Blame It on Harry Potter! by Starla
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 4:02PM As a child, I rode a bike only to cruise around the neighborhood. I don't have very many memories of me riding a bike as a child, except when I almost got run over and when I caught my dad still building my bike one Christmas morning (and realized at that moment Santa didn't exist). It's not as traumatic as it sounds but those were the "funnier" memories of riding I have as a child. All the other "memories" are just pictures of me on a bike.
When I graduated college, my friend donated his bike to me since he was moving away to Hawaii. The bike sat, collected dust in my home office and didn't give it the time of day until a few years later. In 2008, a year after a breakup from the guy I honestly thought I would marry one day, I heard from a friend about this group called "Midnight Ridazz" (www.midnightridazz.com) that rode their bikes around LA at night. I was intrigued and wanted to join their Halloween ride in my Harry Potter costume. I got the bike fixed up, put on new wheels, (err...took it to Sport Chalet to get new wheels, tires, etc.), attached a mini broom to extend off the back of the bike from the top tube, and I was ready to fly on my bike as Harry Potter...or the Asian girl version of Harry Potter.
After that night, I fell in love with the bike. I rode 20 miles and thought, "WOW THAT WAS EASY!" and it gave me an entirely new perspective on the city I was living in. From then on, I did a few more Midnight Ridazz rides and came to the realization that I was too "old" (24 at the time I believe) to be riding until 4 a.m. in the morning with all the hipsters.
So then came the road bike.
I bought my first road bike from Cynergy Cycles in Santa Monica. They were the only bike shop that gave me the time of day. Road cycling is a half notch down from other snobby sports like sailing and most bike shops (*cough*HELEN'S*cough*) took one look at me, saw that I looked like I was 18, assumed I had no money, and just flat out ignored me when I looked for a bike.
Anyhow, at the time, Cynergy had a beginner's WOMEN riding group. PERFECT. I met a lot of good people and made life-long friendships with the people I met through this group. We all started as beginners riding from Santa Monica to Manhattan Beach and eventually rode a century together in Palm Springs.
I loved road cycling. It took a heck-of-a-lot of time, and I got to hang out with my friends and only had to spend money on whatever fuel I had to carry with me for that ride. Aside from the initial investment in a bike and gear, it was a cheap and healthy way to hang out with my friends.
Cycling was also painful. It was physically painful. I hated climbing but I loved how much pain I could feel climbing for 14 miles. It made me feel human. In that moment in my life, I couldn't feel emotionally, wrote off really nice guys because I still wasn't over the breakup, and just resorted to challenging myself physically because it was the only way I could feel anything.
I was fairly active in the cycling community and Specialized wanted me to blog for their urban bike line: http://starlaglobebikes.blogspot.com/
They gave me a fixed gear bike and I only knew of one hipster that rode a fixie and his name was Eric. Eric always made fun of me and my spandex, road cycling ways and said he'd ride with me if I got a fixie. So when I did get one for free and I had to write about it, I called him up. We weren't close, just an acquaintance to me, but he faithfully came out to every ride I invited him to and we rode the night away on any bike rides posted on midnightridazz.com. I was back to the same kind of rides that got me started on bikes in the first place. Through these rides, we grew closer as friends and we're now living together, still riding bikes to the restaurant down the street, and building a tandem. They say that if you want to know if your marriage will last, ride a tandem bicycle...and it's so ABSOLUTELY TRUE.
I guess, long story short, I love both the spandex lifestyle and the fixed-gear hipster/commuter lifestyle. I fell in love with the bike because it set me free, I could feel the wind in my face, the road rash on my legs--and let's face it, it's a pretty f-ing amazing feeling w hen you pass all the cars in traffic.
Starla is an OC based blogger and avid cyclist. Her thighs don't lie she loves to ride. Read more of her bike-centric writing at http://starlaglobebikes.blogspot.com/.
Reader Comments (1)
Spandex-lovin' hipster harries just cruising down the lane-- I can just imagine.