OK, I'll resist the urge to wallow in a metaphysical game about how, during the act of riding a bicycle, one cannot be located in space or time, other than to provide a vague description, using parameters, for example, while in motion, the bicycle could be described as being somewhere along a trajectory from A to B. Flan O'Brien in his novel The Third Policeman, did a wonderful job dramatizing the nature of bike riding. After years of bike riding, a character begins to take on the characteristics of the bicycle, becoming part bike, part human.
The bicycle also plays a minor role in Molloy and a few other works by Samuel Beckett. Molly goes to find his mother, using a bicycle to help him along the way. "I found my bicycle (I didn't know I had one) in the same place I must have left it." Molly, p. 16, Grove Press, 1991.
As a new season of bicycle riding begins, my aspiration is that cyclists pedal in peace and mindfulness. May motorists display patience and caution. Meanwhile, I need to find a repair shop willing to replace the gears and chains. One mechanic told me it's not worth the effort, that I should buy a new bike. I'm unemployed and can't afford a new one and am a klutz when it comes to fixing things. In the name of mobility, there is a solution. Ride in peace!
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