Bicycle Love

Book excerpt: “This compilation of tales conforms to a simple Freudian fact: You're as crazy as you thought, but in good company.” —Bicycling Magazine Okay, so some of us might be a bit too attached to our bicycles. Outsiders may say this is “inappropriate” or “unnatural.” But most cyclists will agree that passionate, all-consuming bicycle love is a fine and glorious thing. Bicycles take us places, physically and metaphysically, we cannot go without them. They move us; they make us dizzy and giddy, exhilarated and exhausted. All athletes love their sport, but cycling has a fetishistic side to it—the love of this deceptively simple machine that allows you to silently float, race, climb, glide over the earth. It brings the rush of wind to your ears and the surge of force through your body as you lean into a turn. It brings you to the fields and woods and sunshine, moving down the open road. Its beauty and charisma are undeniable. These sixty-two personal tales of the many varieties of bicycle love range from dreamy reminiscences of childhood bikes to powerful, sometimes insane adult attachments to mountain bikes, road bikes, and tandems. They all celebrate the freedom of cycling, the elegance of the machine, and the beauty of the act. They tell of the strange and wonderful things a bicycle has brought to life, the relationships that bloom or fade under the bicycle’s influence, and the unforgettable places bicycles have brought us. Funny, revealing, and intensely emotional, these stories show the secret inner life of every cyclist.