The Moth Podcast: Cycling

Speaker 1 The holidays are just around the corner, and this year, my parents are coming to town, which means it's time to get my apartment parent-ready.

Speaker 1 Thank Adult who totally has it together, as evidenced by her impeccably decorated space.

Speaker 1 In this arena, Wayfair is a lifesaver, whether it's grabbing extra seating so everyone's comfortable, updating tired pillows, or brightening up my living room.

Speaker 1 The matching cabinets I got for mine really pull space together. I've noticed Wayfair's pieces have a style you just don't see anywhere else, which makes decorating feel more personal and fun.

Speaker 1 Plus, shipping was fast and hassle-free, so everything arrived ready to use. What I love about Wayfair is that they really have it all: sofas, kitchen gadgets, rugs, you name it.

Speaker 1 And their Black Friday sale is the perfect time to score huge deals with up to 70% off. Whether you're decorating, upgrading, or just adding little touches, Wayfair makes it easy.

Speaker 1 Don't miss out on early Black Friday deals. Head to Wayfair.com now to shop Wayfair's Black Friday deals for up to 70% off.
That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Sale ends December 7th.

Speaker 2 You know that feeling when someone asks you how much your 401k is worth or how many financial accounts you even have and you realize you're not totally sure?

Speaker 2 The first time that happened to me, I had two thoughts. One, rude.
Two, oh my goodness, how could I not know?

Speaker 2 Well, you can feel organized and confident in your finances with Monarch, an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean interface on your laptop or your phone.

Speaker 2 Once I started using Monarch, I found my checking account from college. Listen, I had very little money in college.
It was just one more account clouding my financial life, and I had to let it go.

Speaker 2 Monarch gives me the most simple, clear view of my personal finances. The past is just the past now.
Don't let financial opportunities slip through the cracks.

Speaker 2 Use code MOTH at monarch.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year at monarch.com with code Moth.

Speaker 3 Welcome to the Moth. I'm Emily Couch, and in this episode, we're taking a ride with three stories all centered around biking.

Speaker 3 The tour de France has us thinking about cycling, and even though I know I'll never ride up a mountain with calves of steel or get one of those cute yellow jerseys, there's something special about being on a bike.

Speaker 3 Something that, pun intended, you never forget. First up, we have Noah Gilbert, who told this at a Boston story slam where the theme was groan.
Here's Noah, live at the mall.

Speaker 4 I'm in Boston doing college tours and the thing that I notice walking around Boston is the protected bike lanes

Speaker 4 because I come from Omaha, Nebraska, which is a small medium-sized city in Nebraska

Speaker 4 and we have one.

Speaker 4 It's about two miles long.

Speaker 4 It kind of sucks. There's plastic bollards glued onto the ground and cars run into it and park in it it often.

Speaker 4 But I love this bike lane because it's the only one, and it's because how I get to and from school every day, and because it tells anyone on a bike that the way they get around matters and is important.

Speaker 4 About a month ago, we got the announcement from Mary Jean Stothart that the bike lane was going to be demolished.

Speaker 4 Yeah, right?

Speaker 4 So I texted my partner, and I texted one of my very dear friends and we got together and we got coffee and we made a plan.

Speaker 4 My partner and I had been dating for about nine months at that point and we had done all of the high school things that you want and look forward to and expect but if you're a queer person, you're like, is that going to happen?

Speaker 4 And it does and it did, we did. We went to the homecoming and dances and everything.

Speaker 4 We were being pulled in two opposite directions because my partner was going to stay in Omaha for at least the next next eight years, and I was

Speaker 4 not going to stay in Omaha.

Speaker 4 Right there tearing down my bike lane, right? What was I gonna do?

Speaker 4 So we got together and we got coffee and we set dates for this protest. And we

Speaker 4 decided we're gonna go and we were gonna ride in the street next to the bike lane and say, if you're not gonna let us be in this part of the street, we're in this part of the street.

