Mellow’s bike goes to Washington

If you love something, let it go. If it’s meant to be, it will come back to you.

I am about to let my Cannondale go. Two things make me nervous about the upcoming parting: 1. The bike is going to Washington, D.C., a city where the only effective bike lock is to not have a bike at all, and 2. The bike is going to someone who doesn’t know the first thing about bikes.

I’m not sure how to prepare myself mentally for the indefinite separation from my first road bike. At least I am not thrusting the Cannondale into the throes of Craigslist, crowded with junk, stolen items and overpriced racing bikes. I am loaning her to a dear college friend. Amanda works excruciatingly long hours at her political research job and has always treated my cycling habit with a distant quizzicality, which is why I was surprised by her announcement that she’s doing an Olympic-distance triathlon in September. 

"Flat Amanda" - a paper cutout of my friend that I carried around with me in D.C. the last time I went up to visit friends (she wasn't there)

Partly due to Amanda’s decision, I bristled at a recent Outside editorial defending the asshole shop mechanic and arguing that only tough love and several rounds of humiliation can make a better bike owner. I wish I could be in D.C. to mentor my friend beyond the scoffs of the bike snobs. She knows nothing about bikes and is going to need all the help she can get just to stay upright and shift gears without popping off the chain. But behind the pencil skirt and pointy-toe dress flats is someone who doesn’t half-ass anything. I dare some bike shop curmudgeon to look down their nose at her because she doesn’t look the part or speak the lingo. Once she gets going, she still may not care about the toe-clip pedals and low-end Shimano RSX parts on my Cannondale, but she’s going to rock her tri.

So it was with a mix of pride and sadness that I cleaned, oiled and tuned up my old bike. I put on fresh tubes and tires, new bar tape and bought my friend a bottle cage, toe clips and  - of course – bike socks with pink flames on them. I boxed up my old helmet, bike shorts, gloves and saddle bag. I didn’t want Amanda to end up buying a really low-end bike off Amazon that would show up with a myriad of problems. I know my Cannondale is a champ and the triple crankset will hopefully be of assistance. I’m also not riding her, so why let a good bike waste away in a garage?

I assume that either one of two things will happen: Amanda won’t enjoy riding and will give it up after September, or she will enjoy riding and will eventually want a nice bike fit to her shape and size and that suits her tastes. Either way, my Cannondale will come home and I will gain a friend who has a new understanding of my passion. It’s win-win.