I recognize you
You’re covered in stickers and your paint is chipped
Rust crawls throughout your frame
giving you the look of urban camouflage
I have seen you many times
your different forms all carry a familiarity
From the obscenely heavy full-suspention
to the mid-90’s hard-tail
I can tell we’ve met before
Formerly knobby tires that are now closer to slicks, but have come by it honestly
The braking surface of your rims
With the tell-tale concave grove that only develops from prolonged use
the valve stems, protruding from said rim at an almost comical angle
revealing an extended time of riding on less than inflated tires
Soft braking and unusable gears
remind me of the stretched cables I’ve adjusted on you before
Your bent chainring has a metronome like quality
giving me pause to examine the passing of time in my own life
as the bend sweeps past the cage that directs it
A derailleur hanger that is so bent the idler nearly brushes the spokes
and with careless shifting would intertwine itself into them permanently
A chain with grass embedded into the hardened oil that used to lubricate it
made longer with each pedal stroke, is all too familiar to me
Your stubborn seat post that has found a comfortable spot
and now won’t move for anyone or anything
You have strayed from your initial design
unrecognizable to your former self
But I recognize you
I adore you
The marks of age and use only reveal a life well lived
They are beautiful
Nothing lasts forever, we are each given only a short time
you have made the most of it
I applaud you
you are truly an un-rideable bike
because you have been ridden
which makes you the best bike