Cyclists are the among the world's most resourceful people. Aside from the fact that they choose an alternate form of transportation, one that does not pollute the environment, they love to recycle. Sometimes the recycling takes the form of merely bringing back bottle returns during the normal morning ride. Other times it takes a slightly more original form. In either case (the later of which we'll go into shortly) it stems from a desire to protect the environment from excess consumer waste and, at the same time, to save a little dinero (to finance replacing those old threadbare bike shorts). We'll refer to the second, more original type of recycling as Repurposing. Acts of Repurposing will be defined herein as retiring an object from its original use and then putting it into function for a completely new task.


An example of this would be stripping the velcro closures off of your old (circa 1980) Reeboks and sewing them together to use as a band to cinch your pant leg snug to your calf, so it won't keep getting get caught in your chain rings.

Or, maybe you had a ham sandwich stored in a ziplock bag. The ham sandwich is now history and your belly is happy but, you've still got this ziplock hanging around. You don't want to put another savory sandwich in there... so, use it to pack your beloved digital camera during a long wet ride! The camera stays safe and dry and the ziplock stays out of the landfill, and in a pinch you can lick the mustard flecks off the camera! This scenario is ecologically sound, saves precious moolah, and serves the purpose.


So, you need to fix the motion detector light on the side of your house. You don't have a ladder but your buddy who lives a few blocks away does. You need to borrow your friend's ladder but you never got around to buying those bungie cords you've been hunkering for. How are you going to strap the ladder down to the roof of your car? Head for the garage and grab a fistful those old punctured tubes that you've been dying to use for something. Ready made, quick and dirty bungie cords that have already earned their keep on the roads for a few hundred miles.





Or maybe you're out riding with some friends in the Connecticut countryside and you want to take a group picture but realize that there's no place to stand your handy digital camera... A Purefit energy bar could save the day if you have the wherewithall to think of it. The energy bar is completely moldable and will form a shape that will coddle your camera in the perfect angle for just about any shot. Then after you're done shooting, energize by chowing down on your camera stand.



Knitting looks like a fun way to relax but, you are not sure you can handle that level of stimulation. You don't want to spend all that money buying knitting needles, just to find that you hate knitting and despise crochet! The solution is to salvage a couple of old spokes from a bent wheel that you were using for parts. A quick spin of the grinder will smooth the spoke down to the perfect point. Your average spoke will work out to a size 1 knitting needle. Might make a nice pair of socks...

So if you've flossed your teeth with some old brake cables, welded chain rings in to art, or used a tire patch kit to fix a leak in your Camelback, then you're the kind of person we're looking for. We'd like to hear some of your great ideas on Repurposing! So, send us some pictures and an explanation of your favorite recycled gear. Be it a piece of cycling gear that has outlived its usefulness in the sport, or some original application for a common bike article, we are interested! If you submit the cleverest idea, you'll be awarded a bottle of Elete Hydration Water Concentrate valued at $35.00. Email the webmaster@pedalpushersonline.com to get full details.