Speaker 4 And we made press releases and we are like, hey, please come.

Speaker 4 Because protesting in Omaha, you meet some friends.

Speaker 4 Nothing really happens.

Speaker 4 But we were determined and we weren't going to let it just sit and happen.

Speaker 4 So the Friday comes that we've set and we go to the park, which is right next to the bike lane.

Speaker 4 I'm interviewed by our three local news crews all at the same time. And I'm talking and explaining the best I can

Speaker 4 about what this is and why it matters and why it's important. We had over a hundred local cyclists come and show up to this protest, to this protest we barely,

Speaker 4 barely organized in a week with little to no hope of anything actually happening because that's the way things happen in Omaha. It's announced and you make a little fuss but nothing happens, right?

Speaker 4 So we went and we

Speaker 4 took our big group ride all around downtown Omaha, which I've grown up in

Speaker 4 So we go and we ride and it's so loud because people are ringing their bike bells and people are cheering and we pass by a daycare and all of the kids come running over to the fence and they're like, it's the bikes and it's the bikes.

Speaker 4 They're yelling in support and it's absolutely incredible.

Speaker 4 And we get back. and people start to bike off in their separate directions because if you bike in Omaha after it gets dark, that's signing up to get hit by a car, right?

Speaker 4 And as my partner and I are driving home, we get a call from one of the reporters that I had coordinated one of these interviews with.

Speaker 4 And she told us that she had gotten a press release from the mayor, and she told us that the bike lane would continue to be funded.

Speaker 4 crying and

Speaker 4 I don't know, it's just, it's all coming out of me.

Speaker 4 And when I go home and look at the news, we flip between those three local stations,

Speaker 4 and I'm on all of them. It's my face and my voice, and then we flip, and then it's my face and my voice again, and then we flip it, and it's my face and my voice again.

Speaker 4 And it's absolutely overwhelming.

Speaker 4 And then two days later, my partner and I broke up, were pulled in these two separate directions in a way that was never really sustainable and going to work.

Speaker 4 So I'm here, and I'm in Boston, and I'm doing college tours

Speaker 4 and back at home there is a two miles of kind of crappy protected bike lane. Thank you.

Speaker 3 That was Noah Gilbert. Noah's studying political science at Haverford College in the Philadelphia area.

Speaker 3 No matter how far from home they get, they value that they learn to care for a community even when it's hard. Noah's life is now filled with love of all sorts.

Speaker 3 If you'd like to see a a photo of Noah hanging posters around Omaha, we'll have that on our website, themoth.org slash extras.

Speaker 3 When the pandemic hit, I hadn't ridden a bike in years, but it became a saving grace when I started to get stir-crazy inside my tiny Brooklyn apartment.

Speaker 3 My husband was gifted a hand-me-down bike, and seeing how happy he was when he'd returned from a ride, I resolved to get a bike too.

Speaker 3 That bike ended up being my high school wheels, which had been rusting in my parents' basement for over a decade. It was a cute but fairly impractical bike built for cruising around town.

Speaker 3 But what my husband did was not casual riding.

Speaker 3 So my poor form overfunctioned Fuji and I would do our best to keep up on the 30 plus mile ride to the George Washington Bridge and back, huffing and puffing under my mask.

Speaker 3 Despite suffering with every push of the pedal and one pretty epic wipeout on the Williamsburg Bridge, I fell in love with biking and continued to ride once the world started opening back up.

Speaker 3 It offered a sense of freedom during COVID, but one that stuck with me even after. To me, riding a bike is the closest I've ever felt to flying.

Speaker 3 Eventually, I invested in a good bike, and let me tell you, it makes a world of difference.

Speaker 3 Now that the weather is warm, you can find me most weekends in the saddle, almost keeping up with my husband, and I haven't had an accident since.

Speaker 3 Rebecca Sachs told our next story at a Boston Grand Slam where the theme of the night was Blue Noon. Here's Rebecca, live at the North.

Speaker 2 Last year,

Speaker 6 One morning, I made a fashion decision that may have actually saved my life. My husband and I had been putting in long training rides for the Best Buddies fundraiser.

Speaker 6 That morning, I decided to go out for a short ride to the gym. I reached for my new bike helmet, which I had gotten because I was told my old one was no longer safe and I should throw it out.

Speaker 6 But I hadn't thrown it out yet, and there it was. It matched much better with my outfit, and I was meeting my cute young trainer.
So I decided to put it on, and I did.

Speaker 6 A few moments later, I thought it through, and I thought, no one looks good in a bike helmet. Might as well wear the good one.

Speaker 6 So I put the good one on and I clipped my feet into my new toe clips and I hit the road. I was going pretty swiftly when all of a sudden I noticed I was coming upon a large pothole.

Speaker 6 I looked to the left and there was traffic. I looked to the right and there was a ditch.
I really had no choice but to go over it.

Speaker 6 The last thing I remember, I was struggling to get my feet out of those toe clips.

Speaker 6 The next next thing I knew, I was in an ambulance. I had been told that I was in the street unconscious for about 10 minutes, and also that three little girls, sisters under 10, had seen the accident.

Speaker 6 They said they saw a woman struggle with her feet, go over a pothole, go over the handlebars, hit her head, slide on her face, and land in the middle of the road and not get up.

Speaker 6 They took immediate action. One of them stopped traffic, and the others ran to get their mom.

Speaker 6 The next thing I knew an EMT was leaning over me in the ambulance and he kept asking me the same question. Do you know what day it is? Do you know what day it is? I didn't know what day it is.

Speaker 6 I had no idea and I knew that was a big problem. So I said, ask me another question.

Speaker 6 He said, are you married? I said, yes, are you?

Speaker 6 And he said, No, well, actually, I'm getting a divorce. He said, why do you ask? Are you looking for a date?

Speaker 6 And I said, little did I know at the time, I was bleeding profusely from my nose and that my face looked like a pepperoni pizza and that they had cut off my clothes to see how injured I was I said no actually I have a girlfriend and she really likes EMTs

Speaker 6 They all laughed and he said, wow, if you're this fun in an ambulance, you must be great at a party. And I said, well, I'm actually doing a presentation tonight.
You should come.

Speaker 6 It's at the town library. He said, you're not doing a presentation tonight.
You hit your head really hard. You're not going to be standing.

Speaker 6 They called my husband and he came to the ER. Turns out I had a level three concussion.
I had multiple contusions and abrasions and a broken wrist.

Speaker 6 I went home and two days later the mom and the three little girls appeared at the door holding flowers.

Speaker 6 I came down the stairs with my scabby face still weepy and dizzy and when I saw them I cried and I said I don't know how I could ever thank you.

Speaker 6 I took their names down. I wanted to remember it.
When I felt better,

Speaker 6 I wrote an open letter to the editor of the town newspaper thanking the girls and naming them.

Speaker 6 Then I went over to their house and I brought flowers and cards and TCBY gift certificates for the girls. My husband,

Speaker 6 he went over separately to thank them as well, but I worried that it wasn't enough.

Speaker 6 Months later, when I was solidly well, the mom called.

Speaker 6 She wanted me to know that the letter had made a difference to the girls, that they all had special needs and they struggled really hard in school and they tried hard, but they didn't get much recognition.

Speaker 6 She said because of the letter, everyone in the town, teachers, peers, clerks, everyone was congratulating the girls for what they did and she had never, never seen them so proud or feel so good about themselves and she wanted to thank me.

Speaker 6 I said that it made me feel so good that the letter had done some good for the girls and the family, and that I was so happy for the silver lining.

Speaker 6 And after all, I thought my ugly helmet was pretty fashionable. Thank you.

Speaker 3 That was Rebecca Sachs. Rebecca lives in Hole, Massachusetts with her husband and her adopted dog, Ruby Tuesday.
She is an attorney and owns a recruiting agency for lawyers.

