Bicycle Dreams
Ever since I moved out to Far Rockaway and began walking Rockaway Beach and the Beach Boardwalk, I'd been thinking about cycling.
I especially watched people wheeling by, only to notice their bikes locked up just outside the Shop Fair market, easily bicycling back to my same apartment building, grocery packages hanging from the handlebars, in a fraction of the time it took me to walk there and back. And too, I'm one of those people who say, "I will only pick up these six items this time. I'll come back to the store another day for the other stuff."
Yeah right.
Of course, I never do. I always end up filling my little basket to overflowing with all kinds of crap and trudging back to my apartment laden down with like a thousand pounds in my backpack and carrying multiple, heavy plastic bags to boot. Every-damn-time I do that. I can't not do it.
"Now if I had a bicycle...." I'd start thinking. But, with my meager income via public assistance (aka sucking off the government's tit), it seemed a pipe-dream...and I don't smoke a pipe.
Then, I began noticing bicycles just left here and there around Far Rockaway. I saw many on the beach boardwalk. On closer inspection, they advertised "First Ride Free" on a placard tacked to the front handlebar basket. So, I tried one, only to discover it was locked on the back tire. They were iBikes. You had to have a smartphone to unlock them. Well, my iPhone died years ago, so excuse ME!
They're called Lime Bikes. When I first saw them, I only saw a couple. Now there are hundreds of them. You open them through an app on your smartphone, tap to your bank account, and ride. I'm not sure how much they charge per mile, but in my opinion, if you're gonna ride, you're better off just buying your own bike, unless of course you live in an apartment so small you can't fit a bike inside...and believe me, here in New York City, a lot of people do. They are literally called 'Micro-apartments' and luckily for me, I don't live in one.
But, my "Bicycle Dreams" go far beyond that trip to the Shop Fair market. No, I want to get into bicycle touring and camping. Outfit a bike, buy the necessary equipment, and head out for days or weeks at a time. Bicycling out to Montauk, Long Island, or really getting down and dirty and taking a month-long trek to Niagara Falls and back, camping off the road when I can.
For me, and at my age of 64, I think just cycling around New York and Long Island will be plenty. I don't have aspirations of any globetrotting, but hey, who knows?
I remember well, when I lived in Southern Thailand, this one, rail-thin guy, who'd be cycling all over the place in Thailand. Heck, I first saw him down south on the treacherous route 4, the only road linking Northern Malaysia with Southern Thailand and beyond, that I know of...heck, I was afraid just driving my motorcycle on that road. After all, it was the road that killed my fifth wife, Rena, the only woman who I'd been the closest to. She died in 2011 and I left Thailand in 2013.
But, this old guy, like me now, he had a full white beard and was deeply tanned from all the hours in that hot sun. I often wondered if he stayed to Thailand or if he ventured into Malaysia and some of the other adjoining countries. Every weekend, beginning on Friday, I'd take the VIP bus into Bangkok to party and hang with friends I knew there and sure enough, when we were all sitting at at open-air restaurant just off the road in Sumkumvit, there he was, bicycling past.
"Hey! I've seen that guy before!" and so had everybody else I was with.
So, I finally did it! I purchased the Roadmaster 26" Granite Peak Men's bicycle, via Amazon.com. It was very affordable and after reading all the positive reviews of the bike and also actually seeing several bike riders on the boardwalk who had Roadmaster's, I took the plunge.
It's been months since I purchased it and I've only been out on the bike a handful of times. Why?
Well firstly, it came disassembled and I didn't have the tools to put it together. But, having already been thinking ahead, I knew it was going to have to be assembled and I also knew I would need to have tools for the bike to carry with me in case of a breakdown. I'd cycled extensively in the past, when I was living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, so I knew the horrors of going out for a nice ride without repair equipment and having to walk the bike back home. Nope, this old boy, as stupid as I may look, does learn from his mistakes.
So, I got the bike together. Adjusting the brakes has been a real pain in my ass though. This bike has a center-pull system, but one that is different than I'm used to, but I'll get the hang of it. At first the brakes were making a godawful noise when I'd try to apply them and the back brakes were not working at all. So, back to the drawing board.
I've purchased most of the tools for the bike, but now am investing in extra bike tire tubes, a bicycle tube repair patch kit, rim wrenches and a multi-tool that includes a spoke wrench, which comes in handy if you happen to have an accident and bend the rim.
