Street Roots • May 13-19, 2016
Vendors
Page 6
VENDOR PROFILE
Move on
by Aileen McPherson
Mike Lang
Backwards, Forwards,
Back, forth, to, fro,
Where does it all stop! Stop!
I do not know?
Life flooding in torrents,
Leftovers from Winter Storms,
Feeding spring growth, cultivating,
Nourishing new starts.
Lives intertwined through,
Places, time, and the Divine.
But, Stop! This is my time.
My time is now, here in this
Moment and in the next.
Will I see you there or in
Another moment further on.
Onward now, face the sun.
BY LEONORA KO
S T A F F W R IT E R
t all started when a Street Roots
customer gave a bike to vendor Mike
Lang.
Mike describes what happened: “She
bought a paper and asked me how it was
going. I said, ‘It’s not too bad. It’d be nice if
I had transportation to get around.’ All of a
sudden they took off. Ten minutes later,
they came back and pulled this bike out of
the car and said, ‘Here, how about this? It’s
been sitting in the garage for the last five
years, and we don’t ride i t ’”
Shocked and pleased, Mike took the bike
and was able to sell papers in locations
distant from downtown Portland.
In the process of repairing the bike, Mike
discovered Bike Farm and learned new
skills. Bike Farm is a nonprofit that
promotes green transportation and has
volunteer mechanics that guide bike owners
through their own repairs.
“I had to put a new crank in the bottom,
buy new tires, and then the spokes broke,”
Mike said. “One of the (Bike Farm)
volunteers told me what to take apart. You
do all the work yourself. So now I know how
to fix things the next time that I need to
change the bottom bearing or to help
somebody else.”
Now Mike volunteers in exchange for
using repair tools and a bike stand at the
nonprofit
“There’s always something to be done,
always,” he said. “It could be sweeping
the floor to rebuilding another bike to
helping a customer.”
His repair skills also help the wider
community.
“I ride with all the other bike riders,
and once in a while I see somebody that
needs help. If somebody’s got a flat tire or
something, then I stop and help them out.”
Born and raised in Spokane, Wash., Mike
grew up riding bikes.
“When I was a kid, we used to jump over
I
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trash cans,” he said. “I also taught my little
sister how to ride a bike. I’d take the
training wheels off and go beside her.”
When he was 19, Mike moved to eastern
Montana and was an oil rig roustabout,
installing pipelines and tanks. Later, he
became a certified truck driver and drove
across Canada and the United States,
delivering lumber, animal feed and toys.
While driving the truck, Mike often had a
bike with him.
“You can bungee cord it on the back of a
truck, right behind the cab,” he said. “If
you’re laid over two, three days, you can
take the bike off and vroom, go for a ride.
“Me and another guy, we rode from
Whitefish all the way down
to Missoula - just for
something to do.
Took us two days,
but it was fun.”
Mike arrived in
Portland last
December and
sleeps in the
rough, away from
■
the downtown
center.
“When I
sleep
ÚI
J R
'
•’ •I
ttoerta
i r o <
sm all
somewhere, I get up the next morning and
you’d never know I was there,” he said. “I
don’t leave garbage lying around and I don’t
homestead.”
He started selling Street Roots shortly
after he arrived. His turf is at the post office
and Starbucks near the comer of Southwest
First Avenue and Southwest Madison Street
Mike starts selling papers at 6 a.m. and
greets people going to work or jogging.
He especially likes introducing Street
Roots to new customers.
“I had a gal that works down there, and
she walked by me, probably 15 times. She
said, ‘What is Street Roots?’ I explained to
her what the paper was and she says, ‘Well
I’m going to have to buy one just to see
what it is.’ She came back and told me, ‘You
know I love that paper. I love the meaning
of it.’ She buys a paper every week now.
“If it wasn’t for the customers, there
would be no Street Roots.”
With his Street Roots earnings, Mike
bought a new mountain bike that fits his tall
height and donated his old one to Bike
Farm.
“I love all my customers’ loyal support,”
he said. “I wouldn’t have that bike if it
wasn’t for them. I wouldn’t have new
clothes and clean clothes.”
In the future, he mused, he
would like to go back to
“Spokane and go work in a bike
à shop. Or even here, there are
% so many bike shops here. I’d
gjfc. be glad to take people on a
bike tour.”
i-
In the meantime, Mike
is not one to sit still.
“Being a couch
potato is just not my
thing. I enjoy
reading, but I just
get more out of
going out and
actually
experiencing
things,” Mike said.
“I’m healthy, I’m
blessed,” he said. “I
B love bikes. I’ll ride
; until they put me in
thé ground.”
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