Friday, April 18, 2014

Nowhere Man


Lazy Day
As I enter the fourth week of my involuntary vacation (I'm unemployed again, apparently) I find myself taking longer and longer rides on my bicycle. My goal is to live on my bike, a term we all are familiar with, I suppose, but at the same time, what does it mean?

This is the best time of year where I live here in Florida. The thermometer hovers around 75 degrees during the day, the nights are cool and the windows are open. Overnight, it seems, my world turned green, everywhere it is green and cool and the breezes are just right, blustery sometimes and variable, as they say, but just right all the same. Also, I don't know if they are migrating or just suddenly found themselves down and out and living in a trailer park, but all manner of birds have arrived, robins and cardinals and woodpeckers and bluejays and others; I can hear, as I sit here at my table, chirpings and singing and squawkings and they sound as though they are having a blast, those birds. At least I hope they are.

Destination Home
As for me, I have been riding not far, but long. Ever a master of time and space, I know how to do it, this drifting, this going nowhere and taking my time to get there. I have been doing probably thirty miles, maybe more, each day, setting out around ten a.m. when my Florida world is perfect: the sun just right, the cars settled into their routines and cadences; I pedal off with nowhere to go and nothing to do when I get there. What I am usually doing is poking around out on the far corners of town, looking at one acre pieces of ground that I have found listed for sale on the internet. Small pieces of uncut jungle, mostly, the kind of places homeless guys who truly live on their bicycles are known to seek out. Places that are not too far from supermarket sustenance or the conveniences (and bathrooms) of handy neighborhood parks and public libraries.

Are you going anywhere with this? You seem to be rambling.

“Silence, Voice! I know what I'm doing here, mostly.”

Well, a lot of people read this stuff at work and don't have much time and besides, aren't you supposed to be concise and sparkling and kill somebody by the end of the first chapter?

“What? Kill somebody?”

Yeah and then you spend about a hundred and fifty pages having the hero sort things out and you sprinkle in some red herrings and false plants and misdirection and there is lots of action. Plus you can use juxtaposition and non-linear timelines to keep the reader off-balance and...

“Voice! Stop! Calm down! What the hell are you talking about? You sound like you've been auditing writing classes out at some Junior College somewhere. Wait a minute...is that where you...”

Well, someone has to do it! I didn't have anything else to do while you were off in the outback building those stupid McGrease's. At least one of us is trying to better himself and find a way out of this damn trailer park.

“OK, buddy, take it easy. You just caught me by surprise there, for a minute. Look, this piece here ain't a murder mystery, it's just a rambling post about, uh, rambling. And, by the way, that stuff you were spouting is what results in formulaic fiction. You're better than that, partner.”

What we need is a formula for some dollars. I really like that property out on Cow Creek Road. The one with the little pond and the big oak out front.

“I like that one, too. Let me finish up here and we'll pedal out there and have another look.”

Waiting For FedEx
So there you have it. That's what I am doing, these days: pedaling around on some new trails, new roads that are familiar to me and yet, not; I'm looking at my roads a little differently. Things look different when you are seeking a new place, a new home...

To that end I recently fired off one of my yearly $100 (free shipping!) bike parts orders. There will be newer, fatter tires, a rear rack (and a front one as well) and a new seat and a light kit. I am prepping my old Schwinn Le Tour, Little Miss Dangerous, getting her ready for living on my bicycle. Not homeless, but ready. I was waiting (and waiting and waiting) for a magical time when I could buy some Surly or Velo Orange dream machine, but reality has set in (as it is wont to do) and it occurred to me that Little Miss could get the job done just fine. We'll find out.

TJ the DJ
I recently started listening to music while I ride, plugging in earphones and streaming mostly what is called New Age or Ambient music. I previously scorned such a practice as unsafe, but so far it seems safe enough. For my aimless roaming around town at lazy speeds it seems safe enough for me. And it has opened an entirely new dimension, (almost literally) of riding. If I were on a fast intermodal run or on my way to someplace I had to be, it wouldn't work, I don't think. But for just rambling around the countryside, or doing big figure eight's in the empty parking lot of a failed strip mall, it is just right.

A lot of things are just right, lately. That would make a good name for a bicycle company, don't you think? Just Right Bikes.

Success Is Mine, Sayeth the Cyclist
Yesterday, after about four hours in the saddle, I was coming around a bend in the road and for just a moment, a brief flickering moment of time and life, I did not know where I was. Lost in a dream, flutes and tinkling bells and acoustic guitar echoing around the vast empty spaces of my mind, I suddenly found myself disoriented and with absolutely no idea where I was. I only knew that I was on my bicycle, pedaling to the rhythm of my heart, lost.

That's what I am trying for, it seems; I'm trying to pedal my way to another place. I think it is working.

Whispering Pines Trailer Park and House of Dreams
April 18, 2014





20 comments:

  1. Ah, aimless rambling on a velociped. What a fabulous way to seize the day, amigo!

    I can't wait to find out what you're looking for. I suspect, you can wait because that makes it all worthwhile.