Speaker 3 She enjoys kickboxing, Pilates, biking, and travel, and has been lost in Greece, Italy, and Iceland.

Speaker 3 After the break, a cycling adventure in the hills of Los Angeles. Be back in a moment.

Speaker 2 The moth is supported by AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca is committed to spreading awareness of a condition called hereditary transthyroidin-mediated amyloidosis, or HATTR.

Speaker 2 This condition can cause polyneuropathy, like nerve pain or numbness, heart failure or irregular rhythm, and gastrointestinal issues.

Speaker 2 HATTR is often underdiagnosed and can be passed down to loved ones. Many of us have stories about family legacies passed down through generations.

Speaker 2 When I was five, my mother sewed me a classic clown costume, red and yellow with a pointy hat. It's since been worn by my sister, three cousins, and four of our children.

Speaker 2 I'm so happy this piece of my childhood lives on with no end in sight. Genetic conditions like HATTR shouldn't dominate our stories.

Speaker 2 Thanks to the efforts of AstraZeneca, AstraZeneca, there are treatment options so more patients can choose the legacies they share.

Speaker 2 This year, the Moth will partner with AstraZeneca to shine a light on the stories of those living with HATTR. Learn more at www.myattrroadmap.com.

Speaker 2 The holidays are noisy, busy, a little chaotic, but nothing beats the quiet joy of cozy. And that's exactly what Bombas brings, with socks, slippers, tees, and more that feel like an instant reset.

Speaker 2 Bombas is the most cozy. Like many of us, Bombas socks were my way in, but now I want everything Bombas.
Slippers, tees, everything.

Speaker 2 They also make gifting ridiculously easy. Need something for the runner in your life? Bombas running socks.
For the neighbor's new baby, baby bombas that actually stay on tiny feet.

Speaker 2 Even mom's mysterious new ski lodge friend, Bombas has them covered with slippers, ski socks, or both. And the best part? I don't like to shop just to buy.
Where's the meaning in that?

Speaker 2 That's why I love that for every single item you buy, Bombus donates one to someone facing homelessness. So your gift of cozy gives someone else a little comfort.

Speaker 2 Head over to bombas.com/slash moth and use code Moth for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S.com/slash moth code Moth at checkout.

Speaker 3 Welcome back. Benga Akinabe told this at a New York City main stage where the theme of the night was terra firma.
Here's Benga live with the moth.

Speaker 5 I love my bike. I love my bike.
I take my bike with me everywhere. I live in Brooklyn.
It's the best way to get around the city. I love my bike so much, I travel with it.
I have a bike case.

Speaker 5 I put my bike in the bike case. I check it in like luggage.
It is luggage. And on this particular day, I'm in Los Angeles for a week of meetings.

Speaker 5 And I have a meeting at Warner Brothers Studios that I'm very excited about. And I check my GPS and it says 40 minutes to get there.
No problem. I jump on my bike and I head out.

Speaker 5 My GPS then tells me I need to turn off-road to get to where I'm going. I get off my bike, I start to walk it onto the dirt path, and the moment I step onto the dirt path, my GPS goes out.

Speaker 5 No problem. I know the direction in which I need to go.
I'll eventually get to Warner Brothers, right? So I keep going.

Speaker 5 The path starts meandering, disappearing, reappearing, and it occurs to me that this path is not actually a path, but a dried-out creekbed. And I've been following it for about five minutes.

Speaker 5 I'm like, well, okay,

Speaker 5 this is a little bump in the road, but I know the direction in which I'm going. Warner Brothers is somewhere on that side.
I'll just keep going.

Speaker 5 Eventually, the ground in front of me starts to incline into a little hill, and I'm walking my bike up this hill.

Speaker 5 The hill gets more and more steep, and I find that I have to start to use my hands to climb this hill. And I'm like, that's cool, that's cool.
I'm pretty rugged. I can do this.

