Mushrooms <> Cycling

Image from: https://news.wherefrom.org/permaculture-design-ethics-principles/

Written by OOFD Board President and Adult Program Director Breanna Bertacchi
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A few years ago, I took part in a conversation facilitated by a local permaculture education group – in which folks were invited to reflect on which roles and responsibilities we felt most aligned to from the graphic above.  As a cyclist, I feel a natural inclination towards decomposition. Beyond just a personal inspiration from mycology sciences, this stance is justified by observation of a scrappiness in cyclists that seems to be a common personality trait within our community. We take inspiration from mushrooms in multiple ways, pulling resources together, responding to a new need with an old product, shooting out inspiration to each other in a grassroots fashion like mycelium underground. In this post I hope to bring your attention to the ways you decompose and reuse elements in your surroundings as a cyclist too.

Of course cyclists could arguably also serve as the primary bridge builders, technically always inherently performing that role literally as we navigate through communities by power of our own legs. Our exposure to neighbors, businesses, natural spaces and whole communities shepherd us to build networks and avenues toward connection. Through observation alone from our seat, we can witness daily fluctuations in rhythm within the microcosms of communities and individual blocks we pass through. From these experiences we can easily transition to skillfully foster bridges towards our shared goals. Just as we hop curbs or sometimes over barriers to get access to a known shortcut, we can also bring that agility when navigating new dynamic spaces and challenges – and effortlessly build the bridges to help others along too.

But still somehow, I feel decomposition to be a better fit for my personal identity as a cyclist. Naturally as a Chicagoan, I share daydreams with many others of what our City may look like should Lake Shore Drive be converted away from car-use. We can’t wait to get our hands in there and break up the asphalt for better uses – something more inclusive to sustainable commuting methods and to our local wildlife. We’re also mostly all scrappers; my first bike build was a mesh of at least three other frames I had laying around – and many replacement parts came secondhand from friends or shops. I always leave OOFD rides with a bit of inspiration from others’ bike builds, learning of someone else’s creativity to use a household item in a new way to keep gear safely attached all the way to camp. On more than one occasion I’ve used a busted wheel in my yard as mock fencing or placed a spent inner-tube to use for its rubber in tying something together structurally – an idea inspired from my local bike shop. For me, this goes just a bit beyond sustainability or low-waste lifestyles, but involves something inherently deeper related to a breaking down of the original utility for the new need at hand.

Even on an intellectual level, I’d argue cycling brings us to a reduction back to basic emotions and elements similar to how a mushroom breaks down complex carbon matter. The heat of the moment frustration and anger towards an unsafe driver or road condition can be easily whittled back down to a basic fear for our safety. Just as a mushroom takes a complex tree stump down to its’ basic material for re-use, we too take gear, damaged items, stories and experiences stripped to basic components and respond with a new revised structure or daydreams of safer roads.
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I don’t personally believe the revolution will land on us suddenly one day without transition. I see the utility in looking at our current passions and past times now and exploring a way to place them in one of the buckets from the graphic above and expand upon it gradually. Mushrooms take dead and decayed matter that has spent its lifeforce through, down into basic components for new growth. In the process mushrooms clear the forest floor of something unsightly, and delights observers with bright colors and odd shapes and textures. The decomposition process intentionally ensures the material itself is still useful when broken down into component bits. And cyclists too have an instinctual knack for finding a creative application for something beyond its intended use.