Tonight is the WE Bike Party, in which we celebrate the end of our first cycling season.
Doors will open to this event at 7 pm at The Grand Victory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The venue for our party is at 245 Grand Street, at the corner of Roebling Street. (Roebling is the engineer responsible for the Brooklyn Bridge.)
I'm going to call one of the raffles, which will be held every hour. And I'll be at the door for an hour. At other times, I'll be helping out in other ways and helping myself to some of the refreshments. You'll recognize me because I'm wearing a maroon/burgundy WE Bike T-shirt. ;-)
The cover charge is 8 bucks. Not bad for a night out in a hip place in Williamsburg!
One of the things I have always loved about cycling is that, even during and after the most routine rides, my senses are sharpened. Food tastes better, my cats seem cuddlier and I see colors more vividly.
I was reminded of this when I got to work today.
That, in the garded in front of the administration building. The ride in was otherwise unremarkable, save perhaps for the fact that I was once again "playing chicken with the rain." I did encounter some drizzle on my way home, but I rather enjoyed it. Perhaps it was an after-effect of seeing seeing a bright autumn garden at the end of my ride this morning.
Great Britain has a longer, and more continuous, cycling tradition than what the US has. Cyclists continued to ride for recreation as well as transportation, even as automotive traffic increased from the 1950's onward. So, one might expect more enlightened thinking in Albion when it comes to bikeways and bike safety.
Turns out, England has--at least to hear the Brits tell it--plenty of poorly-conceived, designed and constructed bike lanes. There are enough such asphalt atrocities, in fact, that a book of them has been published.
I haven't cycled in the UK in a long time, so I can't comment on the authors' contention that the the Queen's land is criscrossed by monuments to ineptitude in design. However, if what I noticed when I was there is representative of the state of cycling and cycling lanes, I'd have to say that England has a situation that's similar to what we find in the US: The people who design bike lanes aren't cyclists themselves and are acting on their fears and stereotypes. And many cyclists don't want to speak out about how dangerous sme lanes are, because they are afraid of alienating the authorities with whom they cultivated cordial working relationship
Now I can't help but to wonder what the situation is like in other countries.
I always knew that finding a parking space in this town could be impossible.
There were no spaces on the street for this benighted bike, unfortunate umbrellla and maladjusted mop. So they all huddled in front of the window of a nail salon in my neighborhood.
I wonder: Is this good for business?
I've been reading a novel called The Delta Function by Spanish writer Rosa Montero.
I'm mentioning it, not because I'm going to critique it (In case you want to know, I like it a lot so far.) or even because it's terribly relevant to cycling. Rather, I'm bringing it up because of the title.
As I understand, The Delta Function is an attempt to measure phenomena that take place in almost no time (i.e., nanoseconds) but are of nearly infinite intensity. From what I can see, it would be very useful to astro- or nuclear physicists. But it's an interesting idea in its own right, I believe.
Anyway, it occurred to me today, as I was riding, that my rides often consist of "Delta Function" moments and events. It may be because my senses are more open, and I'm generally more alert when I'm on my bike.
As an example, today, in passing a postage stamp-sized park on Rockaway Boulevard, I had, for a fleeting moment, the full sight of colors and sensation of leaves rustling that I experienced during early-autumn rides in the Delaware Valley,Vermont, the Finger Lakes region, and the Vosges in France. All it took was a few feet of pathway lined with fallen yellow leaves:
Of course, Rockaway Boulevard is a long way from any of the places I mentioned in my previous paragraph. And today's ride was really incidental in my running of errands and fulfilling other obligations. However, that sight, that moment transformed them, if only temporarily.
And, on the way home, I saw something else that, for no particular reason, gave me a momentary rapture:
I know it was just a bush next to somebody's house. But it heightened my awareness of the light and color of this season, if only for a moment.
