Syki
and I have been friends since high school, and our bikes have been friends
almost as long.We found her petite white Bianchi one afternoon in Tallahassee after a long and almost unsuccessful day of scouring the local market for used road bikes. After seeing all the bike shops in town fail us one by one, our last resort was Mike's Pawn shop. It was there that Syki found her Bianchi.
It
was not long at all before Syki (rhymes with geeky) had realized she was a
natural in the road bike lifestyle. That girl knows how to go fast.
I
just love the way that white bike looks on top of my white Volvo.I must have been parked on an extremely steep hill that day.
After
a year or two of riding the Bianchi just as she bought it, Syki began to
gaze wistfully across cow pastures.Something was up.
I
knew something was wrong as well when I began to notice her Bianchi locked
up on campus, untouched, for weeks at a time.
One day I found it lying on the ground, helpless like a fawn in a bear trap, still clamped to the bike rack. I asked Syki what was wrong.
It was time for a change, she said. Bianchi needed some new clothes.
To be continued...