Be Like Jens and We Miss You

        I should have known better but,  I thought my friend, Jens Jensen from Berkeley, California, would live forever. He would fill the bicycle shop with 'barely in control' laughter. He made me feel like a clever comedian. Every third sentence out of my mouth was worth fifteen seconds of loud and enthusiastic laughter. I so enjoyed his company...we rode bicycles around the 34 mile lake circuit a dozen times...his big calves were usually breaking the wind for my chicken legs. When the road slanted upward he'd drop behind me and hold on like he had an invisible bungee. At the top of the hill he'd call me "Master of the gearbox." He'd say, "You always know what gear to be in, at the right moment."
        My friend Jens had a way of making me feel clever, intelligent and comedic. He was the smart one, a master mechanic and always willing to throw time into solving a puzzle. I felt energized when he would show up at my bicycle shop, and always a little disappointed when he left. He has departed this life but, the echos of his laughter and support are still in the air, here at Bodfish Bicycles.
         The funny people in our lives always seem to be the first ones to go...someone up there is looking for company that'll fill the void with laughter. At least we still have The Dalai Lama and our excellent memories.

Muscle Car

        I never understood the describing of an over-powered automobile as a "muscle-car". I owned a 1965 Ford Mustang when I graduated from Portage Northern High School, it was the version with the bigger engine, but, I put "baby moons" on it and drove it like a pussycat. The term "muscle car" might have originated from the vision of a tattooed over-sized bicep masturbating a stick shift through the gears as his tires smoked and his engine roared, but I don't think so.
        A muscle-boat is a boat you row or paddle. Muscle transportation in general would be something human or horse-powered...not  a hunk of metal and plastic that is artificially and chemically propelled from point A to point B. A gas-powered unit could be called a "racket-rocket" or "horseless carriage" or a cancer-spewing coffin on wheels. Of course, I am most interested in the muscle transportation energy one derives from food. "Support your local farmer, ride a bicycle". Treat your loved-ones and neighbors like you want them to live cancer-free forever....use your muscles, or your horse for transportation.
        Oh well, what's done is done, we've been spewing carcinogens for over one hundred years in the name of speed and convenience, but not in the name of efficiency. We work half of our lives away to support the "happy motoring" lifestyle...and the "muscle-car" guys must spend two-thirds of the working hours supporting their habit and boosting their macho self-image, subsequently scaring and bullying the gentle folk along their path.

Cycling Nirvana

        Just over the hill from Paradise you'll find cycling nirvana...the dirt, the trails, the safe roads and a very helpful bicycle shop. What used to be a six month Plumas perfect bicycling climate has recently been extended to ten months. For this we can thank the "Burners"....oil, gas, wood and coal. I'm starting to think that nothing is more important than riding a bicycle at least two hours a day.
        Well actually, working five days a week is still more important. But, those stretches of time in which I do ride my bicycle two or three hours a day help me climb to a pinnacle of health and wellness. No doubt about it, I do need to dedicate more time and effort to foot twiddling. That evasive "pinnacle" keeps taunting me, just out of reach...unless I take six weeks off and ride every day, as we have been known to do.

The Mission: It's About More Than The Bicycle

       The Bodfish "handle" has been with me for well over forty years, since I started writing "Outback of Bodfish" weekly columns about my self-propelled adventures in the southern Sierra. One would think I'm all about bicycles, all of the time, but actually, it's more than that. I'm about simple/honest living,  I'm about tread lightly/small carbon footprint living. I'm about being the best neighbor you could ever ask for.
        I'm all about potential, even in my mid-sixties, and I'm about the future... and being prepared for whatever it wants to toss my way. The best way to prepare for tomorrow is to keep moving, today. Morning hikes,  afternoon bicycle rides and watching my best friend perform Yoga poses are my favorite ways to keep "the ticker" strong.
       Operating my own Main St. business gives me a solid sense of purpose and keeps me on my toes. Right Livelihood is an important concept for me...not just taking up space or accumulating money because I can. I believe I am saving lives here and putting smiles on the faces of total strangers. How long can this go on? Believe me, I am passing it on...to my son, to my customers and to my community.
       It's a lifestyle, it's sincere and I have to believe that I'm making a difference.

Summer

Quick, cold, naked dips "make" the summer.

Winter Doldrums

         It's not my favorite thing...showing up at work five days a week, during Winter. The last three Winters have been strange, little or no snow, mostly cloudy and very few customers. We haven't had so much as one morning frost this December (2014). The shortest days are upon us. The storms come whipping across the Pacific and the weather people are visibly excited...only to split, some goes North, the rest goes South and we are left with sprinkles.
         I've been able to ride my bicycle more than in years past, however,  I'm pretty bundled up...and can't even consider riding to a lake or place on the river for a quick dip. Reading is my refuge, mostly books and crazy stories that I find on the internet...almost always "fiction" these days.
         I have little interest in the realities and complaints of my fellow Americans. I'm less interested in the International situation, the stock market and even the weather reports than I imagined I would be, now that I'm in my middle sixties. My only sports are bicycling, professional baseball and lake-bagging...that's it! Who knew that I'd become so narrow.
         I most want to start writing interesting stories...using my wealth of experience and depth of feeling about real issues of the day. I shouldn't worry about the fact that few people will be interested in what I have to say, and that others will be insulted or embarrassed with what I reveal. I want to just "go for it".  I think I need a few cheerleaders...a handful of coaches and supporters who have a thirst for what I might compose. It takes guts to write it down,  just as it spills out of my head. I'm not sure I'm that brave.