Originally Posted by BobbyG

Sometimes while riding my bicycle I will stop to help a fellow cyclist. A serious, long-time commuter, I carry tools, a patch kit, a spare inner tube and a pump. Over the last 25 years I have stopped to help fix flats, true crooked wheels that are rubbing against rim brakes. Earlier this year I saw a mother watching her young daughter ride a bike with training wheels and a handlebar that was loose and crooked, I fixed it. Turned out to be the girl's first bike, bought just that day.

And not just fixing bikes. Last month I stopped to help a older Asian couple I have seen over the years move some furniture from their car to their house. Sometimes I will call the authorities if I see people passed out in a remote area, especially when winter's cold can be deadly. One time I saw two men forcing an unwilling woman into a car. I rode on until I was out of sight of them and then called the police.

So when I see people walking their bikes, I will often stop to let them know I have tools, and can I help in any way.

But I have to be careful, as my commute route takes me through a rough-ish part of town, and I don't want to be lured into a bad situation.

However, on this evening's ride home I passed a 30-something looking guy walking his older mountain bike in the opposite direction with a flat. He wore jeans and a t-shirt with a plastic grocery bag with some clothes tied to the seatpost. I assessed the situation. He seemed to walk with a calm determination, not agitated, with a very steady step. I circled around and asked if I could help.

"I usually carry tools," he said with a thick Jamaican accent, "but the one day I left my backpack at home I get a flat."
So he popped off his front wheel and I immediately saw the goat head thorn sticking out. He removed the worn mountain bike tire and asked for the pump. He pumped it up and inspected it, while I felt around the inside of his tire for foreign objects and any protrusions. He couldn't find the puncture. I told him I have a trick (a trick I learned on bikeforums) I wet my lips and rotated the tire in front of them. I felt the small, cool sensation of air escaping from the innertube. It was a miniscule hole like you get from goathead thorns.

I sandpapered the surface and spread on the rubber cement. While we waited for it to dry he said his name was Willie and he was in Colorado Springs working at a hotel. He had a wife and four young kids and sent some money home to his folks in Jamaica.

I patched the innertube and Willie installed it and mounted his tire and then began pumping.

When everything was done he extended his hand and thanked me.

And then he asked, "Why did you stop and help me?"

So I told him. "Three years ago my step-daughter developed a painful and debilitating disease that I can't fix. So far nobody has been able to fix her. And while I have always tried to be helpful, to people, it is even more imperative since then that I fix what I can, it makes me feel like I have control, at least over some things in life."

As I was thinking about it tonight I remembered the jewish concept of "tikkun olam" or "repairing the world". I always assumed people did that to please G-d. I'm not religious. I'm more of a "be good for goodness' sake" kinda guy. But it occurred to me that perhaps by helping others, we can help ourselves. That's a dimension of Tikkun Olam I hadn't considered before. I suppose in this way it's related in a way to the christian concept of "leading by serving".

So, what is my point, and how does it relate to bicycles and cycling?

The mental and emotional and social rewards are as much a part of cycling as are the physical rewards and aspects.

And more and more I see the bicycle itself as a tool with which one can help repair their world, even while repairing a bicycle.