Tag Archives: motivation

Got it Made

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Remembering summer.

In between summer and the teacher strike I wrote about recently, I went to an event called Made. This event exists to honor, appreciate and demonstrate the ingenuity of people who make bikes. However I forgot to remember it. Now November, I am starting to remember that I did some cool things in the waning hours of summer that I’ve neglected to share.

Maybe you’ve done this too. You’re reviewing your photos and you see a chunk of pics that you know you took but they were eclipsed by a thousand other things happening on and around the very same time. For me, the time we went on strike feels surreal. Literally the time has been put back into our school calendar to “make up” the strike days. Ηοςεωερ the other happenings were sidelined. That time has left me feeling flat even though they were very cool events. It all feels like a bike stuck up on the top of a car lying on its side and forgotten about completely.

As I was looking for photos from the strike for a collage, I saw these other moments digitally preserved and I was remembering the day I went to Made and how I hitched myself up on a pennyfathing and actually rode it in place for a few minutes. I remembered how amazing the event was and how I was itching to blog about it. I remembered that I forgot to share the adventure.

MADE is described on the ticket as “an industry/consumer bike event highlighting the craft of handmade bicycles.” There were 200 or so builders and brands sharing their creations.

As we say in a post Covid world, it’s been awhile since we’ve even had this event in Portland, Oregon, so I was as excited as a kid hyped up on Halloween candy to attend. I could not contain myself.

Entrance to the event.

As I walked into the area I felt like everything was possible. I knew I would see some builders I remembered from past shows and I knew I’d see cool gear and unique builds and I was ready and raring to go.

Zidell Yards is an outdoor performance venue on the South Waterfront.

The venue was spacious and buzzing with activity.

Set for some bike camping.

Pennyfarthing bikes a.k.a. High wheel bikes are so odd and iconic. Most of my sources say that these bikes were notoriously difficult to handle and I can see why. Getting aboard them requires a leap of faith and you literally have to hop up and hang on.

At first the gentlemen asked if I wanted to take a spin. The bike is stationary but on a platform so you can try riding it. I dismissed the opportunity outright. “No thank you, I’d prefer to not risk my safety.”Wait? What did I just hear coming out of my mouth!? Is that doubt mixed with fear? I lingered a bit and wondered why I said that.

I love bikes. I love opportunities. Why, yes, I think I do want to try it. I mean in all my time on planet Earth I have never had an opportunity to ride a Pennyfarthing. Yes, I want this!

There are these pegs on the rear little wheel and you step on it and then hop just as I was told. With the hop up you also lean forward enough to grap the handlebars and then you scoot your caboose up on the saddle and you ride. It’s very smooth, but not because you’re on air (which I was) it’s because the big front wheel allowed for higher speeds on the flats. I was told that it was a smoother ride before the invention on pneumatic tires.

Pennyfarthing for your thoughts.

I couldn’t believe I was riding and gliding and generally loving the experience. I’ve never been on a tall bike, but I imagine it’s a similar feeling. The handlebars were odd and you can see in the video that it was as if I was holding myself up while pedaling down. I felt like I needed longer legs, but I was pedaling long enough to get a sense for how difficult it would be to ride this out and about in the olden days. What a great moment in time and lots of fun to actually give it a spin.

There were bags and all sorts of beautiful bike related gear but the spotlight was on the stars of the show, the bikes, all made, engineered and created like works of art you ride. Everything you can imagine and some things you didn’t even know you wanted to see.

Overall it restored my faith in humanity because it’s all impressive and clearly some people are ingenius and inventive and they know how to make cool things. They got it MADE and I feel ebullient because I got to witness it all in one place.

Plus, the pennyfarthing. Right?

As I listen to the rain thrash against the house and I watch the leaves swirl around in colorful cyclones I recall that hot August day and how beautiful it was to see bikes forged from imagination into reality. Do you have any favorites? If you had a bike custum built what would you do to make it the perfect bike for you? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading my blog. I wish you a wonderful week and I’ll see you in the next post.

Thanks for being here. Get out there and ride.

Gratefully,

Bike Goddess

Like Riding A Bike

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#Red4Ed and striking for a fair contract

Where do I begin? As I was riding my bike to the bike shop for my volunteer gig this morning, I marveled as how wonderful it feels to ride. Just riding a bike is pure bliss. How wonderful it is to just roll on by without too many cares. How magical it will be to start our first full week of school and how tremendous it is to claim my routine.

