i want to ride my BICYCLE BICYCLE

"Bicycle bicycle bicycle, I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle"
i've got that cheesy queen song stuck in my head, and i caught myself singing it as i was waltzing past the laurel bushes and the malfunctioning sprinklers on the way home from a beer at tiny's.

hmmm. it was THAT kind of a day.

and indeed it would have been nice to ride on such a nice day. but my tire's flat and i've got a date with miss euphoria's bad brakes. being able to fix bikes is such a godsend that i feel like i need to share the wealth. lord knows many's the time i felt helpless in the presence of bike mechanics until anthony siracusa taught all us punks how to fix our own bikes over at the bike coop back in memphis. that shit stuck with me. i feel so proud that i can take care of most of my business now. there's still some things i can't do just because i can't afford to go nuts and splurge on tools, but at least i can deal with most of the everday quirks that pop up.

so i took a community service ride on the 12 past a string of japanese restaurants and got off the bus in front of some shady lookin' titty bar on the south side to meet with my girl with the balky brakes.
I'm easily distracted by salal growing alongside the roads. talk of beignets. small dogs. and stories.
portland's funny. there are some parts of town where you have gravel roads instead of streets. SW is one of those. another is a section of SE portland where i had a recent off-road experience. I'll no doubt find more while i'm out in crazy missions like this.