tour de bronx

25 mile route plus
4 miles back to vehicle

love this tour – it’s free, so everybody joins
great variety of people and machines

stop-and-go in many ways
stopped vehicles everywhere waiting for cyclists to pass
stopped cyclists at bottlenecks getting on or off trails
an exorbitant number of cyclists stopped due to breakdown or accident

contemplating the experience, privilege, and just plain luck that allows me to ride my bicycle in New York City

contemplating pleasant movements:

• the dog-at-hydrant leg lift when mounting, unmounting, remounting
• the initial push off, extremely pleasant gliding if you’re in the right gear
• the collaboration of upper body pulling and lower body pushing to get up a sudden hill
• calibrating speed carefully, fast enough to remain upright and slow enough to avoid hitting the bicycle ahead of me
• delicately touching fingers of two little kids who were reaching out for high fives
• the utter exhilaration of leaning into a corner

contemplating whether I could possibly memorize these movements enough now that I won’t miss them unbearably when I can’t bicycle any more