For Starters

I started this blog with nearly no clear intention as to what it will be, nor have I any real experience writing down my opinion about much of anything.  It will no doubt take a bit of time for this blog to form into something consistent and cohesive, or even something worth the reader’s while.  But I’ll do my best to make that happen, and hopefully some day ahead, someone will find this column useful and maybe helpful.  

But today I thought I should start with a subject I know fairly well, and that’s me. I’m a short, scrawny kid that just finished a stint at the smfa, or School of the Museum of Fine Arts for those lucky enough not to know.  During my four years there I built huge installations of wood and plastic, videotaped myself smashing various objects and eating strange materials, and shoved double-ended dildos into giant logs, all in the name of Art.  Now, all of these projects were intellectually rigorous, make no mistake.  A lot of reading and research went into the processes that led to these horrid creations, a lot of cud chewed.  In fact, studying at the museum school was so intense for me that I sort of burned out towards the end.  I couldn’t grasp concepts the way I had before, couldn’t roll up my sleeves and dive into the metaphysical dirt.  Whenever someone wanted to talk with me about theory I felt a great sinking in my stomach, like that sense of dread you felt as a kid when the p.a. calls your name to the office. Which I did hear.  All the time.  But that’s another boring story entirely.

Why is this important to write about, especially on a bike blog that you foolishly thought might actually relate to bikes or wrenches somehow?  Well, it’s not really.  I told you before I’m not very good at this.  But what is relevant is that right around the time I started to fall from the graces of the museum school, I found inspiration in the graceful form and function of the bicycle.  I bought my first bike off a nice old lady in Southie for maybe double what it was worth, and my life has never been the same.  It was a handsome Schwinn Collegiate, maroon in color, old enough to still have been made in Chicago.  Now, I’ve ridden bikes all my life.  As a kid in the burbs of Boston I tore around daily on my bmx, but I had never experienced riding in the city, or I should say experienced the city while riding.  That bike took me to places I didn’t know existed, introduced me to new friends, and slowly ate away at the pudge I had developed during my adolescence.

Long story short, I was addicted.  The chain on the Schwinn gave out on me one day, and instead of just rolling it to my nearest shop to get it fixed, I decided it was time to build my own ride.  This procedure occurred, much to the dismay of my roommates, in the living room of our mission hill apartment.  A high-back chair worked (kind of) as a stand, and I slowly (4 months?) pieced my new bike together with old parts and tools I had gotten off of ebay.

(I should take this opportunity to thank all of the mechanics in the greater Boston area who had the misfortune of dealing with me during this period of time.  I spent many days touring around to different shops, asking the stupidest of questions, and despite a scoff or smirk here and there, everyone I ever met was kind and extremely helpful.  Thank You. )

 My first ride didn’t last long (cracked downtube), but my journey into the bike world was only getting started.  It was maybe a year later that I discovered the bike shop I now manage, Quad Bikes, and began to volunteer there.  Compared to the time I spent at school, working on bikes was like a meditation for me.  The managers would give me a frame to strip or a bunch of wheels to true, and I’d go into the back shop and spend the afternoon in sweet bike-dork bliss.  I stuck around long enough that they eventually gave me a job, and I felt a great surge of honor and esteem when I was finally able to describe myself as a ‘wrench’.

So, ergo, the name of this blog.  I’ve been working at Quad now for maybe two years, not a lot of time at the stand and I’m learning new things every day, the passion only growing.  Hopefully my skills as a mechanic, likewise my ability as a writer, will continue to grow with it.  A lot of what gets put down in this blog will be related to working on bikes and the bike shop experience.  The rest will include pictures of the various projects I’m working on (hats, trailers, arts n’ farts n’ crafts), and bikey things I find interesting enough to share.  I hope you’ll find it gratifying in some way, even if it’s just laughing at my poor attempt to piece coherent thoughts together.