Hi.

Welcome to my new blog.

I've been thinking about doing this for a long time now but waited till I was convinced that the world had room for another Bike-centric Blog with Literary/Artistic aspirations. Now that I'm actually committing pixels to paper, I'm not feeling quite so sure that's the case. But, all my misgivings aside, I've got like an hour invested in the process now, so; Here we go...

My original idea was to write an essay length piece every week or so about my projects and adventures, trying to express the purpose and satisfaction I get from engaging in things that matter to me and hoping to connect with other people who might see or hear something familiar or interesting in whatever observations and insights come my way. A couple of Blogs that I follow do this exceptionally well and my experiences reading and commenting on them have been really positive and FUN. I was surprised to find a lot of interesting, thoughtful people and surprisingly few Cranky, Under-Socialized Grumps out there. At least on the Blogs I've been reading (I don't spend any time on the ones where people show up with their prickles out). And now some of them feel like friends, which I would like to have more of. So why not write my own? It might force me to lean into my projects a little harder and encourage me to go adventuring a little more often, which are things I'm always trying to trick myself into doing more. Or better. Or whatever.  

The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that my projects are nothing special, mostly messing around with old bikes I'm too lazy to ride and plugging away at the house I started building in 2005 and will leave, an unfinished but already deteriorating Albatross around the neck, to my Children. And my "Adventures"? The more I thought about THAT, the more I feared Id be turning to those venerable writers tools, "Plagiarism" and "Lying" (which could hurt my chances at any of the better literary prizes). And anyway, why should I think I can suddenly become this dedicated creative person that I've never been before? Getting up early to spend an hour writing before going out to milk the Cow and fetch water from the creek? Intentionally remembering to pay attention to my life as it simmers around me so I might actually recall events and thoughts that I experienced as much as 7 or 8 hours before?  Hopeless. Utterly hopeless.

So here's what I think is going to happen; every once in a while(still shooting for once a week, but no promises), I'll sit down and write something. It's probably going to be about bicycles in some way at least half the time since I've been in love with bikes and cycling since I was about 7 or 8 and I can't afford an Airplane. And the rest of the time it might be about something I've been reading or thinking about or somewhere interesting I've been. That sort of thing. I'm probably not going to write about food much since nobody wants to hear about what brand of sardines I like with my pork-rinds(unless you do, then just ask). And if I really can't think of anything better I might just put up pictures from my sketchbooks(mostly  Hot-Rods, Monsters and Monsters driving Hot-Rods).  And every so often I might write something more serious, the sort of thing that we all find ourselves wondering about and trying to make sense of. I don't think we're going to be winning any awards here but it might be fun.

If I write something you like I hope you'll tell me, since deep down, no one does this unless they want people to give them an occasional pat on the head. And if it turns out I can't rise above "mundane and tedious", tell me that too, but geez, be nice about it. And please don't tease me about my puntuation or grammer because I won't get it and we'll both just end up feeling embarrassed and awkward. Thanks. One of the reservations I have about doing this (along with my fears about revealing myself to be a Cranky, Under-Socialized Grump or ending up with ZERO readers) is about whether I can create a place where people are COOL and kind to each other and come with their brains turned on. I hope I can. But if this turns into a lame/tedious or nasty/combative sort of place I will cheerfully pull the plug and kill it.  Unless I've found some way to make some money off it, in which case it will be right here till the end of time. Sorry.

Finally, in the interest of full disclosure, I already have a web business building custom racks for bikes, mostly Vintage British Raleigh's and other creaky old bikes. You'll find a link to that site somewhere around here and I hope you check that out sometime. There will eventually be some other things for sale there that might help send my Daughters to College and let me take my Lovely Wife somewhere fun in the summer. When that happens, don't think about it, just buy some, OK?

Jon Gehman

1 down, 1,000 to go.