Bicycle @ MindSay

In addition to felines, I've recently acquired another dangerous item:  a bicycle.

Why?  Well, I'm not sure, honestly.  I mean, it's not like I have a very long walk to work.  It's only eight blocks.  Of course, eight blocks in triple digit temperatures can still feel like eight miles.  I figure eight blocks in triple digits in a quarter of the time, and a breeze, might be more tolerable.

So I got a bike.  It's a "cruiser" style.  Black with red rims.  Single speed and a coaster brake.  (That's the kind we had as kids, remember... where you just "backpedaled" to slow down.)  It's really a sweet ride, I have to say.  It's comfortable, easy to pedal, and rides really smoothly.

Lorelei and I had purchased bikes, several years ago, but never really rode them much.  They were cheapies, purchased at Target, and nowhere near as nice as this one, even though they were (if I recall correctly) 5-speed machines.

But this one... I'm really enjoying riding it.  It's like it was to ride a bike as a kid... relaxed and fun.  There's just something about tooling around the neighborhood, enjoying the wind on your face, doing casual swoops left and right...  It's like a time machine to ten, y'know?

Of course, bicycles can be dangerous, and accidents do happen.  I should know.  I had nasty accidents on almost every bike I've ever owned.  To say I'm no Lance Armstrong is a ridiculous understatement.  Take yesterday, for example.

At five o'clock, I leave the office and retrieve the bike.  I hop on and begin a leisurely spin out to 13th Street to head home.  Except that there are cars coming, and more pedestrians than usual.  Now, the simple thing to do, of course, is brake to a stop until the road or sidewalk is clear.  And that's what my brain told me to do.

What my brain forgot to do, however, was remind me that this bike has a coaster brake.  And in the split second between realizing I had no hand brakes to squeeze, and remembering about the foot brake, I avoided pedestrian and vehicular traffic by another method.  I rammed into a large, decorative, concrete ball near the road.  This stopped the bike much quicker than any other braking method. 

It did not, however, slow down my body, which sailed over the handlebars, over the sphere, and onto the sidewalk. 

Here's where my brain redeemed itself a little.  Somehow, I was able to do a shoulder tuck roll when I landed, thus sparing myself any actual physical harm.  I was, as you can imagine, deeply embarrassed, though.  I was up and back on that bike and pedaling away in about five seconds flat.

I've got some muscle soreness today from the incident, but no bruises, and way less aches and pains than I had any right to expect.  The embarrassment has passed, as well.  Obviously.  No way I'd have posted about this, yesterday.

Hey, thought i was high time for a more personal entry again!  About a month or month and a half ago i bought a used (but practically unused/new) bike from some friends who just moved back to China (they've lived there before).  Their son, who has been living there for a few years already, just got married to a local and is planning to settle down there, so they decided to move there too, to be near them.  
It only cost me $50 and has a very useful basket on the front (as well as standard for China where they bought it fenders and luggage wrack).  And importantly, for hilly Olympia: gears.
So i've been riding my bike now almost all the time, and saving loads on not buying gasoline!  Although i did put some more in my car last week or so, but i'm hoping it'll last for the rest of the summer!  Also i've been enjoying the healthy feeling of all the exercise the bike riding has provided!  With an Aikido class every couple weeks thrown in for good measure.  Hopefully i'll now have time for more of those.
Sadly, my part time theater work is over for now, we just had our final shows of the Rocky Horror Show this weekend.  And the final cast party today.  It was great fun while it lasted...

In a dual attempt to be outside more and be more healthy, last night I went on my first bike ride in almost 10 years.  Don't laugh at me; I've been busy.  The ride was a complete success, despite a less-than-smart decision on my part.

But let's focus on a good decision first.  A smart decision that I made was choosing to take a shorter ride.  I only rode for about 20 or 25 minutes.  Despite some flirtations with a stationary bike in my basement, I haven't done much riding at all in the last 10 years.  I'm not necessarily out of shape, but I'm not in shape, either.  It would have been terrible for me to be out on the road and then realize that I had used all of the strength I had in me.  That situation would have made for a challenging walk home.

Bad decisions, however, are more exciting and drama-filled.  Even though I chose to take a short ride in regards to time, I still managed to take a long ride in regards to distance.  Remember how I said I hadn't ridden my bike in almost 10 years?  That means my bike has been in storage for 10 years.  There could have been many things wrong with my bike.  After I pulled it down from it's hanging perch in my garage, I filled the tires, checked that the brakes worked, and immediately took off with a goal to explore.  The smart decision would have been to stay in my subdivision, but I know what my subdivision looks like.  I wanted to see the new subdivision across the access street and the older subdivision that was beyond that subdivision.  After a 10 year hibernation, there was a very good chance that I could have blown a tire, had the brakes fail, or even had the chain come flying off.  I rode away from my house for about 10 minutes before turning around.  Yes, it was only 10 minutes, but you can cover a lot of ground in 10 minutes when you are cruising along on a bike.

The good news is that there were no incidents and my bike is mostly in tip-top condition.  In addition, I'm in fairly tip-top condition.  My muscles aren't sore and I'm not extra tired from my encounter with physical activity yesterday.  Actually, the fact that my muscles aren't sore just goes to show that I didn't ride long enough.  My muscles should have been a little sore today to show that I had worked them a bit.  Maybe tonight I'll ride a little further to the subdivision beyond the old subdivision.  Or to the candy store.  Mmmm... candy.

    Here are some pics a friend sent me.

Directly after yesterday's post I guilt-tripped myself into doing a few things. First I started laundry, spiffed myself up so I felt better superficially and asked Savannah if she wanted to go for a bike ride. She was happy to oblige.

We went down the road and went to the cemetery. It has lovely hills and is so peaceful. We puffed up the steep hills and "weee'd" all the way down.



Afterwards we rode down to the park down by the river. Savannah monkeyed around on the playground set while I swung a bit. I sat down on the roots of an aging overgrown tree and watched the river and meditated. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a bug drowning so I precariously stepped on the slippery rocks and rescued it. Just as I was about to land on the sandy shore I slipped and made a big "sploosh". As it said: No good deed goes unpunished! Haha.

My overall feelings earlier dissapated ever so slightly enough for me to enjoy the weather, the honking of the geese and other wildlife that took me away from it all.



Savannah and I walked further down by the river and explored a little more. We found that someone moved a picnic bench to the shore. I asked her if she wanted to come picnic here before the weather gets too bad. She was happy to hear that! :D


The geese were beginning to take off to nest down for the evening and I knew it was time for us to get going. Especially if we wanted to take the "hidden" road back. (Interesting enough in the picture those specks in the water are the reflection of the geese flying overhead.)


We started on our way home filled with the olfactoral bliss and sometimes stench of the river during the season of fall. The vibrance of these leaves stopped me dead in my tracks. Though it was low light and difficult to capture I managed to snap a clear picture and continued on our way.

Soon we were out of the park and on the trail that lead home. Very quickly I became aware of the bustling city that polluted the sonance that was once peace. It actually sent a shudder through my body. I wouldn't let it depress me no matter how heavy the emotion. I decided that the bike ride was something I wanted to share with others. I was happy to remember that I had my camera with and I could. So that is the resulting video.