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Franklin Furlong, proud owner of 2 Bike Fridays and veteren of Cycle Oregon, The Tour de France route, and PACTOUR Bike Friday Desert Camp. There's no stopping him!
June 16, 2005 My Folding Bicycle
The best feature of my Bike Friday is its folding nature. I have traveled by train and bus to Oregon, and by plane to France and Arizona. I have folded my Bike Friday into a suitcase and checked it as luggage at no additional fee. At my destination I have pedaled distances and up mountains others would not understand - unless they have did it themselves. It's all about your quads, your butt, and lower back - and a stronger heart and lungs. Breathe, Beat, Breathe, Beat. Those parts of your body get used the most when you cycle.
I love the folding nature of my bike because folding is like traveling between becoming small in a cocoon and then re-emerging. To me it, my bike is a metaphor for personal growth and transformation - growing, cocooning, re-emerging.
At work, I have been commuting for several years. This month we have moved to a new building and there is a secret committee meeting to draft office and building standards. Two new coming standards are: No cycling clothes in the office areas, and no bicycles in our cubes. I have adapted so well. I have a folding bicycle.
Before entering the office cubicle area, I do a quick collapse of my bicycle into a soft nylon bag. Then I carry it into the office and place it underneath my desk. The discipline of what I pack on my bike, and the rack I use has become tighter. I carry the absolute minimum to work. My clothing choices have become more clever. I wear convertible pants whose leg bottoms I can zip off to cycle, then zip back on when I get to the office. I try not to wear specialized lycra bike jerseys, but shirts I can wear cycling and in the office. I'm gradually getting the routine down, but it takes longer to change into appropriate office attire in the mornings. Recently, I have switched to clipless pedals so I don't need bike shoes and office shoes.
I am proud of my cleverness in learning this humble discipline of folding up, and unfolding. I have learned much. Less things carried is better than more. Clothes that can be used for mental and physical exercise are superior. Using my butt, quads and lower back to travel instead of a remaining seated on a bus or in a car is better.
However, there is this nagging thought that in folding my bike underneath my desk, and not walking down the aisle of my office between cubes with my bright cycling jerseys is a choice to diminish myself. I am choosing to fold myself underneath my desk and be small. I am a biker guy in hiding.
I am not sure about all this. I am learning alot by folding and unfolding, wearing one set of clothes for physical and seated activities. I am becoming calmer. I am becoming stronger. But, I may be just acquiescing and diminishing myself.
Some days I would like to lean a unicycle taller than my cube wall in my cube. This is my Hummer, I would like to shout.
I will wear bright red, yellow, green and red lycra bike jerseys all day. I will wear cycling tights. Guys don't wear tights. And I will be proud and flaunt my strong, powerful engine of a body that is strong enough to ride over 100 miles a day on two 20 inch wheels.
Franklin Furlong franklinh at mac dot com Weblog:http://frankhereandnow.typepad.com
Franklin among the fast and famous at the Bike Friday Desert Camp 2005.
For more information, follow this link http://www.frankhereandnpw/typepad.com.