As the NIBU nation grows, and events are put on, I find myself thinking about the future of cycling - and can't help but think about the past.  The simple ugly Schwinn with the banana seat.  The chromed "sissy bar" holding the broad yellow 2x4 of a saddle that became such an icon of cycling yesteryear.

Maybe it was my age, maybe it was my lack of expectation of the sport, maybe I am just wishing for simpler times.  Don't get me wrong.  I love where cycling has gone, hell, I make a living in this sport and what technology has done for it.  I can't help but think of those days of riding (and crashing) a friends' BMX bike behind the M.C. pool or over the jumps at the Hoover track.  Removing those excessive top-bar safety brake levers from my Panasonic Sport 500 (of course Russ had to tell my parents that I shouldn't have done that myself - he's always an excessive safety nut.)

Maiden ride on my new 500.  I wish I could say it was also my final "ride" of the super-socks

When working with Reverend Billy Bigring on the feeble beginnings of NIBU, and finally calling Russ at Lakeside to say, "That's it, I'm doing Cranksgiving" - I caught myself many times a day paused, frozen in a trance thinking of all the things that - "Could Be".

My first three thoughts when deciding to organize a Cranksgiving event were;  

#1 - How much fun it will be?

#2 - How much it would help the food bank?

#3 - What if someone gets hurt?  

I have to be honest, the third thought gave me more of those trance moments compared to the other two.  What if someone got hurt?  What would happen?  What would be the consequences to the organizations I wanted to put on the flyer (sponsors and supporters)?  Do we need a waiver?  Do we need insurance?  Is it worth the risk to put on an event like this?  That moment made me yearn for my banana seat.

In the lead up to putting on our second event - River City Roller Derby, I again found myself thinking;  

#1 - How much fun it will be?

#2 - How many people will show?

#3 - What if someone gets hurt?  

Nuts - I can't get away from that.  I want things to be like that old vinyl banana seat - easy, simple, no strings.  NIBU events are put on with the good faith that everyone involved is doing things in the best interest of everyone else.  In the case of the Derby, the bikes are provided and tested to be as safe as possible.  The people showing up are signing a waiver stating that they are healthy enough to put their bodies through this possible torture.  Everyone involved is trusting everyone else. 

It's situations like this, where risk is possible, events are often not put on.  The worry is the risk isn't worth the rewards of holding the event.

A couple of summers ago, some of the guys at our shop were fixing some bikes for of the local neighborhood folks.  We had tools and a general knowledge of how to tune something up to get them on the road.  (A shifting situation, a flat tire, change out a bent handlebar, and so on).  The guys really weren't taking money for it, we were just helping people out.  Many of those folks couldn't afford to take their bike to a "Real" shop.  In addition, many of the bikes were not worth taking to a "Real" shop.  Most had no other form of transportation, and was their ride to work.  Those stopping in were friends of friends and knew we could help them out.

I immediately thought of the Yellow Bike Project in Austin, TX.  The Russell D. Rayburn Presidential Library had lent me a VHS tape with a documentary of the program a few years back.  A group was fixing up bikes (junkers and what not), painting them with left over yellow bus paint - and giving them to anyone who wanted 'em.  These bikes were all over the city, tuned up, ready to roll.  You need to get from one place to another?  Good chance there's a yellow bike parked in a bike rack, you hop on it, and ride to where you need to go.

What an amazing idea, anyone needing a bike, shabang - there it was.  In working order, ready to be ridden.  NO COST.   Now I know, the right wingers out there are probably thinking the NIBU has socialist tendencies now… But really, I was  thinking of the people.  We at (possibly lefty) NIBU nation call it Humanitarianism.

A friend then brought me back to (today's) reality.  "Now you realize, if someone get's hurt on one of the bikes you tuned up… It may come back to bite you".  A cold chill worked it's way down my spine.  Shit.  Our shop was now in jeopardy, we had fixed up a few bikes, and now had to worry that riders didn't hit tree or crash on the "altered" bikes - making it our responsibility and possibly making that certain litigious individual a potential new owner of HED Cycling.  Banana seat please?

On that same VHS tape was a clip on the Critical Mass movement.  Cyclists finding out exactly what their rights are on the road, and how much room they legally have in a traffic lane.  Getting every single rider they could muster to take advantage of their legal right to ride on the street.  ALL OF THEM - AT THE SAME TIME.  The footage showed hundreds of cyclists riding down a main city artery, riding legally, taking up their legally allotted space as a vehicle on the street.  It clogs things up - and wakes up the sleeping majority.  We are here, we are many, and we want to be safe on the street using our rights.

I know that there has been a call to hold a critical mass ride in Mason City.  The point of having motorists take notice and understand what our rights are as cyclists.  It is especially timely considering all the talk of bills keeping cyclists from "Farm to Market" roads.  But on the other hand - it is timely that as cyclists, we be aware of the anti cycling movement, and give thought to the potential fuel that we, ourselves would then throw on that thinking after holding a critical mass ride.

I agree with the idea of standing up, and saying - "We have this right, we have protection of the law to ride our bikes down the road, and be safe".  I agree with the ideals of Critical Mass, and the Malcom-X-ish way of "By any means necessary".  But I also have to be realistic and somewhat diplomatic in the way we approach issues so "hot button" as these.  

So again, I stop in mid-sentence and think of the banana seat, and wonder where the hell it went.  Where did the simple ride to school go?  Where is the innocence of riding a bike so simply and without worry?  I would never trade where this sport/lifestyle has taken me, nor will I shy away from working with my peers to come up with exciting new events - I just want to get rid of that blasted "thought Number 3".  Let's ride, and exist without worry.  

As I finish this confession to the Cycling Priest, I do find peace to my fretting.  I guess I do know where that banana seat went.  It is riding along a gravel road at midnight just south of Garner, armed with only a red blinky light and friction shifters - The most peaceful and pure moment a cyclist could every dream of.  The rest is just window dressing.

Editors Note - please click here to read the disclaimer about this confession.