Finding Another Path?

 I played hooky.

Well, technically I didn’t have to be at work. But I had some work-related stuff to do on an absolutely gorgeous mid-Spring morning. And my bicycles were calling me. (Is that a consequence of my naming them?)

So off I pedaled—to Point Lookout.

It’s funny that even on a ride I’ve taken dozens, or even hundreds, of times before, I can still see something I hadn’t noticed before:

Did someone carve a path into the dune? Could animals—or humans—have trodden it into existence?  Or did some unusual sequence of natural events—like the ones that cause rock formations to resemble dragons or even famous people—do their work ?

Trust Me, I Won’t

 When you’re riding your bike (or simply out and about) you’re sure to see certain signs:

Some, however, you won’t see unless you stop—as I did at an intersection near my apartment:

Bike To Wherever

 Local bicycle advocacy groups and other organizations have, for the past two decades or so, organized “Bike to Work” days or weeks, usually in the middle of May.

The other day, cyclists in San Francisco participated in a “Bike to Wherever Day.” While that sounds like a name a bored teenager would come up with, it actually expresses a new reality: The COVID pandemic changed, for many people, the definition of a workplace. Some began working from home and still haven’t gone back to their old offices or other workplaces. Others are on “hybrid” schedules, meaning that they might go to their offices only three, or even two, days a week. Still others became freelancers or started their own businesses, whether by necessity or choice.

All of that means that other duties are often interspersed with paid work:  Picking up or dropping off children, shopping or various commitments and appointments. And some people find it’s simply easier to go for a lunchtime ride from home than from the office, shop, classroom or wherever they were working before the pandemic.

Some of you may have ridden in a “Bike to Work” or “Bike to Wherever” event. Others among you may have such an event coming up this week. Whether or not you have joined, or plan to join, fellow cyclists, I hope you are riding to work, school or wherever!