The Crazy Lady on a Bike

[Knuckles]

True Story …
The Crazy Lady on a Bike

For years I’ve seen this “crazy lady” riding her bike along Union Boulevard in Islip. I always assumed she was homeless. But I would also see her cleaning the sidewalk and clearing out brush and debris from a section of some DEC wetlands next to the sidewalk. That lady is “nutz” I thought. What the hell is she doing?

I figured there was a flock of homeless people living in this swampy wooded area. Maybe she was their leader. And yet there she was pedaling all over town on her bicycle. Clearly she was motivated. But to what end. What was her purpose?

A year ago I was walking with my youngest daughter and our dog. Walking around the apartment/condo complex where I live. I noticed the bicycle! It was the “crazy lady bike”. Locked to a bike rack. Did she live here? Live among us? How could this be? She was clearly CRAZY and homeless and nutz! Gosh is she an owner? Does she live here? I was intrigued.

Well after years of observation I just had to know. What the hell was she doing? So today I was driving my car and there she was stopped along her famous stretch of sidewalk and picking up garbage. The sidewalk was immaculate (because she would shovel the snow in winter and clean and trim this sidewalk in summer). I pulled over and parked in the nearest parking stall and walked along the sidewalk to meet her.

“Hello, I’m Bob Nicholson” I said, “I’ve seen you here for years. I live here at Forest Green Apartments and I notice you all the time.” “Do you live here too?” I asked.

She said, “Yes”.

“Why on earth do you work so hard cleaning this sidewalk and clearing out these woods?”

“This is how I get to work” she said. “I work around the corner at Suffolk Transportation and I ride my bike to work every day. I ride this sidewalk every day. I just got sick and tired of this sidewalk being ignored and useless.”

“You mean this is your sidewalk? You use it every day?” “Yes” she said.

That’s cool I thought. “But WHY clean out the woods?”
“Because it is DISGUSTING,” she said. “This used to be a beautiful pond with ducks and wildlife. NOW look at it! I see it every day when I go to work.”

“So you ride your bike three blocks to work and you keep your path clean?”
“Yes” she said.
“And you clean out (clean up) this wetlands because it is a disgrace?”
“Yes. My family has always worked in agriculture. This area is terrible” She said.

“WOW” “That’s really cool!” “I always thought you were a CRAZY homeless lady and maybe you lived in this swamp!”

She laughed. So I again introduced myself and she told me her story. Her name is Claire. Amazing intelligent women (pushing 60 years easy) and avid bike rider. She biked across Vermont and loves bike riding. She’s been riding all her life.

I went into my electric bike “shpeel” …
“WHAT” she said “and get FAT!” … “No way!”

But I talked more about electric bikes and endless sphere and our world-wide network of really cool dudes (ES members) and ALSO about the DEC (I am an environmental engineer) and we became friends.

WHAT A COOL LADY! Hard working. Rides bikes. Loves Nature. And she GIVES A SHIT. If only about a small stretch of nature she passes everyday on the way to and from her JOB!

Man … I’m so glad I stopped to say hello. I guess you never know what the REAL story is unless you stop and take the time to find out and listen.

Bada-Bing

Knuckles

 

[StudEbiker]

Awesome story Knuckles. Thanks for sharing. I try in my life to treat everyone equal and with kindness because you never know who that "crazy person" might really be.

 

[jag]

I'll second that: awesome story!

We are so self absorbed and egoistic that seeing someone cleaning the street for nothing we think they are crazy.

Not far from my house is a long flight of stairs into the river valley. It is not maintained in the winter, and officially "closed". However it is the shortest path from free parking to the university, so hundreds of people walk it every day. When is snows the snow gets trampled and it gets real icy. I've slipped several times. The other day I saw a woman painstakingly chipping away the ice to clear the stairs. One of the hundreds of daily users who doesn't only think of herself.

 

[AussieJester]

Thankyou for sharing, goes to show looks can be deceiving

KiM

 

[graemebc]

What a great story & an awesome lady

 

[markcycle]

Nice story
We have so lost the ability to feel empathy and relate to others needs and feelings. If someone isn't like us they must be crazy or worse the enemy is the usual attitude these days.
It's so good of you to get to know her and have a positive response to her way of life. These day I think its those of us trying to live within the system to make a buck so we can drive around in tin cans just to sit in traffic to go to a job to make more money so we can aford the tin can and the insurance, are the crazy ones.

Mark

 

[Ypedal]

Awsome knuckles !

It's amazing how some people don't give a shit about the enviroment outside their front yard ( and some don't even care about that much ) ..

When i got my house, it was a mess, yard full of twigs, dog crap ( previous owner ) news papers in the ditch, candy wrappers in the shrubs, plastic pieces from broken toys left all over the place.. just nasty in general.. ( not to mention wasp nests, mice in the house, ant hills all over the yard ) I cleaned all that up.

