Despite what your first thoughts may have been given the blog post title, this is really just an open letter to Globe Bikes and Specialized for changing my life in ways I'm sure you, me or anyone else could have ever imagined at the start of this blog.
I'll start off with the obvious. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to ride the Roll 2 in exchange for my word barf. The bike and blog "forced" me to get out there and explore what I couldn't on my road bike. There are people who brush off a bike as just that--same as any other bike but it's SO not. I was immersed in a world full of spandex, carbon fiber, and hill climbing for miles on end. Although I fully enjoyed the "roadie" world and had great company while riding my light-as-a-feather bike, the fixie let me explore the city in a completely different way. I was able to just cruise, get back to where I started on a bike, and enjoy the views of the city, stop at the hole in the wall restaurant, lock up my bike (without worrying about what part might be stolen like on the road bike) and enjoy the experience--in normal clothes and shoes!
Learning to ride a bike again was such a fun challenge. And oh the things I've learned to do on the fixie! Oh wait, I only really learned one thing--to track stand. I guess if calculating how to stop without using my brake is a "trick" then I suppose I've somewhat learned a trick and a half, this being the half. I've yet to learn to ride in a circle backwards but I'll get to that eventually.
The people I rolled with were different too. (Pun intended.) I love my roadie friends that were just as masochistic as me on the bike and made fun of me for being a hipster but I also love the people that were willing to ride alongside me to explore. Actually, I fell in love on the fixie, not just with my inanimate bike but with the boy that always joined me on the rides, Eric. If it wasn't for Globe Bikes and the Roll 2, I probably would have never had the opportunity to ride as much as I did with him, being the fixie snob that he is, so thank you. And if it wasn't for Eric, my partner in crime and his constant support, urban exploration wouldn't have been as fun and I would have struggled and picked my brain to pieces coming up with new posts.
The funny thing is that I used to wear the "I heart..." shirt as a joke saying that my bike was my boyfriend. Never thought in a million years that I would actually heart the boy that rode (and still rides) bikes with me.
On this note, I end my blog with many thanks and am happy to announce that I'm in an open relationship with my longtime boyfriend, the bike, and my new boyfriend, Eric. :)
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