Hangin’ Out in the Garage − 28 April, 2008

On a chilly April evening, Mountain Bike and Hybrid Bike were hanging out in the garage. Earlier, Rider had taken Mountain Bike out. Mountain Bike was still bursting with pride at having been the chosen one that day.

“Hey”, Mountain Bike said to Hybrid Bike. “What”, retorted Hybrid Bike grumpily. “Rider took me out today instead of you. It looked like she was going to take you out again, as usual, but then she put you back right back against that wall.” There was a pause, and then Hybrid Bike said, “You know, the only reason she took you out was because my tire blew out.”

“Oh yeah? So, your puny little tire just couldn’t handle the pressure when she tried to pump it up?” Mountain Bike asked sarcastically. Mountain Bike knew that Rider always pumped Hybrid Bike’s tires up harder than she pumped his own tires. He’d always been envious. Her patience wearing thin, Hybrid Bike explained, “Look. Rider broke the tip off of the tire valve a couple of weeks ago. She should have just replaced the tube. She should have known this would happen.”

“Oh”, said Mountain Bike disappointedly. He was quiet for a little while. Then he brightened up. “Yeah, well, guess where Rider took me today.” There was no answer at first. Then Hybrid Bike said, “Ok, where did Rider take you?” Excitedly, Mountain Bike said, “She took me on that bumpy part of the ‘Drive that you hate, and she took me through the path in the woodland park”. Hybrid Bike didn’t know what to say. Rider had never taken her through any woodland parks. “What was it like”, she asked begrudgingly.

Mountain Bike felt a warm glow of pride. “Well, it was very peaceful. There weren’t any other bikes. She went kind of slowly, so I got a chance to look around. The leaves are coming out on the trees, and the path had a nice give to it; it wasn’t muddy. Oh, yeah, then we went over a bridge and I got to see the dam and the water rushing by underneath”. Hybrid Bike said “Hmm”, thoughtfully. “Which dam?” she asked. She’d been over bridges, and she’d seen a dam, but not in a woodland park. “That really big one”, Mountain Bike explained. “The dam with eight floodgates, just past the train bridge”.

Now Hybrid Bike was flummoxed. There was a train bridge by the dam she knew about, too. Well, no matter, she thought. Then Mountain Bike said, airily, “You know, before you came along, Rider took Road Bike out on the weekends all the time. Rider and Road Bike were inseparable”. “Yeah?” scoffed Hybrid Bike. “Well, where is Road Bike now, then?” she asked. Road Bike called weakly from the back room, “I’m back here. My front wheel’s been off for a long time and I’m upside down.” Both Hybrid Bike and Mountain bike were shocked. “What?” they cried, in unison. They couldn’t believe that Rider would treat a bike that way.

“Yeah, I don’t understand”, Road Bike sighed. “Last fall, Rider was all set to take me out. She was changing one of my tubes, but she put a hole in the tube. So she tried to put in another tube, and put a hole in that one too! She hasn’t looked at me since”. Hybrid Bike and Mountain Bike were silent as they mulled over what Road Bike had said. “So”, Hybrid Bike said slowly, “do you mean to say that you’ve been upside down with your wheel off since last fall?” She began to feel a pang of worry. Hybrid Bike had enjoyed the enviable position of top bike for quite a while now. But she didn’t approve of Rider neglecting any member of her fleet. “Road Bike”, she said, “I’m really sorry to hear that. I hope that she hasn’t forgotten about you”.

“Well”, Road Bike said, sadly, “it wouldn’t be the first time a Rider has forgotten about me.” Mountain Bike’s curiosity was piqued. “Oh yeah? Who else forgot about you?” Mountain Bike had never known any other Rider but his Rider. Road Bike began his story. “Well, as you guys know, I’m kind of an old timer. I’m not like these new Road Bikes you see. I was pretty fancy in my day. But now, I’m just an old bike to the young lions out on the road.”

“Yeah”, Hybrid Bike piped up. “I’ve been sneered at plenty of times by those arrogant bastards out there on the ‘Drive.” Road Bike said, “I feel for ya. I really do. After I passed my prime, I got sneered at more times than I can count. Anyhow, my first Rider rode me all the time when I was new. We were great together. He had a wife, and she had a pretty nice bike too. The four of us went out all the time. Those were the good old days.”

“So”, Mountain Bike said eagerly, “what happened?” Road Bike was quiet for a few moments. The other bikes waited patiently. In a sad voice, Road Bike continued his story. “Well, my old Rider’s wife got sick. I mean, really sick. They had to quit riding for a while. It was a really sad time for both of us bikes, and we felt really badly for our Riders. My Rider’s wife eventually got better, and they rode us again, but she kept getting sick. After a while, they quit riding us altogether.” The other bikes were stunned. There were Riders who quit riding? They didn’t know such a thing was possible.

