For a blog titled "Bicycling Librarian", I've been doing remarkably little writing on either bicycles or librarianship, so for those who have been feeling cheated, here is my first bicycle post ever!
"Hey, are you that one with the tiny folding bike?" asked a hipster dad as I walked sans bike across 50th and Meridian.
"Yes".
"Girls, do you remember when she showed us her bike? It's so tiny, it can fit into a bag almost!"
Wow, the power of the Brompton. I am a mini-celebrity in my own neighborhood. Today, the father with his two curly-haired daughters, who I had ridden past months earlier on the ride home from the bike store. Yesterday, the elderly Chinese woman who surprised me by lifting it at the bus stop exclaiming, "it not too heavy - how much it cost?" Another day, a woman with her two young children, who shyly admitted that she was just as excited as her five year old to see it unfold.
Better, at least, than the teen at Everett Station (one of the sketchier transit stations I frequent), plantively asking, as his voice broke, to ride it around "just a little", swearing to bring it back as his friends scolded him to "leave the nice lady alone".
I have never been one to buy flashy or trendy toys, but if any item has inspired curiosity, awe and attention, it has been this elegant piece of machinery that can slip unnoticed under my desk. This marvel of engineering that can transform in 2 minutes or less.
I can't say that I wasn't warned. The good fellows at Electric & Folding Bikes Northwest laughed as they told me, "You'll get noticed. Guys who buy them come back swear that they are girl magnets. They can't get around Green Lake without someone hitting on them". But I was not deterred. There were two regulars on my morning bus with folding bikes and the time had come for me to get one as well to avoid lengthening my already agonizing commute.
Every day, I offer novelty to the bus-riding masses, building community through conversations with strangers. With the bike, I cannot be incognito, no matter how groggy or anti-social I may feel on a given morning.
Overall, it has been a smart purchase, allowing me passage on the bus with a bike without being told to wait for the next one or leave it locked to the 45th Street Freeway Station hoping it will still be there upon my return.
Do you have anything that keeps you from being anonymous?
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3 comments:
I also sometimes ride a Brompton! I hadn't been told of the effect of riding it around Greenlake and have yet to try it.
In your case, I would recommend against it.
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