Yes, claim my routine. I’ve never been on strike and never in my 30 plus years in my school district have we, the teachers, striked until this year. It has been absolutely weird but last Thursday we voted on our tentative agreement which means we ended the 7-day strike and will start the terms of our new 2-year contract. This is good but there are residual hurt feelings between workers and management that are not easily mitigated. Navigating that part of the discourse will be the challenge of the year.

I want to talk about it, but I also absolutely don’t want to talk about it. It has been the focus of all energy and ire and stamina and the vitality with which I usually greet the new school year is dulled. We’ve hit a flat in the relationship and trust is a bent rim, you know? I am still processing everything that has happened since the start of the strike, and there’s no Google map for this sort of journey. I’m not in a place where I’m ready to talk deeply about it. I’m glad it’s in the rearview mirror and we are stronger as a union because of it. I don’t feel like the same person I was prestrike and I don’t know what that means going forward.

Last Friday’s first day of school was a foggy ride
but clearly happy to be back in a routine.

Strange that I’m writing so much about the thing I wasn’t going to write about. Go figure. My bike ride to the fire station which was our staging area for picketing is close to my school. I rode my bike like I always do toward school, but stopped at the fire station and waiting for my colleagues to join me. I was a picket captain and that means there are some details to iron out before we hit the line. My point in talking even this much it to say that riding my bike to and from was my meditation. It was my normal and without it, well, who knows. The bike ride was the most normal thing I could do amidst the oddness of the start of the year.

To feel the bike under me.
To feel the cold morning air in my face.
To pedal the cadence of the commute felt like the best aspect of my routine I could perform.Every day felt out of true and yet riding brought me comfort.

The picketing meant I was doing a daily duathlon. We were all walking 10 to 15 miles in just steps back and forth, so it was quite a workout which again I feel like I was prepared because I commute by bike.

As I perused my photos there were hardly any recent photos of my bike or sceney or anything beyond the daily picket line. I wanted to take a moment to blog about my absence and say that getting back into the routine is like riding a bike. You don’t forget. Time has muscle memory and seeing the students and getting back into a routine is what back-to- school is all about.

As I see my fellow staff members and walk the halls or settle into the paceline of being back at work, I know we’ve all been through something monumental together. I’ve never felt as in tune with my colleagues as I do now. We walked and talked and thought together. There’s a collegiality and companionship that will bind us together beyond the 180 days we spend working together.

Get out there and ride even if it seems like an indulgence, because it could be the only part of the day that brings you peace.

Thanks for reading my blog and hanging out with me. I appreciate it. Have a good week!

BG

Summer Musings

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A muse is any goddess presiding over a particular art. Yes, that’s my photos of the Acropolis in July, 2019.

Summer musing is the best. It’s squandering time like you’re a kid and just rolling down life’s hills and letting whatever happen. Today for example I have been thinking about donuts. I often think of donuts. It’s because there was a time in my area that there were zero donut shops and now there are so many I could honestly have a donut every day from a multitude of places. I “donut” indulge often because donuts are my Achilles heel. I’ll overindulge and that won’t be good either. I’ll be in the corner with a box eating them like Homer Simpson.

After the donut musing I thought about Threads and I fingured out how to get on it last night and it’s nice. Most seem to agree that it’s like you realize you were in a very toxic relationship with the other one. I like it and since my blog posts no longer go out on the Twittersphere through WordPress, I thought I’d give it a looksee. I don’t know what to post yet, so I figured I start with a new blog entry. I’ll just ease into it. I’m still on Twitter, but I’m not really ON it at all. I guess like most people I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I don’t really like to share vast amounts of information on the socials, so even though I wanted to be closer to family, I’m mostly posting my Wordle scores and of course watching pet videos.

Marina paddling around.

Next musing was whether to bike or go for a kayak today. I could try for both however, if it gets hot-hot, then it’s better to bike earlier in the day. I could take the Bromptie to the kayak and paddle around the marina and out onto the river. That is a very attractive option since we are hopefully getting the newly fabbed fuel tank and that will mean we can finally start our Summer of Sailing. Last summer I kayaked just before returning to school so this year I’ve been trying to get out once a week. Last week I went out of the marina and onto the Columbia River and it was spectacular. It’s my upper body workout plus you can’t beat the sounds of water lapped on the sides of the kayak and the ducks and the intimacy of being right there at each ebb and flow of the river.

