Saturday, October 11, 2008

A mystery and a surprise

Just in the last few days, I've received unexpected comments on my blog - comments not so much about what I'd written - but imparting information. Most of you surely know this, but I didn't know it until after I'd begun my blog: Comments are blind. I cannot respond to your comment as if you'd sent me a personal email.

I can add a comment below yours, but otherwise I am helpless to continue our contact. If you never look at that post again - and never see my comment-to-your-comment, you will think I didn't care about what you said or who you are. Not so.

First, just this morning I heard from a guy who emailed me after I described (in the Rivendell Reader) how I'd been scared off my bike in Tucson. I was straining at the leash to get out of that town. Rivendell Reader readers, 50 of them, wrote me with comments and suggestions. One of them, Don Weinshenker, wrote glowing reports about cycling in Minneapolis.

Now I hear from Don (in a comment) that he has moved here to Denver this year. Don, if you read this, send me a note at mhershon@gmail.com and let me know where you're living and when we can get together for a Welcome to Denver coffee. Thanks!

More mysteriously... In the early-mid '60s, I lived in Bloomington IN and worked in the motorcycle business for Fox's Cycle Sales, offering at that time BSA, Yamaha and BMW.

I'll waste a sentence to remind you that 1964 was a long time ago. Someone who has discovered my blog (and was a motorcyclist in Bloomington in those primitive days) has posted two comments, both provocative and revealing insider knowledge, both posted anonymously.

Please, Mr or Ms Anonymous, write me at the above email address and reveal your identity. Almost no one in my life now except my old boss Boyd Fox remembers those days. Be great to hear from you...

It's cold here in the Mile-High City. I have to wear tights and long sleeves when I ride the trainer out on our patio, even with no forward motion, no breeze.

You know, I feel that I appreciate my friends as much as most people do...maybe more than some. Get hurt, become not-so-mobile, and you rely on your friends more than you ever imagined you would.

A certain amount of helplessness repositions us in relation to your world. Might be good for us once in a great while.

I've given some thought to my levels of happiness and sadness during my hospitalization and recuperation. On balance, I don't think my average relative state of happiness has changed much. I don't know that I'd have believed that about myself. Remarkable, huh?

We're far more resiliant that we know, I'm delighted to say...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That melancholy you might be experiencing can be a side effect of the pain meds. It takes about three weeks to flush them out of your system, after you no longer use them. The drugs do strange things to your body and mind.

What are you listening to? [On your ipod?].

bobbywally

Anonymous said...

Maynard, you're just no fun. I am having a devilish time being "mysterious". The last time I was characterized as such was by my peers in HS, who never bothered to talk to me or find out who I was.
I thought the brief description of days of the "thumper"...(what a great bike) and picking us two women up outside our off-campus housing would be a huge clue. It's not every day, (or night) that you have two great looking women aboard your bike.

How about this one? I had that awful Zundapp that kicked back at me when I tried to start it. What a mean bike. The exhaust pipe would fly down the road when the 250cc piece of junk would cough out a dust ball. I'd have to go find you, and galant as always, you would put the end of the tailpipe back on.
I also recall one of your favorite comments regarding someone you liked: "a gay and colorful character". I suppose that is not politically correct these days.
I WILL write to you soon at your personal address...but for now, this is just too much fun.

Anonymous said...

HI Maynard:
I am enjoying reading your postings. I hope you are feeling better.
I will assume you are either too busy or else you just aren't going to respond on your blog.
When I find some pictures of the good old days in Bloomington, and a person to help me get them sent, I will entertain you with a picture or two of the bygone days. I had the Zundapp 250, the Triumph 650 and then got talked into a smallish Honda.
After that I had many more bikes (12 in all over the years)and could keep up with the guys pretty well in the woods. There were CZ's, Husky (440's? as I recall, with "quick throttles") and my last and favorite, a Bultaco 250 with a Honda carburetor so when it was sideways in the dirt, it wouldn't flood out. I had a wonderful time for many years hanging around tracks and being part of the action. Written up in Cycle World, they took a trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway with us and wrote and article about it. I was in the pit crew at Daytona the year Dick Mann won on a Honda. Etc. etc...you know how it goes. Lots of fun adventures and good stories.
Ms. Mysterious

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