There was silence from the back room. “Uh, Road Bike, are you OK?” queried Mountain Bike worriedly. “Yeah, I’m OK”, answered Road Bike. “I was just thinking about those days, and I got a bit choked up. Sorry, guys. So, anyhow, the other bike and I just languished in my old Rider’s garage for years. Then one day, my old Rider gave me to our Rider, and he never came back to get me. I never saw him or that other bike again.”   The other bikes were quiet. They weren’t sure what they should say.

“Wow, Road Bike. I’m really sorry”, said Hybrid Bike gently. “But at least Rider really loves you, even though she hasn’t looked at you in awhile.” Hybrid Bike felt like kicking herself. That had come out all wrong. She didn’t know whether to start over, or to just let it go. Before she could decide, Road Bike added a new twist to the story. “Well, Mountain Bike, you know about this, but Hybrid Bike, I don’t know whether you know. Rider had a pretty bad accident while she was riding me. She really hasn’t ridden me as much ever since. I haven’t taken it personally. Some Riders have a rough time when they have an accident.”

“Oh, yeah”, mused Mountain Bike. “I remember. She started taking me out for a little while after that accident. I mean, she waited awhile. But she took me out. It was the first time I’d ever gone out on the ‘Drive. She’d always just taken me into town.” Hybrid Bike took this information in and digested it slowly. Mountain Bike had already been in the garage when Hybrid Bike came home from the store. She’d never taken the time to get to know Mountain Bike. He was just some punk kid. He didn’t have her elegance, her savoir-faire. She figured that they didn’t have much in common.

She also knew a little secret that Mountain Bike didn’t seem to know. She knew, from her time at the store, that most Riders who rode Mountain Bikes took their bikes into the woods and did all kinds of crazy stunts that Hybrid Bike could only dream of. She hadn’t been built for that kind of riding, but she’d seen videos in the store that had taken her breath away. She knew what Mountain Bikes could do when they had good Riders. She knew that their Rider wasn’t that kind of Rider. Mountain Bike seemed to have no idea that he was being almost tragically underutilized.   Hybrid Bike had never had the heart to tell him. He seemed like a pretty happy kid. He was a man about town. He went to cafés, restaurants, movie theaters, and the gym.

Then Road Bike said, from the back room, “Well, Mountain Bike, did you know that when Rider brought you home, she forgot about Old Man Mountain Bike?”

“Huh? Who is Old Man Mountain Bike”, Mountain Bike asked, terribly confused. There had been another Mountain Bike before him? There was a croaking sound from the back room. Someone was clearing his throat, trying to talk. “Egh..I haven’t talked in awhile, so, ergh, ahem, my voice is really rusty”, came a grizzled old voice from the back room. “Mountain Bike, Hybrid Bike, meet Old Man Mountain Bike”, said Road Bike, graciously.

Mountain Bike and Hybrid Bike felt a bit awkward. They couldn’t see Old Man Mountain Bike, so they couldn’t visualize him. “Guys, what do you say?” prodded Road Bike. “Uh, pleasedtomeetyou”, rushed Mountain Bike, feeling a bit faint.   “I am very glad to know you”, said the considerably more polished Hybrid Bike. “Old Man Mountain Bike, why haven’t you talked in awhile?” she asked. She was beginning to wonder just what kind of a Rider they had. Rider had already put one bike on its back and seemed to have forgotten about it. Now, there was yet another old bike, forgotten and neglected. Could that happen to her some day? She was young and beautiful now. But she knew that bikes got old, and younger, more modern bikes came along.

“Uhhh, ergh, well, I’m very old”, continued Old Man Mountain Bike. “I’ve been laying on my deathbed for a long time now. Rider and I were inseparable for over 15 years. I thought we’d be together forever. She had a cheap Mountain Bike before me, but he ran off with another Rider one night and she never saw him again. Before him, she had Touring Bike.” Mountain Bike and Hybrid Bike were reeling, now. Who was their Rider? What a long a sordid history she had!

Old Man Mountain Bike continued, “Rider and I had many wonderful rides together. We’d go out in the country, on dirt roads, and ride for hours.” Ah, thought Hybrid Bike. Another Mountain Bike who was underutilized. Except that it didn’t sound like he felt underutilized. He sounded like a bike that had enjoyed many fine rides. “Yes”, Old Man Mountain Bike mused, “Rider loved me very much. I loved her too. She called me her ‘War Horse’, as I got older.”