Kayak-ak-aking.
Getting close to the pilings and the current is definitly got a mind of its own.

Then there’s book musing. When I’m not being Bike Goddess, I’m actually a middle school librarian and I love my job but I also love summer and reading the hours away and preparing video booktalks for my YouTube channel. I’m trying to become a YouTuber and the channel I have with my school district is doing pretty well, but once I moved everything to my home study I needed to step it up with lighting and audio so my hobby is becoming work and I’m struggling with that a bit. At school I can crank it out and post in the fallow moments between chaos, classes and Chromebook repair. Musing about that becomes overwhelming and I feel myself getting into a the bilge of details, so I push off and go back to the donuts, because, well, those beautiful pillows of sugar and all that’s sweet and glazey calms me down even if I’m just thinking about it versus shoving it in my face.

That’s the very essence of summer though, it’s pondering all the possibilities and considering what, if anything, you want to do on a lazy summer day when you can do anything.

Here’s hoping summer is being nice to you and you are getting some time to chill. Thanks for reading. I appreciate it.

Get out there and ride. Or kayak.

Tell me in the comments how you’re spending your time.

I’m Still Standing

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It has been too long dear readers. I’ve been remiss in my blogging. But, but, but… I can’t control where my mind wanders, but today with the dawn of summer on the horizon and the promise that I will be on summer break is imminent, Elton John’s song popped to mind as if was the 1983 all over again. 

"Don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did
Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid
I'm still standing after all this time
Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind." 

Elton John, "I'm Still Standing" lyrics.

Since my last post, I’ve been in survival mode. Typically, it’s manageable, but this school year, it feels like everyone I talk to is experiencing the same overwhelming situation. If you’re an educator, this year has been beyond comprehension. It’s been filled with countless meetings, constant planning, unexpected changes, and more meetings to discuss those plans and changes. The pressure of managing school, students, and constantly wondering what comes next has kept me awake countless nights. Thankfully, I’m still standing. I might be wobbly, but, I’m determined to make it to the very last day. And once that day arrives, I look forward to finally being able to put aside all these thoughts and concerns and start picking up the pieces of my life.

Easier said than done. It always is. There is always a period of decompression and rest. I’ll have anxiety dreams about all the ways I’ve failed but I’m hoping that period will be shortened by fact that we are getting out later than normal, thanks to Jack Frost who made a late appearance and canceled school for like four days. I digress.

Think mazes. I’ve been in one of those mazes made of high hedges. Each turn leads to another hedge and another and it’s possible that I’ll need to be air lifted out. It feels like I’ve been trapped in it. Each turn leads to a new challenge, and I’m constantly searching for a way out.

If it wasn’t for my commutes in the morning and evening, the quality of my life would be much worse. My rides are my solace. They are the daily vacation from the chaos. The rides let me reset and if I’m lucky I can work out the issues, at least in my mind, before I get home so I’m fretting a bit less.

Readers of my blog, I thank you for engaging. I appreciate seeing you click the LIKE star and I know that someone out there gets me. I get a little notification and I think, whoa, cool! My absence from my own blog has been rough on me. I set a goal to ride my bike a minimum of 75 miles a week, but writing 75 words a week has been the real hill in my life of late. I’m excited about my own personal routines outside of work, and I have got some stories to tell.

Like I found a bike using Bike Index and reunited it with its owner! Yeah, you are not going to want to miss that story. I also found a bike for a friend who had his totaled in an accident (he’s fine, but his bike didn’t survive). Oh, and I found someone’s phone and its handlebar holster and actually got it back to them. So many stories amidst the busy days. I can’t wait to tell you more.

I’m grateful for your support and patience and the plan is to write more, ride more and I’m still standing!

Stay safe out there.

Bike Goddess

The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plain!

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On the Columbia River looking East.

In my city we average 42 inches of rain per year, which is four inches above the U.S. average. Spain gets like 25 inches of rain annually, so clearly spring has been a soggy mess on the plains and dales and mountains and everywhere in my area. There’s a fatique that comes with that much rain. A hopelessness that it will never be sunny again or that you may never, ever see the blue sky unless you leave and go to another city perhaps in Spain.

