Introducing the Green Machine

Since he retired last February, Brian has been spending a lot of time on his bike. Back when he was working, his main form of exercise was riding to work; even after the COVID lockdowns, when he was only required to be in the office one day a week, he'd still ride to the office in the morning (weather permitting), water his plants, and come home for lunch. When he retired, he worried at first about how he'd replace that daily exercise. He could still go out on his bike and just ride around, of course, but he had trouble motivating himself to mount up without a destination in mind. But he quickly figured out that there were lots of other places he could go in the area, either to run small errands or just to explore. Now, on clear days, his usual routine is to suit up after breakfast and head out to do a little grocery shopping, pick up or drop off library books, or maybe just test a new route before lunchtime.

After doing this for a while, he asked me if I'd be interested in having a bike of my own so I could join him once in a while. I was open to this idea, but also a little hesitant, since I hadn't ridden in decades. So he proposed taking his spare bicycle (the one he still had left after last year's basement cleanup) down to the park, along with the the cheap helmet we'd picked up for me at some point, and testing it out. Then we'd know, first of all, how well I could still handle a bike after all these years, and second, whether this spare one fit me well enough to be my personal ride.

This experiment had mixed results. The first thing we figured out was that Brian's spare bike was definitely too big for me. Although he's a foot taller than I am, the difference is entirely above the waist, so we'd been assuming that if it fit him it would also fit me. But we'd forgotten that, while my legs are as long as his, my feet are not. When the seat was at a comfortable height for him, I couldn't reach the ground even on my tippytoes. Just to get me onto the bike, he had to remove the rear reflector so he could lower the seat down to the very bottom of its stem. Once I managed to get saddled up, I found that I still remembered how to balance, pedal, and steer, but stopping, not so much. The brakes on Brian's spare bike were a lot more powerful than what I remembered, and a fairly gentle squeeze brought it thumping to a halt and sent me toppling over sideways onto the pavement. Fortunately, I wasn't scraped up too badly, but it was rather unnerving. So was the gearshift, which was a bit fiddly and liable to knock the chain loose on certain settings. Overall, it was clear that if I was going to get back into cycling, it shouldn't be on that bike.

So, on our way home, we decided to keep our eyes open for a cheap or, better yet, free bike that would be more suitable for me. It needed to be sized for a small adult (or a pretty large kid) and, ideally, have a simple click-style gearshift that would be easy to manipulate. Well, apparently my old bargain-hunting mojo was up and running, because the very next morning, I saw this listing on Freecycle: 

OFFER: Green bike (Highland Park)

Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:09:58 +0000
From: rkfriedman

Green bike that was painted (used to be another color). My son has outgrown. Tired need air and may require other repairs but seems largely intact.

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I emailed immediately and got a response saying it was out at the curb, free for the taking to anyone who wanted it. Not wanting to miss out, Brian and I drove straight there, found the bike, checked to make sure it was an appropriate size for me, loaded it in the car, and got it home, all within the space of about 20 minutes. We felt a bit silly about taking the car to travel less than a mile, especially since we were already planning to walk to the library, just a block away, later that morning to join a work party removing invasive plants. But since the bike wasn't in good shape, there was no other practical way to get it home. As we stowed it in the back, I dubbed it the Green Machine, since it's both green in color and eco-friendly.

In the week since, Brian put in a bit of work on the Green Machine to get it back into roadworthy condition. (While he was doing that, my bargain mojo was apparently still activated just in case the new bike didn't work out, because I spotted no fewer than three additional listings for free bicycles on our local Freecycle and Trash Nothing lists. But it proved unnecessary.) He pumped up the tires, lubed up the chain, adjusted the gears and the brakes, added reflectors to the wheels, and replaced the green seat with a cushier one that would be easier on my out-of-practice backside. The bike is now fully road-ready; the only question is whether I am. 

To answer that, we'll have to head down to the park again and give me another road test, this time on my new, optimally sized bike, and see how well I handle it. If I get the hang of it pretty quickly, I can work my way up to taking it out around the neighborhood and maybe, eventually, to venturing out with Brian into less familiar territory. I don't think I'll feel comfortable riding on major roads with heavy traffic anytime soon, but fortunately, Brian already has a pretty good mental map of bike routes in our area that circumvent these streets as much as possible.

Of course, this also means that we're once again back to stashing three bikes in the basement instead of two. But since the Green Machine is small, it can nestle on the floor below Brian's main bike on its ceiling-mounted rack. That means the path isn't significantly more obstructed than it was already, and I have easy access to my new used bike when I need it.