Springtime:Sashaying down the street to show off new shoes, outfits or hairdos.
For cyclists, it can mean pedaling down the path on a new set of wheels or in a new jersey (in New Jersey?).
For Tosca, my Mercian fixie, a Spring afternoon included a photo op to show off her tuneup. She always seems to find the right flowers for a photo-op!
I’ve wimped out.
After taking a great ride, yesterday, to Connecticut, I was going to pedal out to Somerville, New Jersey so I could…watch other people pedal.
But when I woke up this morning, I couldn’t see out my windows. It had nothing to do with anything I imbibed with my post-ride ravioli with Salsa Giustina*. Rather, my window panes were sheets or curtains of cascading comet-tails of rain.
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| Photo by Dave Sanders for the New York Times. |
I wouldn’t have minded riding in gentler rain: Three of my bikes have fenders and I could’ve worn my rain jacket. Also, it’s pretty warm today, in a late spring-almost summer sort of way, so a shower would feel nice. But I am not about to start a ride in a near-zero-visibility torrent and the prospect of standing in a downpour to watch races—even if they are part of the once-a-year Somerville event—just doesn’t appeal to me.
Oh well. Maybe, if the rain lets up a bit later, I’ll go for a ride—or to the Botanical Garden. I’ve been there twice since I moved next to it (and got a free membership): to see the lilacs a couple of weeks ago, and for the orchid show and cherry blossoms last month, just after I moved in. It’s funny, really, that I’ve been there twice (and a few times before I moved here) but I am one of those New Yorkers who has never been to the Statue of Liberty!
*—Fresh tomatoes, garlic, onion, mushrooms and red sweet peppers, simmered in olive oil with sliced black olives and seasoned with rosemary, freshly-ground black pepper and squeezed lemon. Like many such concoctions, it’s best when it’s a couple of days old: I made it on Thursday night.