Today marks the last day of my Spring Break. My expectations for this vacation are always extremely low. Some people can rally and book a trip someplace like Las Vegas or Los Angeles or Paris, but I don’t like week long trips to places overseas. I’ve been to L.A. and Vegas doesn’t interest me and I mean a week is not long enough. I like to set up camp and get to know a place. But more than that, but most importantly I don’t have the energy. Summer is around the corner and experience has taught me that it’s better to rest and. find my life again.

Monday we took our sailboat to the boat yard for some work. I wasn’t going to join my husband onboard because there was rain in the forecast and my friends, the only thing worse that being on a bike in the pouring rain is being on a sailboat under the same conditions. But the skies, while menacing didn’t rain. They glowered and grayed and clouded and scowled but then there was a break and I saw some blue and I found myself forgiving the great Northwest rain gods for their moods.  

Same day. Bluish skies start to give way.

We even saw seals. I do not know much about smelt but the numbers are high this year (or so said everyone upon learning that we saw seals) and for the first time the seals are abundant on the Columbia River. It was amazing to behold.

Seal chat.

What I assumed would be a terrible weather day turned out spectacular. The seals and the break in the rain and seeing the sky was like finding a hundred dollar bill. It reminded me that even with all the prognostications and apps that in-between the storms and gloom there is such beauty. Now it might not happen again for another 40 days but I took photos and video to record the moment.

That’s at the heart of any vacation too. You leave or vacate your life and routine and go do something, somewhere else and come back refreshed and ready to take on the next thing in the routine. Back in January I was contemplating a trip to Nice, France. Ticket prices were good and I was starting to consider an itinerary, and yet, I knew that it wouldn’t work. Realistically I knew I’d feel like I do during most spring breaks, exhausted, enervated and weary.

But I know that on the other side of those clouds there’s a blue sky trying to break through. I know that as I move into the downhill portion of the school year I’ll think of those seals out there on the river doing their thing and barking at the boats and I’ll know I saw them and for a moment I forgot about everything else and that was wild abandon.

Happy Easter to you if you celebrate and happy, dry trails ahead. Although I think for me that will be in July.

Stay safe (and dry) out there,

Bike Goddess

Degrees of Dull

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HollyBerry near the river.

The sky looks like Milk of Magnesia and I’m not impressed with the forecast for the day. Not raining does not mean sun. There isn’t rain today but I did experience a brief misting. There is snow in the forecast for Wednesday, but for now it’s just dull.

I won’t say how stunned I am about how quickly this month is passing. I won’t drone on about the fickleness of the weather. I won’t invoke the various frustrations I’m having with the morning temperatures which hover in the high 20s and only climb to the mid 30s. I’ll reject the notion that spring is in the air, because it’s not. The gardening shops are putting out the pansies and it’s all I can do to resist the urge to buy them to brighten up the yard, but the fact is that there’s still frost on the roads and rooftops in the morning and I’m going to stay firm in my commitment to waiting. I’m here to announce that I’m trying to keep a steady cadence in life and I’m overjoyed that Monday is a holiday.

Holly Berry, my newest bike, is simply lovely and I enjoy taking her on rides she hasn’t been on yet. Today we went to the waterfront and looked at how the Milk of Magnesia sky met the gunmetal gray of the Columbia River and I enjoyed looking at her candy apple red frame against the backdrop of winter dull. She’s gleeful in a sea of dullness.

Icing on the paths.

Last week I decided to ride in spite of the weather. I didn’t care if it was icy, I was going to give it a go and commute anyway. We had a late start on Tuesday because there was a bit of a dusting of snow at higher elevations but since school started 2 hours later I figured it would be okay. I’m glad I did so at least I have a sense of what it looks like when I ride in those conditions but I don’t know if I would do that again. Probably I would but I hopped up onto the sidewalk at several points on my commute since the bike paths were icy.

Frosty sunrise commute.

Why do you do it? People ask me that all the time. They cite various issues, like safety and time and of course the unpredictable weather. I guess I do it because it’s beautiful to see how nature works and behold with my own eyes how spectacular it all is. That and bragging rights! There are things about commuting that people often say seem dull. I don’t really get that because I can’t fathom commuting by car. While it is a challenge some days to get in gear and ride, I’d much prefer that to the alternative. I get to witness the sunrise and sunset and the birds and the blooming of everything. It’s like having a front row seat to a performance and sometimes it’s beyond awesome.