He continued, “One spring day, a few years ago, she took me into the bike shop to get a tune-up. The young punk mechanic who looked at me just turned away in disgust. He told Rider that she’d be wasting money if she fixed me. He told her she should get a new bike. It felt like a gut punch to hear that. But I knew how much Rider loved me. I knew that she’d stand by me. And she did, at first. She told that young punk that I was her War Horse, and there was no way she was parting with me. But the young punk worked on her. They argued. She took me home. But the next thing I knew, she brought you home, Mountain Bike. She put me back here and hasn’t ridden me since”. There was a choking sound from the back room, and then some sniffling noises.

Mountain Bike blushed furiously, and kept quiet. He felt horrifically embarrassed. He felt a terrible ache on behalf of Old Man Mountain Bike. He didn’t know that he’d been replacing an old man. He’d always felt carefree. Now he felt a terrible weight of guilt. “Geeze, Old Man Mountain Bike, I had no idea! Oh, man, I feel terrible! Oh crap, I’m really sorry!” Old Man Mountain Bike wheezed, “Kid, don’t feel so bad. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I don’t now why I was so naïve. No bike lasts forever. We all get replaced eventually. I was living in a dream.” There were more sniffling noises from the back room.

Mountain Bike was relieved. But his heart was still heavy, and in his gut was a tight, twisted place that wouldn’t untwist. Hybrid Bike felt badly for Mountain Bike. He’d always been such a carefree kid. He was getting an awfully fast introduction to the real world of bikes. Hybrid Bike hadn’t known any of this either, but her sophistication enabled her to absorb paradigm shifts more easily. She felt very concerned, however. She wondered what Rider planned to do with Old Man Mountain Bike, and whether Rider would put Road Bike back together and treat him like the respectable old bike that he was.

Road Bike called, from the back room, “Hey guys, as long as all of our stories are being told, there’s something you should know.” The others braced themselves for more bad news. Road Bike continued, “Touring Bike’s carcass is back here with us. We thought that maybe he was just on his deathbed like Old Man Mountain Bike. But he hasn’t moved since Rider put me back here. He’s just laying here in a heap.” The garage got very quiet. All of the bikes were lost in their own thoughts and reactions to this grisly piece of news.

Mountain Bike sighed heavily. Hybrid Bike was feeling overwhelmed. She thought she’d been taking all of this news pretty well. But hearing that there was a bike carcass in the garage was giving her nightmarish visions of how she’d be treated when she was old and broken down. Would she languish for years, like Old Man Mountain Bike? Would her dried up carcass gather dust in a corner? She felt a shiver run through her entire body. Now she was really glad that she had Mountain Bike to lean on. She hoped that his eternal optimism would return, despite today’s heavy topic of conversation. Maybe his nights on the town would help him to maintain his happy, contented attitude.

She was also glad that Old Man Mountain Bike had Road Bike to keep him company in the back room. If Rider were to put Road Bike back together, she wondered where Rider would put him. Whenever Car was in the garage, there was no room for an extra bike. Rider’s husband’s bike, her twin brother Big Hybrid Bike and his wizened old predecessor, Old Man Hybrid Bike, used up all of the other available space for bikes. The garage was actually pretty crowded. There had been even less breathing room when Sea Kayak and Flat-water Kayak had hung above them.

“Well”, Hybrid Bike said wearily, “I’m really glad you shared your story with us, Road Bike. And your story, Old Man Mountain Bike, was very moving. We bikes need to hang together. We can’t really count on our Rider sticking by us in the long term. She takes really good care of me now, but after hearing your stories, I feel like I’d better enjoy our rides while I have them, but expect to be replaced some day.”

“Oh, Hybrid Bike”, said Old Man Mountain Bike, “don’t be that way. Rider is fond of you. She’s fond of Road Bike and Mountain Bike too. But her days of revering bikes seem to be over. Do you know who she really loves now? Sea Kayak and Flat-water Kayak. Did you see the way she came into the garage this winter, and would just gaze up at them? Did you see the way she would caress their sides, and make them swing like hammocks?” All of the bikes were silent. Mountain Bike’s heart was heavy. He envied Old Man Mountain Bike. He wished that Rider would love him the way she’d loved the old man. Hybrid Bike felt kind of empty. She was such a nice bike. She was the nicest bike that Rider owned. Yet she was second fiddle to a pair of kayaks. Well, it that was her lot in life, so be it. She was a big girl, and she’d get over it.

She had certainly learned a lot about Rider. Rider was fickle. First she loved one bike, and then she discarded him. Then she got some other bikes, and then she decided that she loved kayaks. Hybrid Bike would just have to learn to share Rider’s affection with the kayaks. She wondered what the kayaks would think of all this. Would Rider one day treat them as she’d treated the bikes? Hybrid Bike was determined to learn more about the kayaks. But right now, she was feeling worn out, and decided to take a nap.