Biking is one of my great LOVES.
I discovered the Townie by Electra while living in Florida and bought it thinking I would bike the 9 miles to work; however, the afternoon thunderstorms made me rethink that plan, so I ended up leaving it at work and pedaling around the island as many times as I could before going in. Those were some days! Watching the sun come up over water while pedaling round the little island at Shell Point, where my dad now lives. I told myself, Cyn, SAVOR this; it's as good as it gets! And it was (there are lots of good as it gets).
On one side of the island was the orchid greenhouse, tended lovingly by hard core orchid folk. I was part of a program whereby a very nice resident would deliver me a prize-winning orchid to enjoy on my desk for a week or two and then return to switch it out for another!
When I moved home, I had my Townie shipped and we actually (pretty amazingly) put it back together. It has been my source of transport to and from work ever since. People surely complain about me, out there biking against traffic when I can't be on the sidewalk (also illegal), but I'm sorry; I refuse to bike south on Portage with the sun in all of our eyes, not able to see when the person is veering off to hit me. There have been way too many tragic biking deaths and I've had my share of close calls. I'm just trying to stay alive.
Biking the river is where it really gets good, though, either direction, but I bike north, along Riverside, where there are some twists and turns, ups and downs, just up to Cleveland and back.
I am so thankful to be a biker. Whether biking through town or along our magnificent river, I feel like i own the place. Not sure what that's about, but being able to get from place to place on a bike makes it feel more rural somehow. Best of all, though, my beloved mother was a biker, too, and I have wonderful memories of seeing her biking and being struck by her childlike-ness.
Mr. Wells, you were right. :-)
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