God rays and the ride home.

Winter is long and cold and sometimes it feels like it will never be over. I often remind myself in a commute that the seasons will change and to settle in and enjoy the moment I’m in. It’s not easy but when you breathe in that cold air and open your eyes wide you can see that it’s pretty special to just be in it all.

Wherever you are in the world and with whatever the season, I hope you’re doing well and enjoying the ride.

Thanks for reading!
Get out there and ride your bike

Bike Goddess

To Serve With Love

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Sunday Service

On this MLK National Day of Service I want to share something. One of Dr. King’s lesser known speeches called The Drum Major Instinct in one in which he talks about how “anybody can be great because anybody can serve.” It’s one of my favorites because it’s about greatness and yet how ultimately we find that quality when we help others.

In this speech, Dr King says,

“Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”

Me and a pup. We were exhanging hair tips.

Back in 2021, on MLK Day I wanted to do something. I wanted to get my hands dirty and dig into something that was akin to going to church, but not church exactly. I wanted to worship with like-minded people and help out in some small way. All my other days are spoken for and Sunday was often treated like prep work for Monday, so I wanted to change that and in the process do some good. I wanted to serve something, somehow, somewhere. I heard the call and I had been hearing it for sometime, but I dismissed it because I figured I was already doing what I could. I worked hard and I did extra things at school so I was covered.

But was I? Something was missing. I felt like I wanted to be doing more of something else but I wasn’t sure what that meant. A friend of mine volunteered for Make A Wish Foundation but that was a long time ago and that wasn’t quite the right fit. Then another friend said I should just donate money to a cause or buy more stuff for school. Again, great but like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, that wasn’t the right fit.

Follow bike.clark.county on Instagram or Facebook.

As is often the way I start sentences, I was out riding my bike and I saw a shop. It said BIKE SHOP and it was in the Burgerville Headquarters on Main Street. I was on the other side of the street, checked my rear view and swerved over and went inside. What is this? How is this here and I didn’t know? I walked around and found a hat, and some spoke reflectors and then at the counter they had a sign up sheet for volunteers. 

Why, yes, this is it! On this day, or weekend, in 2021 I started to volunteer at a nonprofit called Bike Clark County. On the first day, I knew this was it. This was my place. Bike Clark County is my Sunday Service and when I ride my bike 3 miles to the shop every Sunday the church bells chime at the Catholic Church and roll in and get ready to do my thing. My heart always expands when I hear the bells. Something opens up inside my heart and I feel like I’m complete. There’s Paul, Ryan, Benjamin and Eisa. We are the Sunday crew. Sometimes Ed comes in and he volunteers by working on bikes whereas I’m usually arranging and rearranging and talking with customers. I help with displays and sorting and greeting one and all. Sometimes I put air in tires, sometimes I share my commuting opinions, sometimes I decorate, I greet pups and people alike. I get to go through the donated items and see what we can rescue from the landfill. I love it when Ryan gives me bike bits to organize. I love it all. The time goes by in the blink of an eye and we say our good-byes until next Sunday.

Volunteering means that you “freely offer to do something” and let’s be honest, I’m not completing college applications or trying to prove anything. I heard the call for help and I am happy I answered it and thrilled that I’m starting my third year. I look forward to a time when I can fix someone’s flat quickly and confidently. I am greedy for a time when I can find things with the swiftness and ease of finding a book in the library. I can’t wait to have a suggestion that people go, “Yeah, that!” But it’s also okay if I just do what I’m doing because it’s helping them.

I get to take glamour photos with bikes too. #perks

A commitment to volunteering is not easy. When you’re volunteering you have to consider that you’re giving up time doing one thing to do another. I wasn’t sure if I could keep it up because maybe the work week would be too much and I’d want time to rest on Sunday or maybe they wouldn’t like me (naw, that’s not it), or maybe I just wouldn’t be good at it. Almost instantly I started to do their social media posts on Instagram and Facebook. I would like to do more mechanical things, but right now I’m happy to be there and happy to serve in my tiny way. 

Plus, it’s bikes and people and occasionally dogs and it’s always amazing! Volunteering intentionally like this is newish to me. What is your experience? I’d love to hear from you.

Sunday Service

Thanks for reading my blog post. If you found some value to it, please give it a like and then get out there and ride.