    Safe rambling!

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    Replies
    1. Oh, it is easy to get there, Brian. Just take the second star to the right, then straight on 'till morning...

      tj

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  2. TJ,

    Sorry to hear that your not working - but very happy that you're spending some time on your bike.

    Hope you manage to get that piece of property. And remember ol' Swampy does architecture (and we're not talking skyscrapers).

    Keep on riding.

    Steve Z

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Steve! Whatever the outcome, the building will be simple and small. If you have a hand in the design, it would be pretty cool and of course, sooner or later you would have to come down and admire your work. I definitely want an area for visiting cyclists, with a fire ring and some kind of camping platforms. The Mosquito Lagoon is nearby, also. There are kayak trails and islands and centuries of history. One day...

      tj

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  3. Pedal on Brother! I have been doing the ride every day in April challenge but mostly it has been doing short hop errands and not the long rambling purposely aimless rides you are describing - I gotta do some those! And I think you should copy write the Just RIght Bikes name - that is marketing gold my friend.

    RR

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I googled JRB and there doesn't seem to be anyone using that name. Hard to believe I came up with it first, like my helium-filled bicycle frames. I say we form a partnership, you do all the work and I'll do all the bragging. Deal?

      tj

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  4. I ride all the time with music going, don't sweat it as unsafe. More noise by the politically correct, super Fred, Boulder riding crowd. My daughter who is deaf rides and, yes, drives with her drivers license...all good and safe!
    I am with Ryan on the Just Right Bikes. With that name alone we could get the bank financing for Ryan's bike shop in Comstock Farms

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jim, Ryan and I will be selling stock options just as soon as he starts working on it. I'm way better at thinking this stuff up than I am at doing anything about it. But thanks, I appreciate the support.

      tj

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  5. It's good to see you back. I miss your writing when it's a loong time between posts. I have to agree with you, there's nothing better than getting lost on your bike. I try to do it often, usually with great success.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Thanks, Dan. I went to your website and I see that you are a real roadie. I still plan to one day ride in a peloton. Now that Little Miss is being converted to a utility bike, I will be looking for something lighter and faster and worthy of a group ride. I could buy that bicycle sooner if Roadie Ryan would hurry up and get to work on Just Right Bikes, Inc.

      tj

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  6. Just Right Bikes and a Schwinn LeTour. Seems perfect.

    I admire your aimless ramblings. I've found I'm not a wanderer per se. I need goals: a mission to accomplish, an overnight in a new place on new roads, looking for garage sales.

    You're the only bike blogger I follow where I can honestly say I don't miss your lack of photos. Your prose sings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why, thank you so much, Miss Annie! I sometimes do a post with pictures, but it is a lot more work and I am basically a lazy bum. I am overdue for an illustrated post though...maybe later this week I will fire up my steam-powered search engine, the Quasitron 6000, and see what happens.

      tj

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  7. Sorry to hear about the lack of work (or am I?)...I admire and covet your ability to aimlessly roam on your bike. Much like Annie I seem to lack that gene and must have a goal.

    I ride w/ music a lot lately...used to think it wasn't cool (or save) but I found that using ear-bud bits that are one size too small I actually knock down the wind noise AND can still hear cars coming up behind me quite well. Though here in Calif it's technically illegal to have both ears covered (whoever made that law has never tried it...some guys I ride w/ use earplugs to knock-down the wind noise and they hear the low frequency car noises better...same w/ my earphones as long as my music isn't too loud...not sure how that explanation will go in front of a judge tho).

    Keep up the rambling my velo brother (both writing and riding)..it's all good! You had me ready to join you on your property until you mentioned Mosquito Lagoon...those little bloodsuckers LOVE me and would drain me dry in an evening.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. That anyone should have to go in front of a judge for listening to music while riding a bicycle...don't get me started.

      The mosquitoes on their namesake lagoon aren't bad on the water...it is when you go into the trees that they become a problem. A REAL problem. So I just stay out of the woods. A good smoky fire keeps them at bay as well.

      I find that I can hear cars just fine with my music going. Except for those damn Prius's. I can't hear those even without ear buds. If the day ever comes when EVERYBODY is driving an electric car, it will be a game changer for cyclists. But who knows? By then we may have flying bicycles.

      tj

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  8. TJ-
    Hanging out for a minute in SE Asia would confirm your assertion that Little Ms. Dangerous is bike enough for any kind of adventure that you have planned. I can't get over fact that folks in the States spend thousands upon thousands of greenbacks on "cargo bikes". Strolling the streets of Hanoi for a couple days and seeing folks conduct all types of commerce from the backs of 40-year old Chinese-made single speed bikes with two kids piled on top confirms what many of us have know for a while; it aint the bike man!

    As for riding with tunes…West Texas will make a convert out of the most staunch iPod hater!

    Kloshe konaway
    Kloshe nanitch

    Matt

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    1. I wish I were with you, Matt. How about a postcard?

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    ReplyDelete
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      trailing behind, tj

      Delete
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