I've made the trek to Shop Fair market with the bike, but I was lucky. I know the guy who checks people's bags, as I've been a customer for years there. So, he let me slip the bike inside briefly, which normally is a no-no. But you see, I don't have any bike locks yet. So, they are on my purchase list and one of my greatest fears.
All bicyclists know that the uglier the bike, the least likely it will get stolen. But, this is New York City. Everybody and their brother wants to steal bicycles and I personally don't want to own an ugly bike. So, security is a BIG issue with me. I've taken a look at the NYC bike locks, which Superman would have difficulty with, the kryptonite chain locks, and others (they make tons of them, and yes dear, kryptonite is a thing). So, I've come up with two different methods. I just can't choose which I'll use yet.
First is the "PythonLoc" method. Pretty cool, but rather impractical since you first either have to buy a python, raise the damn thing, then teach it to cling to your bike while you're gone. Also, you'll have to cart that heavy-assed snake around with you, which certainly won't be fun.
Or, you'll need to find a friend who owns a bicycle-trained python, and "rent" it every time you go out on your bike. Despite your belief that this is the preferred method, there actually has been a report circulating of a shortage of 'bicycle-trained' snakes.
The second method is the "Multi-Loc" system. A bit expensive, but it does the trick.
Even if you've got some determined bicycle thief out there brandishing a huge set of bolt cutters, you can shop at your leisure in the market, knowing it will take him a good half-day to work his or her way through all those locks.
Well, there you have it. My two possible methods. But, whatever I end up deciding upon, my ultimate goal is to ride out into the country, pulling my bicycle off the beaten path and reaching into my panniers for my bivy sack or one-man tent, setting up camp for the night, and lighting up my whisper-lite camping stove to cook dinner.
For me, it's not about exercise so much, as it is about freedom.
Backpacking, which I was heavily into in the past, is a freedom too, but you've got to be in superb shape, able to spend gobs of money on necessary, tiny items with huge price tags, because they are tiny and weigh less than other similar items. Nobody wants to trudge up mountains with a backpack laden with heavy items, so the lighter and more compact, the higher the price.
I had thousands of dollars invested in all the biggest and best names in backpacking and camping...North Face, REI, Cabela's, Coleman, you name it. All high-quality gear that had passed the tests of time. Only the best backpacking and camping equipment. Everything on your back. It could be grueling at times, but once you've reached your campsite, then the fun begins. Only a true, die-hard camper or backpacker understands this.
I was always searching for that spot where nobody had been. I often found those spots. Oh, people had probably been there, but they were few and far between. I once found this tiny pond on my New Hampshire atlas, one that was way, way, up the side of a mountain, accessible only by a barely discernible trail for 4-wheelers, which eventually petered out into only a foot path before finally descending a small hill and eventually revealing a pristine mountain pond. Native trout bit at my line and I fried up a mess of them that night. You couldn't hear civilization anymore. The silence was deafening.
Then I made a crucial mistake. Although I knew better, I went ahead and packed up all my gear, leaving out my tiny whisper-lite stove, some white fuel, and trekking into the treeline to fetch some dry wood for a fire. The idea is simple...common sense really. It's easier and faster for a thief to steal one backpack and then skedaddle, than it is for them to approach a campsite with the gear spread out and only steal a few items. I thought to myself, "There's nobody up here. What harm could there be?"
I gathered my wood and returned to my campsite and my pack was gone. All that remained was my whisper-lite stove and a brushed aluminum bottle half full of white fuel. I ran up one feeder trail and down another, all to no avail. My gear was gone. Thank gosh I hadn't clipped my truck keys to my pack as I usually did. They were in my pocket.
I never returned to backpacking. It was too daunting to look at the prospect of spending that kind of money again, over months if not years. So, I gave up backpacking altogether. I didn't tell a soul about that event, not for several years. I was ashamed of my stupidity. Then I told a few people, and most recently, I met a woman in an office building in Brooklyn, there to pay a parking ticket, and she was carrying a North Face backpack. We walked up Jay Street to the subway entrance as I told her my story. She was visiting a friend in New York City and was from Nebraska. Like many of the few tourists who actually drive to New York, she was nabbed in the wrong parking spot and ticketed for some ridiculously huge amount. Welcome to New York City indeed.
So, aside from my humor about bike security, you can see how it's a major issue of mine. No, I'm doing it right this time. And once I finally set out, who knows where I'll end up. I have relatively few obligations, so a week or even month-long bicycle trek into Long Island, along the North shore, or even Niagara Falls, are all feasible, but I'll at least be prepared!
I can't wait.
Comments