there weren't many canonical events when i worked with a bicycle. given the narrative memory i have of my childhood, sometimes it's hard to believe i worked for 2 years and almost 3 months. straight out of the box the 1° memory that pops out is a rainy day which by getting near the center of the city, i tried to turn my courier app and it wasn't working at all. sent a Whatsapp to the central and after some minutes, they informed the iOS app was deactivated. they didn't even cared to warn users. i bought that used iPhone SE from the 1° generation specifically for couriering. i had a really well made waterproof case (with proper IP rating) which also had a decent mechanism for hooking up and de-attaching from my handle bar. i know quite a lot of Curitiba. visually. the moment you mention a street name, i'm lost. for some time i oriented myself by seeing the delivery point into the map, then i took a look at the compass (had the map rotating according to my position) then i knew where to go, more or less. after a while you get a sense of which streets to use, which you shouldn't and which are acceptable in X or Z part of the day. the orientation part of the job was quite nice
at some point, i was already with my Mongoose, i cut my flat handlebar to cut through the vehicle traffic with ease. i found a photo of the ad. i put on the internet. that trek handlebar was quite interesting but if you ever intend to do cycle touring, i would recommend a drop one or even a flat with a good handle like Ergon's GPT3 or some Chinese copy as those are quite expensive by now and yes, the drop between my saddle and the handlebar is what i used! the Mongoose was a small bicycle for a 1.8 m guy. it hurt but only after more than a year with it
and since i'm showing off bicycles, here my Monark from the 80s. such a loss! i never found it for sale after they robbed me. that Crankbrothers saddle was handmade in Italy.
daddy's Astro
mom's Bianchi
throw back into time. thought i wouldn't find this one. also found a photo of such a beautiful girl on our apartment with a cute shirt with a phrase "NATURAL HISTORY" and a bunch of cute insects. gotta investigate who she is. probably she is 30 years old too. maybe she already went through a divorce
once i had an order in a restaurant which seemed to be from someone who knew what they were doing. it was such an interesting place. those old houses, i can't even recall where exactly but it was among a bunch of tall buildings. the guy looked at me and said i arrived quite quickly. invited me to join his house/restaurant. everything was a mess. we went into his balcony, he pulled a cigarette, offered me one. i couldn't. i like smoking but not when cycling hard. we talked. he didn't had a wife anymore. he evoked the exactly same vibe when i start watching sitcoms like Two and a Half Men, Seinfeld or even Scener ur ett äktenskap. they have this life, money doesn't seem a worrying problem, so all it's left is to learn how to live or try to. i felt at home talking with that guy to whatever teenager doubt i had and asked. never saw him again. he was a great cooker by the plate i saw
i received this order, 24 liters of Coke. i laughed and said to myself (i don't talk alone) i'll try. when i arrived at the supermarket the company called me saying they would parse it to someone in a car or a motorcycle i said it was fine, i had to try it. had to see the face of people in the supermarket. i didn't even cared. was reading my anatomy book. it fitted the courier backpack! the first hill i had to walk and when i climbed into the bicycle i noticed i didn't had much equilibrium at low speeds. i signaled to a vehicle on a red traffic light i needed some space as i was heavy. at the only one descent i had to face, i don't know why but i thought, maybe i should start braking right now just for the sake of it. i was fast already. Curitiba has some good downhills. my stopping power was low. i had Koolstop pads both at the rear and front, adjusted prettily fine. i checked my brakes and made micro-adjustments almost everyday. i literally managed to stop at the start of the crosswalk on the build i had the deliver. seeing from far, it probably looked at someone reasonable and smoothly braking to climb the elevated pedestrian path. i had my hands gripping as hard as i could
on the first week i managed to befriend some guys who were on the job for at least a month or 2. since i cycled with dad and his friends and a bunch of people wanted me to start racing. my leg to body ratio is much bigger than most people and that's a good trait on cycling. i can do much harder strokes than someone short legged. we decided to race from the center of the city till some neighbor away. probably a ~ 10 Km race. i thought i would smoke them. my type is a climber (lightweight, so hills are the job i do the better). i suffered but i maintained their pace. at some point we just gave up of racing and started talking once again. it feels nice to be young and have a bunch of energy
when i entered the company. i had to go through a lecture of good practices and proper evaluation of who you were. they were a small company and mostly served the rich. no surprises to know most of their workers were students from universities at the beginning. it was somehow easy money. specially if you lived in the center of the city. i mean, inside the constraint you are a blue collar... but quite decent to something like cycling around the town. my liberation into the app never came after the meeting. i headed to their headquarters and by talking with the owners, they realized something was wrong on their system and actually a batch of couriers weren't accepted. some of them took my ID to confirm and at their room i could hear someone saying full my name out loud and then laughing slowly. i can't recall if knew the guys. their faces weren't strange. i cycled back with my courier bag thinking how non-aerodynamic that thing was
most of the days i arrived past midnight. i headed into the fridge. took the food out. cooked. ate like a lot. shower. then i went into the sofa and read a book on my smartphone or sometimes put an old movie (like 1930 stuff) as i was studying the history of the cinema for fun on that time. sometimes i had this weird feeling that life started roll a bit too fast on how i used to think it rolled. i slept thinking about mountains i would climb. most mornings i woke with my body hurting, then i got desperate on how i will work like this and then i realized it was that time between sleeping and waking. some type of lucid dream that when i actually opened my eyes i felt everything was fine. i started to feel pain near the end of my 2 years but the doctor said my joints were fine. i just had to soak them into ice. which i did all nights, while reading some book
at some point, i was already with my Mongoose, i cut my flat handlebar to cut through the vehicle traffic with ease. i found a photo of the ad. i put on the internet. that trek handlebar was quite interesting but if you ever intend to do cycle touring, i would recommend a drop one or even a flat with a good handle like Ergon's GPT3 or some Chinese copy as those are quite expensive by now and yes, the drop between my saddle and the handlebar is what i used! the Mongoose was a small bicycle for a 1.8 m guy. it hurt but only after more than a year with it
and since i'm showing off bicycles, here my Monark from the 80s. such a loss! i never found it for sale after they robbed me. that Crankbrothers saddle was handmade in Italy.
