I don't get sick often. But it seems that when I do, I am ridiculously busy as soon as I get back to my normal routine. And so it has been the last two days.
Well, at least I got to ride to and from both jobs today, and the other day. Both days were full of fall colors and decidedly non-autumnal warmth. Yesterday, on the other hand, we had weather that was even less autumnal, except for the kind of light we had: Wind-driven downpours frizzed and soaked everything in sight so that even the reflections of sidewalks in the windows frizzed and soaked like cats dropped into swimming pools.
So...an unrideable day was sandwiched between two days of near-perfect riding conditions. I guess I'd rather have it that way than the other way around.
I was running a bit late this morning on my way to my regular job. So I barreled down streets--including a stretch of one that looked like a washbord and made me feel as if I were riding on one--like a moonshiner on a backwoods Southern road during Prohibition. I don't know whether it had to do with the vibrations or my blood pumping (or both), but felt as if the things that had been making me sick were leaping out of my body.
Even with all of the vibrations that shook me--and even though I was riding to work--I was enjoying the ride as if it were a foliage weekend tour in Vermont. Inside one of the rear baskets, I carried a canvas tote bag that contained my students' papers, a textbook for one of the courses I teach and a pair of black patent slingback high heels.
The only problem was that when I got to work and reached into the bag, only the left shoe was in it! I checked inside the bag and in the area surrounding the spot where I parked my LeTour and up the block: No luck. I didn't have time to re-trace my route.
So I was reduced (literally) to spending the day in the black flats in which I'd pedaled. They aren't bad-lookng shoes, and they're very comfortable. And, to tell the truth, they really weren't bad with my outfit, which consisted of a plum-maroon cardigan with gray piping over a lavender blouse, a flannel skirt in the same shade of gray as the pipng, and a pair of sheer pantyhose in that same hue. As one of my students said, it all looked "very elegant." But the patent slingbacks with three-inch heels would have given it a bit more pizazz.
Oh well. Maybe some kid along my route found that other shoe. I guess if the kid were mine, I'd rather that he or she found a middle-aged woman's dress shoe in size 11 wide than a crack vial or shell casing!
25 October 2010
Critical Lasses In Edmonton
Now I have to take a trip to Edmonton.
No, I'm not going there to take in an Oilers' game. And, while the idea of biking or hiking in the Rockies and taking in the Edmonton night life appeals to me, I've never made going there one of my goals.
Lately, as a result of Sarah Chan's Girls and Bicycles blog, I've been reading about Edmonton's bicycle scene. Until I came across her blog, I thought that cycling in Edmonton looked something like this:
You might accuse me of New York Provincialism. You've seen an example of it on that famous New Yorker cover:
Since I started reading Girls and Bicycles, Edmonton Bicycle Commuters and other sites, I've formed an impression of an active--velocipedically as well as politically--cycling community. And it seems to embrace diversity--and, yes, there's more of it than I, the jaded New Yorker, expected--in ways not commonly seen.
How can you not love a place that has a "Critical Lass" ride?
But the thing that really got my attention was a practice of Bike Works, the bicycle cooperative EBC operates. On the first, third and fifth Sundays of every month, BikeWorks is open only to women and transgenders.
Now that was an eye-opener for me. I didn't think that there were enough transgenders, let alone transgendered cyclists, in Edmonton for them to be so recognized. There's my NYP at work again!
If I ever were in Edmonton, of course I would check out BikeWorks on a women's/transgenders' Sunday. However--and, as someone who hasn't been there, my view is admittedly limited--I have mixed feelings about such a practice.
On one hand, I'm glad that a bike shop or cooperative wants to make its facility female- and trans-friendly and give us a "space." In a sense, they're acknowledging that there aren't enough such spaces and hours. And I know that sometimes (actually, often) I want to be around other women only, not out of any animosity toward men, but because of our particular ways of seeing and experiencing things.
On the other, I have to wonder whether that will help or impede our acceptance by the larger cycling culture, and the culture generally. I feel the same way about other gender-segregated institutions such as schools, and ones that are dedicated to LGBT people. Some educators and psychologists raised the same concern when the Harvey Milk School was opened in New York.
Don't get me wrong: I'm happy that the folks at BikeWorks recognize that there are indeed transgendered cyclists and that we, like other female cyclists, sometimes feel alienated and excluded from the larger cycling culture. I don't doubt that they are trying to make us feel more welcome and to counter some of the condescension and hostility female cyclists have long complained about in cycle shops and clubs.
