Cyclokairos

Autumn and the lanes are draped with crimson caparisons. Fleeting as it is, my favourite time of the year to cycle.

Larkin the Buddhist, living in the present: Where can we live but days? Of course, Larkin being Larkin, they are to be happy in, is most likely ironic, and the coming of the priest and doctor a foreboding of how it always ends?

Larkin was a cyclist – surely a pursuit to bring a smile to the face? The Burgundy (Aubergine?) Bike has been my ride of choice lately. A bike built for the grottier weather, it’s not a bad first attempt at painting a bike frame and with parts mostly sourced from what was lying around, it looks ok, not great but then I can pick fault with how all my bikes look. It rides just fine – fine for my style of cycling at least – and it is metal and mechanical. Grant Peterson’s recent Blahg, led me to the first Chouinard catalogue and this quote from Antoine de Saint Exupery’s ‘Wind , Sand and Stars’:

“In any thing at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness”

Is this the attraction of metal and mechanical bikes?

Stumbling, forever stumbling. This time, around the treasure trove of the BBC iPlayer. Bryan Magee’s ‘The Great Philosophers’ from 1987 a find. They don’t make TV like that anymore – 45 minutes of just two people talking. The inevitable rabbit hole of finding out more about Magee leading to a quote from his autobiography ‘Making the most of it’:

“If it could be revealed to me for certain that life is meaningless, and that my lot when I die be timeless oblivion, and I were then asked: “Knowing these things, would you, if given the choice, still choose to have been born?”, my answer would be a shouted “Yes!” I have loved living. Even if the worst-case scenario is the true one, what I have had has been infinitely better than nothing. In spite of what has been wrong with my life, and in spite of what has been wrong with me, I am inexpressibly grateful to have lived. It is terrible and terrifying to have to die, but even the prospect of eternal annihilation is a price worth paying for being alive”

A bike came and went – a Raleigh Mirage. My son is now at university and was in need of a something to get him around. Nothing too flash, something easy to maintain and could be locked up without being too desirable to the light-fingered. I bought it locally, from a guy who does resto-mods. He’s serious – when picking the bike up, I got a glimpse of vintage Stumpjumer he had driven all the way to Southampton to collect. The paint on the Raleigh is in very good nick considering the age (late 80s/early 90s?). With friction shifting, rim brakes and a quality steel tube set – I was tempted to keep it for myself. I added some lights and mudguards but other than that it was ready to ride.

There’s always the itch to work on a bike. Tucked away in the garage is a Brompton from when I used to travel to work by train and cycled each end of the train journey.  The Brompton was showing the signs of being well used when it was retired and bar the odd spin it has been unused for 15 years. Taking it out of its cover for a quick inspection: flat tyre, shark-toothed crankset, stretched chain, and corroded cables. A project to scratch the itch.