daddy's Astro
mom's Bianchi
throw back into time. thought i wouldn't find this one. also found a photo of such a beautiful girl on our apartment with a cute shirt with a phrase "NATURAL HISTORY" and a bunch of cute insects. gotta investigate who she is. probably she is 30 years old too. maybe she already went through a divorce
once i had an order in a restaurant which seemed to be from someone who knew what they were doing. it was such an interesting place. those old houses, i can't even recall where exactly but it was among a bunch of tall buildings. the guy looked at me and said i arrived quite quickly. invited me to join his house/restaurant. everything was a mess. we went into his balcony, he pulled a cigarette, offered me one. i couldn't. i like smoking but not when cycling hard. we talked. he didn't had a wife anymore. he evoked the exactly same vibe when i start watching sitcoms like Two and a Half Men, Seinfeld or even Scener ur ett äktenskap. they have this life, money doesn't seem a worrying problem, so all it's left is to learn how to live or try to. i felt at home talking with that guy to whatever teenager doubt i had and asked. never saw him again. he was a great cooker by the plate i saw
i received this order, 24 liters of Coke. i laughed and said to myself (i don't talk alone) i'll try. when i arrived at the supermarket the company called me saying they would parse it to someone in a car or a motorcycle i said it was fine, i had to try it. had to see the face of people in the supermarket. i didn't even cared. was reading my anatomy book. it fitted the courier backpack! the first hill i had to walk and when i climbed into the bicycle i noticed i didn't had much equilibrium at low speeds. i signaled to a vehicle on a red traffic light i needed some space as i was heavy. at the only one descent i had to face, i don't know why but i thought, maybe i should start braking right now just for the sake of it. i was fast already. Curitiba has some good downhills. my stopping power was low. i had Koolstop pads both at the rear and front, adjusted prettily fine. i checked my brakes and made micro-adjustments almost everyday. i literally managed to stop at the start of the crosswalk on the build i had the deliver. seeing from far, it probably looked at someone reasonable and smoothly braking to climb the elevated pedestrian path. i had my hands gripping as hard as i could
on the first week i managed to befriend some guys who were on the job for at least a month or 2. since i cycled with dad and his friends and a bunch of people wanted me to start racing. my leg to body ratio is much bigger than most people and that's a good trait on cycling. i can do much harder strokes than someone short legged. we decided to race from the center of the city till some neighbor away. probably a ~ 10 Km race. i thought i would smoke them. my type is a climber (lightweight, so hills are the job i do the better). i suffered but i maintained their pace. at some point we just gave up of racing and started talking once again. it feels nice to be young and have a bunch of energy
when i entered the company. i had to go through a lecture of good practices and proper evaluation of who you were. they were a small company and mostly served the rich. no surprises to know most of their workers were students from universities at the beginning. it was somehow easy money. specially if you lived in the center of the city. i mean, inside the constraint you are a blue collar... but quite decent to something like cycling around the town. my liberation into the app never came after the meeting. i headed to their headquarters and by talking with the owners, they realized something was wrong on their system and actually a batch of couriers weren't accepted. some of them took my ID to confirm and at their room i could hear someone saying full my name out loud and then laughing slowly. i can't recall if knew the guys. their faces weren't strange. i cycled back with my courier bag thinking how non-aerodynamic that thing was
most of the days i arrived past midnight. i headed into the fridge. took the food out. cooked. ate like a lot. shower. then i went into the sofa and read a book on my smartphone or sometimes put an old movie (like 1930 stuff) as i was studying the history of the cinema for fun on that time. sometimes i had this weird feeling that life started roll a bit too fast on how i used to think it rolled. i slept thinking about mountains i would climb. most mornings i woke with my body hurting, then i got desperate on how i will work like this and then i realized it was that time between sleeping and waking. some type of lucid dream that when i actually opened my eyes i felt everything was fine. i started to feel pain near the end of my 2 years but the doctor said my joints were fine. i just had to soak them into ice. which i did all nights, while reading some book