I like things I can do myself. Do-It-Yourself. DIY, for short. I enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes at the end of task. When I can stand back and say, “Yeah, I did that myself.”

Just yesterday, I wanted to make some home-made, all-from-scratch sunflower seed, cocoa-powder brownies, a mouthful to even describe. However, on the ingredient list was “parchment paper”. I had no idea what parchment paper was, but I did remember that last time parchment paper was on my ingredient list and I chose to ignore it, I ended up with meringue cookies that were basically glued to the pan. I felt like a failure for wasting 6 good backyard chicken egg whites on cookies that never made it past the oven. This time I was determined not to be disappointed, but I was also determined not to have to buy any additional ingredients for this DIY kitchen project.

Long story short, I created my own home-made parchment paper. I lined the brownie tray with brown paper bags, the kind you use for brown bag lunches. I added melted butter atop of the brown paper liners. The fat from the butter oozed into the fibers of the paper bag, and instant home-made parchment paper. I got to enjoy every crumb of the brownies with the parchment paper preventing any from sticking to the pan. And I like to think that the composting worms will enjoy the buttery bags later as well.

This Do-It-Yourself spirit invades other parts of my life. I think that’s why I like riding my bicycle so much, it’s the epitome of doing it yourself. When I first starting cycling in Austin 11+ years ago, I was completely flying solo. I had an early 80s blue huffy frame. I remember visiting the Yellow Bike Project operating on the side of Wheatsville Food Co-op and learning how to do things for myself, like fix a flat tube, true the spokes on my wheel, and tighten or loosen the tension screws to adjust the derailler. Once I learned how to tune up my bicycle, I’d hit the road, with far fewer bicycle lanes at the time, and wear my tires bald. It’s true, I could see the wire treading in a tire once before changing it out for another.

My spirit of DIY over rides the conventional spirit of Christmas today, that is to say the spirit of capitalism. Like partaking in the tradition of baking cookies from scratch rather than buying their pre-made, store-bought counterparts. The DIY spirit doesn’t simply over-ride my holiday spirit, it’s become a compulsion, I don’t even think about it, I just do it mindlessly. It’s like an instinct: animals hibernate; I refuse to purchase anything brand-new.

So to celebrate the holidays this year, here are a few of my favorite make-it- yourself bicycle related holiday gifts:

- Get some scrap aluminum and create a custom, one-of-a-kind head badge. Here’s a link to some basic instructions.

- Up-cycle those old tubes into a home-made patch repair kit here.

- And the most sentimental, a bicycle related memory-jar of all of your favorite cycling memories together or in Austin.