Ya Gotta Start Somewhere

How was your first ride?

High Visibility

Eight years ago, I recalled my comical attempts to sell bicycle safety flags that had been in American Youth Hostels’ storage room for, probably, a decade.

That got me to thinking about how we, as cyclists, can make ourselves more visible to motorists. Perhaps there is no better way than this:

How Long Did It Last?

 Cycling has been one of the few constants in my life.

Admit It!

 Is this just another way to say “I crashed?”

A Shrek On A Trek?

A Shrek on a Trek?

(Do I get an endorsement fee for this??

The Race

 And the winner is….

The Color of the Season

 Autumn began yesterday morning.

It’s not easy being green, in any season!

An Un-Bearable Policy?

As I understand, bicycles and eBikes are allowed in certain areas of US National Parks.

I hope this rider isn’t violating the policy! 

Silly Goose!

 While riding down the Hudson River Greenway, “Sam” and I had to dodge a flock of geese that strolled into the path.

I say that if you’re going to take up space in a bike lane you should, at least, be on a bike!

It Takes All Kinds

 Five months ago, I moved into a senior apartment complex. (But I’m still in midlife, dammit! I don’t have a complex!😉) 

Some neighbors don’t know my name, but they know I’m “the lady who rides a bike.” A few know about the 105 mile ride I took last week. One thing they don’t know, however, is that it’s not the first “century” I’ve ever done.

Some of my neighbors use walkers or wheelchairs. So I guess it’s not surprising that they look at me with awe or envy, as if I’m an Olympic athlete.  I am sure that others, however, see me this way:

Not In Denial

 I'm still a Midlife Cyclist.

Really, I am!

What You Really Need

 Do you really need clipless pedals--and cleated cycling shoes--after all?

My “Disease”

 I have been diagnosed with allergies to dust and mold, depression (for which I’ve never taken meds) and gender identity disorder (for which I have received treatment.)

Had I been born a decade or two later than I was, I might’ve been diagnosed with a learning or emotional disability:  There were some things I simply could not learn no matter how much I studied or how hard I tried, and I sometimes did things that were deemed “inappropriate”—or didn’t do things I was “supposed to” do—because I couldn’t understand someone or something that made sense to everyone else, or seemed to. 

Here is a “condition” that non-cyclists I know would “diagnose” in me, even if they don’t call it by that name:

A Cycling Bond?

 If I had given or received this, would I (and/or someone else) be married today?

I Rode This Once

 Believe it or not, I once rode a bike like this one:

Note that I said “once.!”

Enjoy Your Father’s Day Ride!

 Happy Father’s Day!

Enjoy the ride!

They Prefer To Ride With Their Own

 I tried, really tried, to get Caterina, Charlie I, Candice, Charlie II, Max and Marlee to ride with me.  I even promised to get a recumbent bike so they could curl up in my lap as I pedaled. Alas!

Now I understand the problem:  It’s not that they didn’t want to ride with me.  They wanted (and Marlee wants) to ride with, shall we say, their own!

A Little Too Close?

 Call me a prude…but shouldn’t they be on a tandem?

The Face That Rode A Thousand Miles

 Rosalind Yalow’s Orthodox Jewish parents tried to stop her from majoring in physics. Why? “No man will want to marry you.”

Well, she not only majored in physics, she used it to advance the state of health-care technology. That she did by co-developing radio-immunossay, which uses radioactive isotopes to quickly and precisely measure concentrations of hormones, vitamins and other substances that are part of, or end up in, human bodies.

For that, in 1977 she became the second woman to win a Nobel Prize in medicine.  Oh, and she married, had children—and kept a kosher home.

I mention that because throughout the history of bicycling, various actual and self-proclaimed authorities have tried to discourage women from cycling on the grounds that it will make us unattractive and less desirable to men and, therefore, unable to have children.

As an example, serious medical professionals and scientists in the 1890s—during the peak of the first Bike Boom— warned of the “dangers” of women and girls developing “bicycle face.”

I wonder whether I ever developed it. Hmm…Maybe that’s why I don’t have a man—never mind that I haven’t been looking for one!

Happy Mother’s Day

 Some would argue that I have never been a mother because I have never had human children.  I wouldn’t argue with them.

Others, mainly people who have pets, would say that I am a mama, or at least a parent, to Marlee—and that I was one to Max, Charlie II*, Candice, Charlie I, Caterina and Sara*. I often refer to the six cats and one dog I’ve housed, fed and loved as my children or “babies.”

There is at least one thing, though, I couldn’t do with them that, perhaps, I could have done with a human child: ride a bicycle. Perhaps even more important, I never could have taught them how to ride one.

In any event, to all of you who are moms (Your children are always your children even after they move out—or, felines forbid, die) : Happy Mother’s Day.

Check out this image, and others, here: https://www.redbubble.com/i/art-board-print/Mother-s-Day-Bicycle-Ride-by-kilkennycat/47181892.TR477

*—Sara was a beagle-hound pup I had briefly, before any of my cats. While out for a walk, a man petted and played with her.  “My grandkids would love a dog like that.”  They played some more. “They could play with it in our backyard…”

“Your backyard?”

“Yeah, in my house in Pennsylvania.”

I let them play for a moment. “How would you like to take her?”

The man’s eyes widened. “How much do you want for her?”

“Nothing. She’ll be happier in your house and yard than in my apartment. She gets to go outside only when I get home from work.”

The following weekend, he took me and Sara to his house, where I met his grandkids. She was happy to meet them. And I was happy for her.