Everything Up to the Beginning - Life is a Wheel - page 26

Of course, trying to explain the appeal to that relative and people like him was pretty
much impossible. I usually said something like “Well, it's fun!” and that would generally
make them shake their heads and go away. By the same token, for people who intuitively
got it, there was no need to explain at all. They just thought it was cool, or amazing, or
inspiring. (Not that they were deserved, but I never got tired of the admiring adjectives
people threw at me.)
This doesn't explain why I feel the need to do it again, of course. I'm not trying to
reclaim past glory. I don't think so, anyway; that would be a glum errand. To experience
again an exhilaration that I associate with youth—yes, that's part of it. But at this junc-
ture, writing about the ride is just as important. Writing of any kind is, after all, an act
of self-aggrandizement. Putting words on paper is a declaration: “I have something to
say.” It's a louder declaration if you mean them to be published, downright hubristic if
you're writing in the first person: “Listen here! I have something to say about myself !”
To try and do it well, to succeed at doing it well—that's what I would call extraordin-
ary now.
1 . Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed in September 2011, while I was bicycling through Wisconsin.
2 . I'm a little embarrassed by how little I know about bicycle design, bicycle components, and bicycle repair,
and as I knew they would, a fair number of readers have chastised me for being a mere tourist in Bikeland,
someone without a real grounding in bicycle mechanics who doesn't want his hands greasy. I accept their
scorn, but that doesn't mean I'm going to discuss the elements of bicycle building. For those who wish to read
about that, I suggest It's All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels , a 2010 volume by an ac-
complished English rider, Robert Penn, who discusses, in largely readable prose, the design and construction
of his perfect bike. That said, for my gearhead readers, here is a components inventory:
Frame (titanium) and custom paint: Independent Fabrication
Fork (steel): Independent Fabrication
Headset: Cane Creek
Brake levers: Paul Component Engineering (short-reach flat bar)
Brake calipers: Paul Component Engineering (touring)
Shift levers: Shimano (10-speed flat bar)
Front derailleur: Shimano Ultegra
Triple rear derailleur: Shimano Ultegra
Long cage chain: Shimano Ultegra
Cog set: Shimano Ultegra 11-28
Crank set: Shimano Ultegra
Triple bottom bracket: Shimano Ultegra
Stem: Ritchey WCS
Seat post: Ritchey WCS
Handlebar: flat bar
Hubs: Shimano XT
Rims: Mavic A719