Do you fix the bike, or does the bike fix you? What a stupid question you ask? Has this idiot never seen me hunched over my bike wearing my reading glasses trying to figure out which set screw to turn on my derailleur to try and stop that bloody chain rub? Has this idiot never seen me trying to adjust my cleats and falling off my bike at the same time? YES, you do fix your bike, the shop fixes your bike, your friends try to fix your bike, but, not so quick to answer.

Do you look forward to your bike rides with kid like anticipation? Do you find joy in saddle sores because you have ridden further than you thought possible? Do the problems of your day melt away as your pedal your bike? Have you ever just wanted to pedal knowing that it would make you feel better?

My bike fixes me. It is a tool, it is my medication, and it is my inspiration. I ride to get fixed, to feel better, to escape, to learn, to meet, and mostly to fix my health. The bike is a tool: not only can it be used to make you more physically fit, the bike, as a tool, works on a much higher level by fixing you mentally. The bike adjusts you by resetting your attitude and forcing you to be content by exhausting you, breaking you down, and at the same time giving you a feeling of accomplishment.

So, the next time the dork in lycra next to you beats you up the hill, don’t worry, you are an accomplished biker, you ride for yourself, you ride so that your bike can fix you, it is your tool. RHSH