Some of my earliest memories are riding my bike around my neighborhood with the other kids. We would find hills and make jumps out of cinder blocks and scrap wood, or anything from in/behind dumpsters. For some reason, it was better than Christmas to wake up on a Saturday morning in the summer, and ride my bike for hours.
When I was in high school I really wanted to fit into the “I ride a fixed gear bicycle” kind of thing. It didn’t take long for me to find a fixie on a local marketplace. I bought a blue fixie, and loved that bad boy for 3 months before it totally fell apart. I bought another one from my older brother’s friend, and that was what got me to and from school through summer and winter.
After high school I moved to SLC. I lived in the avenues, and if you don’t know the avenues. There is one main thing to know. They are very hilly. Just the thing to scratch that “I have a fixie” itch. I would bike to my 3 jobs, and love biking through the city, skidding around corners and feeling like a movie everyday. I would get groceries, go to friends houses, and attend the 999 that local bikers put together on 9th and 9th every Thursday at 9pm.
I moved to NYC to fulfill the itch of being a film photographer and bike around a big city. Once again, it turned out to be just that. I rode my bike all around through winter, spring and summer. When it came time for me to move back, I left that bike with a friend. That bike is still out there riding around Brooklyn NY.
When I got back from my art life in NYC. I was back in Utah, and bike-less. So I once again went online and found a second hand local biker that had put my dream fixie up for sale. I bought it within 20 minutes and that has been my bike for the last two years. It has a red frame, blue and white stared grips, mid sized handle bars, yellow cranks and a whole bunch of millage.
Biking is something that allows me to be with my own thoughts. Biking keeps me in shape, and helps me save money on gas. My bike is mine, and holds a certain “me-ness” added to every crank I give.
Nate is a student at Utah Valley University where he is working on his degree in English Education. Over the past few years, he has worked in and out of local bike shops. Currently, when he is not at school, he works to help mold the young minds at a youth crisis shelter.