Still, I find it interesting that such a thing is happening in Edmonton and not in New York, at least to my knowledge.
No, I'm not going there to take in an Oilers' game. And, while the idea of biking or hiking in the Rockies and taking in the Edmonton night life appeals to me, I've never made going there one of my goals.
Lately, as a result of Sarah Chan's Girls and Bicycles blog, I've been reading about Edmonton's bicycle scene. Until I came across her blog, I thought that cycling in Edmonton looked something like this:
You might accuse me of New York Provincialism. You've seen an example of it on that famous New Yorker cover:
Since I started reading Girls and Bicycles, Edmonton Bicycle Commuters and other sites, I've formed an impression of an active--velocipedically as well as politically--cycling community. And it seems to embrace diversity--and, yes, there's more of it than I, the jaded New Yorker, expected--in ways not commonly seen.
How can you not love a place that has a "Critical Lass" ride?
But the thing that really got my attention was a practice of Bike Works, the bicycle cooperative EBC operates. On the first, third and fifth Sundays of every month, BikeWorks is open only to women and transgenders.
Now that was an eye-opener for me. I didn't think that there were enough transgenders, let alone transgendered cyclists, in Edmonton for them to be so recognized. There's my NYP at work again!
If I ever were in Edmonton, of course I would check out BikeWorks on a women's/transgenders' Sunday. However--and, as someone who hasn't been there, my view is admittedly limited--I have mixed feelings about such a practice.
On one hand, I'm glad that a bike shop or cooperative wants to make its facility female- and trans-friendly and give us a "space." In a sense, they're acknowledging that there aren't enough such spaces and hours. And I know that sometimes (actually, often) I want to be around other women only, not out of any animosity toward men, but because of our particular ways of seeing and experiencing things.
On the other, I have to wonder whether that will help or impede our acceptance by the larger cycling culture, and the culture generally. I feel the same way about other gender-segregated institutions such as schools, and ones that are dedicated to LGBT people. Some educators and psychologists raised the same concern when the Harvey Milk School was opened in New York.
Don't get me wrong: I'm happy that the folks at BikeWorks recognize that there are indeed transgendered cyclists and that we, like other female cyclists, sometimes feel alienated and excluded from the larger cycling culture. I don't doubt that they are trying to make us feel more welcome and to counter some of the condescension and hostility female cyclists have long complained about in cycle shops and clubs.
Still, I find it interesting that such a thing is happening in Edmonton and not in New York, at least to my knowledge.
24 October 2010
A Sunday Without A Ride
The doctor was right when she said that my eye infection was viral rather than bacterial. That's the reason why it's cleared up on its own, albeit slowly. So my eyes aren't burning. But the virus seems to have moved to other parts of my body: I've been congested and my Eustachian tube (what connects the inner ear with the throat) feels as inflamed as my eyes felt.
I think it's the reason why I felt so tired after riding home from work on Thursday night, and have felt tired ever since. It figures I would feel this way when we were having a Perfect Fall Weekend.
It's Sunday. Perhaps a bit of worship(!) might be in order:
Is there a Church of the Long Island Rail Road? (Yes, they spell it as two words.) Near the foot of this "shrine" is one of God's creatures:
Her name is Kiki. She patrols a tiny snack shop in Woodside, where I've stopped on my rides to or from work. She claims to be Charlie's long-lost sister.
Anyway...If I'm posting about railroad power lines and cats in delis, I really need to get back on my bike. I will. I'd argue that it beats other ways of transportation:
Is this the real reason why they're the only US automaker that hasn't gone bankrupt?
I think it's the reason why I felt so tired after riding home from work on Thursday night, and have felt tired ever since. It figures I would feel this way when we were having a Perfect Fall Weekend.
It's Sunday. Perhaps a bit of worship(!) might be in order:
Is there a Church of the Long Island Rail Road? (Yes, they spell it as two words.) Near the foot of this "shrine" is one of God's creatures:
Her name is Kiki. She patrols a tiny snack shop in Woodside, where I've stopped on my rides to or from work. She claims to be Charlie's long-lost sister.
Anyway...If I'm posting about railroad power lines and cats in delis, I really need to get back on my bike. I will. I'd argue that it beats other ways of transportation:
Is this the real reason why they're the only US automaker that hasn't gone bankrupt?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)