In May 2009 I started working in a bike shop. I can’t fix bikes, I don’t know much about bikes at all, but I’ve always had a thing for bikes anyway.

Fortunately for all involved, my job is mainly doing paperwork in the back office. And also some marketing. And also some retail. At some point soon after I started, my boss said to me, “You need to become more of a bike dude.”

This is a catalog of my valiant efforts toward that end. I figured if I write about this biking business I’m more likely to do it.

Other words that describe me: awkward, bespectacled, cautious, dry, earnest, fashion-impaired go-getter. Hotheaded, intense, Jewish, kind, loud laugher. Miniature, nerdy, oblivious, political queer,  rather shy; thoughtful, umbrella-using, voracious reader — winter-hating,  xerox-making, yet zany.