I walk my dog, 7 days a week, but i used to bike the dog every day and my neighbors saw me doing this and decided to join in with their WAY overweight dog ( was 83 lbs when i moved in, their australian shepherd is now 53 lbs !!! ) .. walking around the neighborhood both dogs have a crap and i pick mine up, they leave their behind.. i'm like " wtf guys " .. their answer " it's not our yard.. " .. sooooo.. let's just say that they now DO pick up their crap ! :wink:

Few weeks ago, cab driver picks me up, going down my street rolls down his window and throws an empty cig pack out the window.. ... me : " WHOA.. WTF MAN !!? " .. he looks at me like i'm a freak.. i tell him to stop the frocking car .. i get out and walk back home ( picking up his garbage on the way ) he's looking at me trying to figure out his next move.. i told him i'd call dispatch and order up another cab who would at least have some respect.

I bet he's still telling his cab buddies about that freak he picked up a few weeks ago..

 

[bigmoose]

Thanks for the story knuckles! She was doing what some people used to do before big government. Sharing a part of themselves with others for the common good... it was called civic duty and it resulted in community.

I also respect "krazy people", as I have found they have the best ideas in the lab...

 

[jag]

Nice story
These day I think its those of us trying to live within the system to make a buck so we can drive around in tin cans just to sit in traffic to go to a job to make more money so we can aford the tin can and the insurance, are the crazy ones.

Mark

So true. We consider ourselves thinking creatures, but in reality we are so prone to just go with the mainstream without thinking. I saw a documentary (PBS or National Geographic, will try to find the reference) where they had compared human and monkey babies. The humans were more prone to just copying the behaviour they saw in adults even if that behaviour was stupid, while monkey babies would learn more for themselves. Of course this copying is what allowed the human race to accumulate and pass on so much knowledge, but mindless copying also has its downsides.

 

[TylerDurden]

So true. We consider ourselves thinking creatures, but in reality we are so prone to just go with the mainstream without thinking. I saw a documentary (PBS or National Geographic, will try to find the reference) where they had compared human and monkey babies. The humans were more prone to just copying the behaviour they saw in adults even if that behaviour was stupid, while monkey babies would learn more for themselves. Of course this copying is what allowed the human race to accumulate and pass on so much knowledge, but mindless copying also has its downsides.

The Monkey by Dr. John:
http://www.lala.com/#album/576742227317575689

 

[Cackalacka]

Great story

 

[long_island_tl]

What a story. I am humbled.

 

[lawsonuw]

Got tired of walking over a massive icy plow pile several winters ago. (smashed the local snow fall records that year) Broke out my trusty flat blade metal shovel and chipped cut through the hill. Left on Christmas break a day or two later.

The best of all this is when I returned, the people who cleared the rest of the sidewalk for my apartment building had gotten the hint My skinny cut had been widened to a full 3 feet as required by city ordinances. Even better! they kept it clear the rest of the winter.

Lawson

 

[dogman dan]

Lead by example works best.

 

[jag]

Thanks for the story knuckles! She was doing what some people used to do before big government. Sharing a part of themselves with others for the common good... it was called civic duty and it resulted in community.

Where I lived as a kid we shared the lane with our neighbour. The neighbour and my dad (and later me) always shared shoveling the snow in the winter. The land we drove over belonged to the neighbor, but that was not a problem in those days.

Where I live now, a handful houses share an unmaintained dirt lane to our houses. But instead of considering sharing the shoveling job, people buy 4x4's... Most are even too lazy to shovel their parking spot.

 

[spinningmagnets]

One of the first well-engineered highway systems in the US was the "Lincoln Highway". The proponents wished to establish a reasonable standard that hopefully might be copied. The sub-base was elevated enough (and also crowned at the center) so that rain would shed to the sides instead of puddling, and the paving was just thick enough to make the surface last a reasonable amount of time.

State money was used to build a "seed mile" halfway between two cities that needed a highway. Drivers from one city would struggle to cross muddy and rutted sections until they hit the seed mile, and the next mile was fast and easy. Each town began adding to the seed mile using local funds until their town was completely paved from town to the seed mile. Nobody would start a highway project, but once started...everyone wanted to find a way to complete it.

That being said, I have to give away three burritos to get one Tamale back! What I mean is if I crock-pot a roast to make shredded beef, and then roll the beef and rice into burritos for my lunches, The burritos are only good for about a week. So at the end of the week, if I have some burritos that are still good, but will go bad soon, I give them away to friends (no strings attached, just a goodwill gesture)

Does anybody ever bring me a gift? an oatmeal cookie of perhaps a brownie? One friend made some tamales for himself, and gave me one. If you do something good, don't do it in the hopes that someone will appreciate it or thank you, just do it because you believe in it.

Don't plan on getting any tamales back, but occasionally it does happen...