By Jackie Buckman
Rain, snow, sunshine it doesn’t matter, this special bike is still there. Moving through the racks every day, the bike remains. The questions that fill my mind as I walk by the bike is why is it here? What is the story?
When I first saw the bike, it was on a Friday towards the end of spring. I was interested in becoming a student at Evergreen and was looking to get more information. No one was really on campus this day, just me and a couple other future students. I was walking up towards the campus and there it was, this blue, orange and red bike, with flat tires that barely exist and an old wicker basket full of fake pink daisies.
I wanted to learn more about it and started asking anyone who I thought might know something, but for some, it was the first time they had even heard about it and for others they had assumptions. No one really knows the true story.
“Either someone graduated and left it here, or I think someone died and it’s symbolizing that,” Student Eli Sheller said.
Now that I am a student into the fourth week of fall quarter, I still see the bike and grow more curious every time I see it. I come up from the parking lot hoping that it is still there and there it is, greeting me and making me feel welcome.
Student Peter Buchanan from the bike shop said that three years ago when he wanted to start here at Evergreen the bike was there.
“Summer of 2012 is when I first saw it, so it definitely has been there awhile,” Buchanan said.
I believe that this bike has a meaning, it’s there for a reason and I want to know what that reason is.
The bike shop had noticed the bike and wanted to fix it with a new set of paint, new tires and make it rideable again.
“There was rumor they were going to let us build up the bike, but the school said no, that they wanted the bike to stay where it is,” Emily Stanislaw said
What does this mysterious bike symbolize? It catches your eye and makes you wonder who the bike belongs to and why it stays in the racks but doesn’t go anywhere else. Every day it moves up and down the racks, in the same rack, in the same area. Who moves it? Why not fix it and make it better?
This bike can stand for many different things, and that is the beauty in it. Making you wonder what it is, why it’s there. The bike is a form of art letting students interpret it in any way they choose.
For me, I want to know the history and will continue to dig deeper and find out the story to this enchanting bike, I don’t want to give up on it just yet.
