Related questions like "What is your favorite bike?" and "What bike do you own?" get asked often, too. The last one is asked because, people tell me, I ride so many bikes that the one I choose for my own must be pretty great. It's like asking an auto mechanic, "What car do you own?"
I spend much of my life riding bikes, thinking about bikes, talking to others about bikes, and writing about bikes. It's been my job for more than 30 years: from bike shop salesperson in high school to mechanic in college to an internship with Mountain Bike magazine to Bicycling test editor after college and ever since.
In those three decades' time, I've ridden many bikes, perhaps in the thousands. And there came a moment on every one of those bikes when I thought to myself, "Do I love this bike? Is it perfect? Is it right for me? Is this the best bike I've ever ridden? If I could ride only one bike for the foreseeable future, would it be this bike?"
The crazy thing is, as I've ridden more and more bikes, the idea that there could be a perfect or best bike in perpetuity seems less and less likely. And now, thirty-odd years into this journey, I've all but let go of the idea that the best bike can exist. Or rather, I understand that it can exist, but only briefly. This doesn't mean I've stopped trying to find the best bike in this moment, or that I no longer seek to learn about bikes and why one might feel better than another. I'm always prepared to be surprised, and I believe that any bike can be magical, for explicable and inexplicable reasons.
This story is from the Spring 2023 edition of Bicycling US.
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This story is from the Spring 2023 edition of Bicycling US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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