Speaker 5 I can use my hands to climb this hill and take my bike with me, no problem. And as I continue on, I find that I have to now use my entire body to climb this hill.
And I'm like, all right, that's cool.

Speaker 5 Warner Brothers is in that direction. I'll get there.
And this is well worth it. My bike is light, no problem.
I continue to go up this hill.

Speaker 5 and then I realize I'm getting tired. The sun is baking down on me.
I'm higher and higher on this hill.

Speaker 5 And for a second, I consider going back until I turn around and I look down and I'm struck with just how high I am right now on this hill. I continue to go up.

Speaker 5 I'm like, because I realize it's more dangerous to go down than it is to go up. I decide that I should probably stop and rest because I'm getting more and more tired.

Speaker 5 So I take my bike and I wedge it between some bushes and I grab one bush and it comes right out of the ground.

Speaker 5 And I'm like, okay, I start to laugh at how ridiculous this all is because I got up this morning thinking I'm going to a meeting at Warner Brothers.

Speaker 5 And it occurs to me that it's time I should be honest with myself and that this is not a hill but a mountain.

Speaker 5 And

Speaker 5 I'm for some reason I've I've accidentally started to climb this mountain.

Speaker 5 And I'm thinking now just how ridiculous this is. Because I'm in Los Angeles, the middle of Los Angeles.
I did not expect to find a mountain and myself on it.

Speaker 5 And then I start to think, like, there's a very good chance I'm not going to make it out of here.

Speaker 5 And I start to think, like, I probably might need to get help because I don't know where I am. I don't have water.
I'm very tired. And the sun is getting stronger.

Speaker 5 And so, I take out my cell phone, and of course, my cell phone has like 5% energy and one bar. And I'm thinking, well, who am I going to text? Everyone in New York, well, they're in New York, and

Speaker 5 everyone in LA that I know, like, it's like I can't even get my friends in LA to come pick me up at the airport, let alone find me on some random mountain in Los Angeles.

Speaker 5 So, I was like, I'm not even going to try. And just then, I look up,

Speaker 5 and across from me, me on the other mountain facing the mountain I am on

Speaker 5 is a ridge. And I see a man and he's just been staring at me.

Speaker 5 His dogs are just running around playing. And I'm like, they're having this, it was such a beautiful picture.
And I felt such tragedy and fear.

Speaker 5 And all I wanted to do was scream out to this guy for help. And I knew that, one, he would not hear me.
And two, there was very little he could do to help me.

Speaker 5 and so I decided I might have to just go on and because I have a book bag I can't just put my bike on my back I have to I have to crawl about two feet at a time then reach back and pull my bike drag my bike up the mountain across bushes and rocks watching my beautiful machine get beat up but I will not leave my bike behind and so I continue up and I see something above me and it looks like an antenna and I know that antennas are usually on some sort of platform, some sort of firm ground.

Speaker 5 And maybe if I get up there, I might be able to save myself. I don't know what's up there, but at least right now I have hope.
So I keep climbing. I keep climbing.
And I get,

Speaker 5 I crawl over the edge of this mountain onto where this antenna is, and right by the antenna is a path. And I am shaking.
I'm so excited.

Speaker 5 My face is covered in mountain dust. My eyes, the sweat all over, my helmet's askew.
I'm like, I look very disheveled. And I look up and there is

Speaker 5 a woman walking towards me. And I'm thinking, I don't want to scare this woman, but I really need her help.
And so I walk towards her and she's approaching me. I'm approaching her.

Speaker 5 We're about 10 feet from each other when at the same time we say to each other,

Speaker 5 Do you know how to get off of this mountain? I'm like, No, no, I thought you would tell me. I don't know where I am.
I'm so lost. Please help me.

Speaker 5 She's like, Well, what about the way you just came, that path? I said, I didn't come from that path. I climbed off this mountainside.
I don't know what's going on. I was like, What about you?

Speaker 5 What's back where you came from? She's like, Well, we can go back where I came from and see if we can find our way.

