Bicycles

My first memories of riding a bike are of learning on a large tired single speed bike in Lewis, Kansas.  Go a few feet, wobble, fall over.  Try again - eventually balancing and heading off down the street - so proud!

As a teen, I rode the high handled, banana seated bikes of the 60s, jumping curbs and popping a "wheelie" now and then.  Then, in high school, I got a Gitane 10 speed.  I rode it sometimes to high school, enjoying the speed and the dance of finding the right gear to ride.

I didn't ride for quite a few years in Alaska - then in the late 80's got another bike.  On nice days it was fun to ride.  I went the 10 miles or so around the Mendenhall Valley a few times, and one summer I commuted the 9 miles from home to work a few times.

Our bicycles, and much other gear, were lost in the garage fire before we moved to Maryland.  A couple of years after moving, we bought new bikes, but didn't ride them much - just a few short jaunts on the Sligo Creek Trail.

This spring brought a new interest in cycling.  Pam got interested in participating in Senior Olympics events, and we got out on the bikes for some longer rides up and down the trail.

I began riding my bike on Sundays over to Takoma Park to teach yoga, and find it an ideal way to commute - a nice ride down the parkway and then a good workout climb out of the creek valley.

We heard about the Washington and Old Dominion railway trail from a friend a couple of weeks ago.  Today we drove out to Leesburg, Virginia, to get a 20 mile ride out and back on the western end of the trail.  It was a lovely day, and this is the nicest trail and ride we've been on yet.  Bicycles are so refined now - lighter, more responsive, and mechanically smoother.  But the feeling of riding - the joy of propelling myself along the trail, feeling the breeze in my face - finding the right gear to move smoothly - making the effort seem effortless - is still the same as it has always been.