Eugene Update #2

 As I mentioned in my last post I work at a bike shop. It’s (for now) just me, the owner and a student running things.

During Covid people decided they wanted to bike. It is automatically a social distance form of recreation. Gyms closed so folks were looking to exercise. Also for those who had to work but didn’t want to take public transportation (either because of germs or the bus shut down) they got new bikes or had to fix up their old one. Regardless bike shops under the pandemic have been busy. We’re considered essential workers.

So to be clear, we have not stopped since I’ve been there. Every day is busy.

The demographics, in my limited opinion, seem to skew older. There are many people just now getting into cycling, but the old geezers, like me, have been doing it since the 70s. Or are in their 70s. Either way, when they come into the shop and see me a 62-year-old lady in a shop apron embroidered with a bike on the bib, they feel at ease. Especially the women. We can go over into the corner and talk about saddles and our butts in the saddle and know we get each other.

I had one lady who wanted to take my picture. She was SO HAPPY someone like me worked there. She went on and on about how progressive the shop was to hire me. I hated to tell her I just needed the job. But, to be fair, I do love bikes. They are my passion.

Evident when someone comes in with some old part and hands it to me in my greasy palm and says: I’m looking for this. I start with one of over a dozen pull-out drawers in my scavenger hunt for a bolt or screw or noodle (a real thing).

This kind of activity lines up with my love for puzzles—concentrating on a small piece of a bigger picture, eventually realizing the whole. Isn’t this what writing is all about?

Anyway, back to being old. So many of the customers are surprised, amazed, then relieved to see me. Yesterday, I had a woman clasp my hand after greeting her as if we’d been old friends. She went on to tell me her life story, which I may or may not but attempted to have time for. By the end of the day we had her back on her bike.

So even though I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, or the newest, I’m muddling my way through each work day, hopefully inspiring the older customers who haven’t given up on biking.