Sculpin

Sheldon Brown taught Josh and me to ride a tandem. Oh, not personally, but through his generous website. I can’t count the number of times I’ve gone to sheldonbrown.com, and always I’ve left the site thinking, “This is one of the most helpful people on the face of the planet. I’d like to know this guy.” His instructions were always clear, precise, and cheerful.

Sheldon had multiple sclerosis; that meant he switched to a recumbent trike and pedaled very slowly, but he kept on going. As somebody with a chronic illness, Sheldon’s straightforward attitude and overflowing enthusiasm for cycling helped give me courage to get on that saddle and figure out how to make bicycling work for me. I figured that if Sheldon could do it, I could do it. I remember looking at the bike once and whining silently to myself about poor me and my crapped-out mitochondria and how hard it was to get used to riding a bicycle, blah blah blah; then I thought, basically, “What would Sheldon do?” And with Sheldon in mind, I blew off my own whining, got my bum on the bike, and had a fun ride. Thanks, Sheldon.

Last night, Sheldon died of a heart attack. I never knew him, but I’m sad. My condolences go out to his family and friends, and to the cycling community in general.

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