Mission

The Mission of the Bike Karma show...

Is to bring bicycle loving people from all over the world together through sharing stories that connect us as bicycle loving human beings.

Bikes had always meant freedom to me. They made me feel better when I was down. I felt graceful on bikes, and when I crashed I felt epic. Bikes made me happy, they soothed my soul.  BUT... I wasn't always like "the bike guy" I am now. 

I loved reading and getting lost in stories. As a child I escaped with the Hulk and Spiderman read alongs from Power Records. I somehow gratefully found a niche interest in audio stories. My dad got an old Cassettes of the Shadow radio show from the 40's, and I found a lost world of radio stories had been mostly forgotten by my generation. I listened to old radio show every night before going to sleep. 

As a teen, I got into BBC radio mysteries and Cape Cod Radio Mystery Theater. I discovered there was a "present" with BBC radio in the uk making modern radio shows like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. These shows could do things that television and movies couldn't do, because they told you what to see in your mind rather than showing you through your eyes. I listened to Eat or be Eaten by the Firesign theater over and over. 

As an adult, I listened to NPR, especially when they dd their audio documentary style stuff. I especially liked shows like "This American Life", "Snap Judgement", and "The Moth Radio Hour", but was always a little disappointed there weren't more stories about bicycles. 

I got back into bicycles during a difficult time in my career. While it didn't involve me, there was some demoralizing things going on, and I started fixing a bike that was being thrown away on my street because I couldn't fix the system I was in. It felt good to wrench on a broken bike and make it as good as new. 

From there I threw myself into riding, fixing, and I was gathering a collection of parts and specialized tools. I was also getting a bunch of stories... ideas for stories... people would tell me stories... I'd imagine others...

I thought I'd write a book called Bike Karma. The expression comes from putting out an unneeded bike into the world (literally on the side of the road circa 2005), and within a week or so you'd see someone else put out one that would be helpful. For example we put out a bike that was too small for one of my kids, and within a week we picked up one that was the next size up a few blocks over. It happened a lot. We were jokingly calling it "bike karma".

The book was sputtering in fits and starts, but then I got a flash of inspiration thinking I'd start with a podcast and see how that went first. The show was conceived in 2013 and started in 2015. I had become a "floater" between many different tribes of bicycle people. I went on shop road rides, NEMBA mountain bike rides, went to swap meets with old bike lovers, and started wrenching and rehabbing bikes as therapy. In all of these different camps I heard all kinds of interesting stories as well as lived a few of my own. But I also saw a cultural wall separating many of the groups. As the world seemed to get crazier and crazier the older I got, I thought it night be a nice thing to try and do my little part to connect folks against the polarization and isolation modern society seems to push on us. 

So I hope I can help bring some people together who might not otherwise identify with each other or hear each other's stories.

The other part... I guess...

I feel like I am doing something alright just by saving some stories. In the beginning, I wanted to tell all my first hand stories and adventures, but I soon realized that I was going to be more of a curator in an audio museum. Sure I'd sneak one of my own stories in periodically, or act out some skits until SNL finally discovers me, but I am truly honored that people from all over have shared their stories with me to assemble and broadcast. 

I sometimes just think about all the stories I got people to tell that might have been lost to the world. A few folks I talked to are no longer with us. I hope the people who need to, somehow find these stories. 

The best feeling is when people tell me they identify with any story from the show. 

I remember listening to those mysteries from Cape Cod that none of my friends ever heard of, and that it made me feel like there are other people like me out there.

Maybe realizing we are not alone, even in the middle of nowhere on a bike, was a good enough reason to do something. One little reminder through stories that you and I and everyone are a part of a wonderful living planet that can be really nice sometimes. And when it isn't, we aren't alone in that either.  

IF you think you have a story that could fit on the show. Please email me.