OK...So you are probably asking yourself what the most famous scene from The Seven Year Itch is doing on a blog about bicycles and bicycling.
Or maybe you're not. Maybe you don't mind seeing it any time, anywhere. I mean, how many people really and truly object to seeing an image of Marilyn Monroe, ever---especially this one?
Well, that scene comes from The Seven Year Itch.
No, I am not suffering from it. For one thing, I'm not in a relationship with anyone, so I am not feeling "itching" to get out of it, or to "spice things up" with someone else.
Now, I must admit: I had Helene, the Miss Mercian I recently sold, for nearly seven years. I wasn't bored or dissatisfied with her: I merely wasn't riding her much, and thought she would be happier elsewhere. I was a little sad to see her go, but I think it's for the best, as I have Vera (my green Miss Mercian mixte) and have ordered a Mercian Vincitore Special.
And, no, I am not feeling a seven-year itch about this blog, either. Today is indeed its seventh anniversary: I posted my first entry on 2 June 1010.
At that time, I was just returning to cycling after a layoff of several months, during which I was recuperating from surgery. I had been keeping another blog, on which I once posted almost daily but for which I have not written anything in months.
That other blog witnessed its seventh anniversary nearly two years ago. You might say that I was getting a "seven year itch" with that blog: I knew, then, that I was getting tired of the topic of that blog and I didn't like the directions in which it could have gone.
On the other hand, I feel more and more energized to write on this blog. Perhaps I am not feeling a "seven year itch" over this one because, for one thing, I have been a cyclist for most of my life and bicycles still fascinate me. Another reason, I believe, is that I seem to have a more numerous and wider audience for this blog than my other--and I feel I have gained a clearer sense of who you are. (I have even corresponded with a few of you off-blog.) And, the longer I write this blog, the more I find I can relate other things in my life--my work (what I get paid to do), my experiences and my other passions--to cycling. Or, sometimes, I find I can get away with writing about them on this blog even if they have no apparent relation to cycling.
Anyway, I thank all of you for reading my stories, rants, rambles, musings and other writings on this blog. And I hope you will continue with me on this journey of cycling, in the middle of my life.
