Reflections on America

It’s July 4th and we find ourselves in the very heart of the American recreational experience — camped in a 150-site RV resort chock full of motorhomes, campers, pickup trucks, mini vans, kids, liquor bars, outdoor grills, dogs, and commercial consumption in all forms. American flags fly from tent awnings. Ice chests overflow with food [...]

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“Could I go by bike?”

More on the topic of personal cycling evolution:  I’ve been increasingly influenced by Willie Weir and Kat Marriner, who live on Beacon Hill and get around their interesting and active lives without a car.  Willie is a colunmnist for Adventure Cycling, the author of several books (latest is Travels With Willie) and a frequent speaker on the bicycling [...]

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Prayers for the new year

A family bike ride shortly after New Year’s led all four of us to Hall’s Hill Park and a visit to the prayer wheel.  It was a chilly, invigorating ride — me on LRB, Josie on her Giant, Stef on Will’s Giant, and Will on his Cannondale mountain bike.   We pushed up the hill, took [...]

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17 days without riding… but who’s counting

With my current winter swimming schedule (M-W-F), the holidays and over a foot of snow on the ground, it’s been 17 days since my last ride — the longest off the bike since I began riding in June of 2007.   Fortunately, I’ve been able to step up spinning at the gym, which I trust is [...]

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Chop wood, carry mail

I haven’t posted much here this summer, maybe because I’ve been going through something of a bicycling identity crisis.   Trying to reach a simple decision about changing the Redline from a two to three chain-ring system triggered a flurry of thoughts and feelings, and since the change was made, it seems I’ve rounded a bend [...]

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Mileage: 4,977.30

Did a 30+ mile ride yesterday on the familiar south-end routes.  I now have about 23 miles left to go before hitting 5,000 miles on my odometer – in fact, I will probably do it on my next ride, sometime this weekend.  It’s a testament to how corny I am, to be thinking about where I want [...]

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Frances E. Willard, bicyclist

Indeed, I found a whole philosophy of life in the wooing and the winning of my bicycle.

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Liftoff

From the May, 2008 issue of Adventure Cycling magazine.  No link to the article is possible, unfortunately, as it is not posted on the organization’s website.  I hope Mr. Weir does not mind me sharing it, as it saves much xeroxing and mailing to friends and family.  It’s one of the best pieces I’ve read about [...]

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Words to live by

Work to eat. Eat to live. Live to bike. Bike to work.

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