Speaker 5 So, she turns around, we walk back to where she came, and we run into a group of hikers. Now, they were real hikers.

Speaker 5 The two of us, we were just like lost people in the wilderness on the edge of life and death. And so

Speaker 5 they help her, they point her in the direction in which she needs to go, and they tell me in the direction I need to go. So we start walking, me and the hikers.

Speaker 5 I'm just thinking in my head, oh my God, I can't, how ridiculous my life is this morning. And then all of a sudden I hear someone say, are you the guy from the wire?

Speaker 2 Yes,

Speaker 5 yes,

Speaker 5 I was very fortunate to be part of that show. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, you can watch it several times and you get something different from it every time.
You were right. Yes, yes.

Speaker 5 And then his friend says, do you have any acting advice?

Speaker 5 I was like, oh,

Speaker 5 I mean, well, theater is good. I like theater.
And in my mind, I'm just thinking, I just need to get to this meeting. I just need to get off this mountain.

Speaker 5 And they get me to a road and I ride my bike down this road and I hit Barham Boulevard. And I know Barham Boulevard.
Warner Brothers is on Barrim Boulevard. And it's three blocks ahead of me.

Speaker 5 And I see it. And I get a phone call.
And it's the assistant in

Speaker 5 my manager's office who's telling me that they want to cancel the meeting for the day

Speaker 5 and reschedule to have it later that afternoon in Hollywood back on the other side of the mountain.

Speaker 5 I lose it. I start laughing uncontrollably.
I'm just that guy on the side of the road in LA, sunbaked, just laughing at the sun.

Speaker 5 And to this day, I'm not quite sure how I ended up on that mountain or what mountain it was, but I do know that I pay attention to the little things now.

Speaker 5 All the little things, like GPS instructions.

Speaker 5 I pay attention to how much weight is in my book bag before I head out on the day, whether I have water.

Speaker 5 I pay so much attention, I probably pay too much attention because you never know when the wrong choice might just end you up making life or death decisions on the side of a mountain.

Speaker 5 Thank you.

Speaker 3 That was Benga Akinate. Benga is a successful actor of both stage and screen, seen in such works as The Deuce, The Wire, The Old Man, and Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Speaker 3 That's it for this episode. Thanks for listening, and here's hoping all your bike rides are as smooth as possible.

Speaker 7 Emily Couch is a producer on the Moth's artistic team. She loves to work behind the scenes to spread the beauty of true personal stories to listeners around the world.

Speaker 7 Benga Akenabe's story was directed by Meg Bowles.

Speaker 7 This episode of the Moth Podcast was produced by Sarah Austin-Janess, Sarah Jane Johnson, and me, Mark Salinger.

Speaker 7 The rest of the Moth leadership team includes Sarah Haberman, Christina Norman, Jennifer Hickson, Kate Tellers, Marina Cluche, Suzanne Rust, and Patricia Uregna.

Speaker 7 The Moth podcast is presented by Odyssey. Special thanks to their executive producer, Leah Rhys-Dennis.
All moth stories are true, as remembered, by their storytellers.

Speaker 7 For more about our podcast, information on pitching your own story, and everything else, go to our website, themoth.org.

Speaker 8 Do you know why Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice is so delicious? It has just one ingredient, oranges. Picked at peak ripeness and squeezed within 24 hours.

Speaker 8 No extras, no fuss, just pure, joyful sunshine. Perfect for slow mornings, running errands, or watching sports.
Really anytime you're craving a fresh squeeze flavor.

Speaker 8 Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice.

Speaker 9 If you're a custodial supervisor at a local high school, you know that cleanliness is key and that the best place to get cleaning supplies is from Granger.

Speaker 9 Granger helps you stay fully stocked on the products you trust, from paper towels and disinfectants to floor scrubbers.

Speaker 9 Plus, you can rely on Granger for easy reordering so you never run out of what you need. Call 1-800GRANGER, clickgranger.com or just stop by.
Granger for the ones who get it done.