It's been a gray, rainy day. You know the kind of day I mean: one in which you just can't escape the gray. It's not about my mood; I've actually been feeling good these past few days.
Here's another example of gray that you can't escape--or, more precisely, something gray that somehow manages to be in-your-face:
Now, of course, the bike seems even more in-your-face with an orange bike behind it. Of course.
Just having the name "Giant" on a bike is pretty audacious. Now, I've never owned one and have only test-ridden two. I don't mean to disparage the bikes: One of the Giants I tried was actually a nice ride. I don't remember which model it was; I recall only that it was a mountain bike.
Anyway...I never realized a gray bike with black trim could be such an eclat to the senses!
Until recently, there was a TV show called Friday Light Nights. I never watched it (I watch little to no TV) but the title is apropos of tonight, at least for me.
I was the last one--well, the last cyclist, anyway--to leave the college tonight.
After getting something like a real night's sleep last night, the ride today felt really good. It was a few degrees cooler than it was yesterday, so the ride in was brisk, as was the ride home. I was almost underdressed for the latter: At times, I wish I'd worn a light jacket over my sweater and blouse. I did, however, wear pantyhose under my skirt, which felt right--at least temperature-wise.
Today was the last day before Spring Recess. At least it was for my classes: Tomorrow, Saturday classes have their last meeting before getting a week of for the holidays. The students in today's class are normally an interesting and stimulating group; today, they didn't seem as eager to leave as I would expect students to be the day before a recess. I showed them the filmed version of Shakespeare's Othello in which Lawrence Fishburne plays the title role. Othello is one of my three favorite Shakespeare plays (The Tempest and Macbeth are the others) , and I'd say it's probably the one which I've had the most success teaching.
Now, you may ask, what do teaching Othello and cycling to and from work have to do with each other? Well, I think that, if nothing else, my experience today led me to a circle of questions: Do my rides feel good because I feel good? Or is it the other way around? And was the confidence I felt on my bike and in my class a result of both going well? Or did things go well because I was feeling confident and happy?
And when is my enjoyment of cycling enhanced by my enjoyment of other things? Or does my enjoyment of other things enhance my enjoyment of cycling?
I guess that's a bit like asking whether cycling leads us to follow the moon or following the moon leads us to cycle.
So why didn't I post yesterday? Let's see...Should I be creative? Or tell it straight? Ha! Me, doing anything straight. What a concept!
Anyway...After my first longish ride of the year--which I did on my fixed gear--instead of taking a bubble bath or doing something sensible like that, I did some work. And got about three hours of sleep. No, I take that back: That's how much time I was in bed. And then I went to work.
So, when I got home last night, late, I went almost immediately to bed...and to sleep, even after having eaten a takeout dinner with way too much sodium and having drunk some tea.
I couldn't have slept any better-- not in my grandmother's arms, not in the plushest bed in Buckingham Palace, nor even in the Bed and Bike Inn--than I did last night. I slept so deeply that the fog didn't have to come in on little cat's feet (This is probably the only time I will ever quote Carl Sandburg; Do you forgive me?). It could have echoed in one of the horns of the boats in the harbor and I would have dreamt through it--and not remembered what I dreamt.
Nights like last night make me believe that nothing's better than cycling-induced sleep.
