Happy (?) Fourth

 This morning I pedaled out to City Island on Tosca, my Mercian fixie.  Although humid, the air pleasantly balanced early summer with early morning: just enough warmth with just enough briskness.

We had our Pride festivities, and the end of Pride Month, on Sunday.  Still, I was surprised, as I have been during my most recent rides to the Island, at how many rainbow flags I saw draped from window sills and door frames, fluttering ever so lightly in the sea breeze.

Riding back along the Pelham Parkway path, I had a terrifying thought:  This might be the last Fourth of July I see those flags—or that the Stars and Stripes has any meaning, if it still does.

When people wished me “Happy Fourth,” I felt almost sick—and not because it’s my birthday and I’m another year older.  Rather, I am scared because of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday.  It says that the President cannot be held criminally accountable for “official” acts while in office.

Photo by Craig Hudson for the Washington Post 

So what constitutes an “official” act? Is it anything the President says it is? 

Some—including Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent—have pointed out that Trump, if elected, could actually carry out his boast/threat to send Navy Seal Team 6 to assassinate his political rivals. He could, therefore, foment violence that would make January 6, 2021 look like a summer fair.

I have two very personal reasons to fear Trump becoming, in essence, Louis XIV. During his reign, haters of all kinds were emboldened to carry out their hatred on anyone they see as a “threat,” including transgender people. The violence has continued and probably intensify as Trump and his allies repeal laws and policies that aim to bring about equality—and pass new legislation to make life more difficult, even impossible, for us.

Oh, and don’t forget that he hates bicycles and cyclists. Would he target us directly or use fossil fuel companies by giving them tax breaks and allowing “eminent domain” so they could tear up bike lanes and other infrastructure to, say, build more pipelines?

I hope that I won’t have to feel so anxious next Fourth. In other words, I am hoping this country is still the country I was taught to believe it is—if indeed it still is, or ever was, that country.

Not Your Parents’ Way Of Leaving

 I don’t remember when, exactly, I started to ride a bicycle. I would guess, however, that whatever age I was, my first experience with two wheels included training wheels. Until recently, that was how most kids learned to ride.

During the past decade or so, that has changed.  More very young children are getting their first cycling experience on “balance bikes.”  They are like regular bikes, but smaller and without pedals.

One result is that kids are riding regular bicycles at earlier ages. Some are mounting balance bikes as early as six months old and making the transition to two wheels and two pedals as young as two years old. (Will this give new meaning to “the terrible twos?”) 

That means some children are riding regular bikes at an earlier age than people of my generation started on training wheels. And for most of us, the training wheels came off some time between the ages of four and six.

According to researchers, one reason why some babies are ready for a balance bike before their first birthday is that the cerebellum—the part of the brain that controls balance and coordination—typically goes through a growth spurt at six to eight months. And one of the reasons why youngsters who amble along on balance bikes learn to pedal regular bikes at an earlier age is that riding with training wheels doesn’t teach proprioception, the body’s ability to understand where it is in space. That is why a child has to re-learn balance—and is as likely as not to fall—when moving away from training wheels. “You can balance without pedaling, but you can’t pedal without balancing,” says Christian’s Mercé, a sports sciences professor at Portugal’s Santarém Polytechnic University.

She and other researchers stress that children should develop their riding skills at their own pace. Their parents shouldn’t panic if they’re not ready for a regular bike at, say, six years old.

As increasing numbers of children learn how to ride on balance bikes, it will be interesting to see whether and how the next generation of cyclists differs from us.

Dressed Up

 Ok, call me sentimental. But I’ve always had a soft spot for the Seals and Crofts tune “Summer Breeze.” It’s part of the soundtrack of my growing up, and it happens to be an ear-worm at this moment.  Not that I mind.

The tune is lovely and some of the lyrics evoke pleasant sensory images. But one in particular has always intrigued me: “July is dressed up and playing her tune.” I can see the “dressed up” part in this photo from Pedro Szekely: