school and work in the future. For now, they ride the loaner Fuji bikes from the recycle shops. But they will soon want a bike of their own, and they will learn to take care of it.
As for me? I am going to get a nice and cushy spandex if I am going to take up cycling for real. 'Nuff said.
// posted by sakit @ 7:59 PM 
