A bike with one gear
There are so many reasons why my Ocracoke bike should frustrate me. It has no brakes so I have to pedal backwards to slow down. It only has one gear so I can’t go particularly fast and, if travelling far, I have to conserve energy and go much slower that I would like to. The chain falls off at random moments, the handlebars are at a weird angle for my long arms and it rattles and squeaks as I go down the road. (It is so distinctive that one of the locals in a shop said “you’re the guy that goes around on that bike aren’t you?”)
I’ve been on Ocracoke for a week today. It has been an exciting, confusing, enthralling, discombobulating, peaceful, lonely, tiring and energising seven days. And my weird bike has been at the center of all of this. I have spent more time with my bike than I have with human beings!
It’s taken me a full week to realise that I am resisting slowing down and simply relaxing into the pace of this place. I am still trying to fill my days with activity and find new things to do and new places to go. The island is patiently waiting for me to realise that living here in January is a counter-point to the hecticness and stresses of my life back in the U.K. The island knows that I will eventually surrender.
Yesterday I tried to cycle to the other end of Ocracoke for the first time. However, my bike’s one gear, the windy and rainy weather and my waning energy from pedaling too fast for too many days all got too much and i sensibly, but reluctantly turned back with only another 5 miles to go. Today I woke up and the weather was worse. And my bike had a puncture.
The message was clear. Let go. Slow down. Do less. So I relented and spent the entire day at the house. And by 5pm I felt I had finally started to fully arrive here.
My brilliantly imperfect bike is a good reminder of all of this. When I messaged Jim earlier to ask him where the bike pump was he told me there was a better bike I could use in the garage. One with brakes and gears. There’s lots of good, logical reasons to switch. I could do more, go faster, travel further. Move around more at my normal pace.
But I instinctively think that sticking with my slow, unpredictable and rattly new friend is what I need right now.
