Nothing about bikes

I can't resist posting this. This is nothing to do with bikes.  It's a clip from an opera, THE CONSUL, that I saw last summer in upstate NY, at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival.

The clip is actually from a 1960 tv production, and the black & white adds to the darkness and austerity of the story.  Quickly...the story is post WWII, some unnamed country in Eastern Europe...and the main character is Magda...who is at the Consulate, trying to get an exit visa...and is denied over and over....in the clip I've got here, she loses it when the secretary asks her ONE MORE TIME to fill in the appropriate papers.

Please take a few minutes and watch this....;o)  Here's the link:  TO THIS WE'VE COME.

Now that I think of this...this does have something to do with bikes!  It was on this trip this summer that my friend Timmy got me to commit to doing my first commute to work on bike when I got back to San Diego!

3 months since my first bike commute

Hard to believe it....last Saturday, a week ago, was 3 months since I started riding my bike to work.  I didn't have any idea that so much was going to happen so fast. 

In three months I've gone from being nervous about just riding to work once....
to now riding about 4 days a week, riding the bus the other day.....
selling my old car for almost the blue book value!...
doing most of my errands on my bike...
walking a lot more....
learning several bus routes in San Diego...
and most of all...feeling this empowering level of self-confidence that was missing.

It's really not been that hard to do either.  Amazing. 

Weekend bike riding

 

I really like doing my errands on my bike.  It's such a different way to get them done on a bike compared to a car.  Today I rode over to Ralph's to pick up something, about 2 miles.  Then into Trader Joe's....picked up among other things, some amazing persimmons for only $2.49 for four of them...big and plump... then packed up my groceries...and started to head home.....and then stopped at the Hillcrest Farmer's Market.  I didn't need anything there, but I wandered thru after locking up the bike and tried some of the samples and checking out the amazing fruits and veggies, and other people wandering around too....Then...a nice smooth cruise home, backpack full....errands done.  Perfect.

Locking my bike up outside of TJ's was pretty frickin' cool...there were 7 bikes already locked up!  That really gets me going...seeing other people into it as well.  Then when I came out of the store to leave, I got into a conversation with a couple that was also unlocking their bikes.  That kind of instant connection because of the bikes has happened a lot.  LOVE IT.

Wanted to take a pic of the bikes all locked up, but ended up talking and didn't remember till about half way home...

The pic here is me on the way to work right after sunrise.

¡Ay, qué frío!

I don't care what accuweather.com said this morning, it was not 56 degrees when I headed out the door at 6:30 to leave for work.  I could see my breath it was so chilly for the first 15-20 mins....brrrrr.
Then...it got soooooo beautiful.....wow.  The sun coming up, the crisp air.
And coming home was just as great...the chill in the air, and seeing the sliver of the moon just risen....another wow for that.  No pics today, but so beautiful that I had to mention it.

I think of so many things to blog about while I ride, then I more than not don't write them down and they're gone from my head....This post is about more just writing something than having a specific purpose.

One of the things that I think is so compelling, and that draws me to ride more and more is what it does to my mind.  It's an experience that doesn't happen while driving a car, for me at least...it's unique to my bike riding experience.  It's usually one of two experiences: the first is really like a type of meditation.  I become very "present"...when I'm not, the consequences can be pretty dangerous...and life-threatening actually.  And that being present, really blots out a lot of the continuous chatter that goes on in my mind,  or for that matter...all our minds. 

And the second scenario is the complete opposite....instead of sort of a clear-mind feeling...I completely focus, obsess over something, an issue, a problem, etc.   Usually I get to a very succint, definative answer, resolution as it were.  The only problem is....after the buzz of the ride wears off...the chatter has started back, and that resolution is shaded with doubts.

Who else goes thru this?

Here's a great 5 minute video of Pema Chödrön, who I like so much, talking about "unconditional friendship with oneself."  Take the time to watch it.

RANDOM CAR-FREE/ BIKE-COMMUTING THOUGHTS

---The reason I really wanted to start writing was to do two things....1) to chronicle this journey from very casual bike, very frequent car drive to a car free bike riding everywhere enthusiast...to watch my own change, monitor ideas, etc.  and 2) hopefully to help other people who are considering either giving up their car, or going car-lite....
So going forward...I’m going to try and add tips, ideas, etc...that even if the idea of getting rid of the car never enters your mind, maybe some things will register as possibilities to incorporate in your own commuting/errand-doing, moving about town meanderings.

---I like doing errands on the weekends on my bike...It feels adventurous to have to plan them out, what place to stop first, do they have a bike rack to lock my bike up, then what place is next, etc...
But...it’s sort of easy really.  For me it’s usually farthest away first....The bank, then Rite-Aid, Vons, the quick easy stuff...no real need for a car, or moreso, no real need for a trunk to put stuff in.

---I really am liking the evening ride home home, even in the dark.  I hated it the first few days last week after the time change.  But now it feels so cool, relaxing actually.   Of course, I do have three lights which helps a lot! 

---I think what helped me shift into liking the night riding was three different things....
1- a good friend told me to pretty much “just do it” and get used to it. 
2- turning it into an adventure, not an inconvenience....(I wrote about that before)
3-- and this was the biggest...I made a conscious decision to just take my time, go more slowly on the way home and to be more cautious.  I figured out, once I looked at my hesitation about riding in the dark, was that it was all ready just fear.  Our old friend fear rears its ugly head again...

---I was singing yesterday on the way home from work....feeling good, alive, connected to everything....it was a great old Brazilian song I learned years ago, NEGUE, by Maria Bethania....LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that song...reminded me of my wonderful friend Jan back in Baltimore.  (lots of love to you Jan!)

---While I was singing....( I find i do it a lot actually, LOL...) I came upon three teenagers skateboarding by....all laughing etc...one said, “nice, dude...”  It was actually so cool..I just joined in and laughed along.  THAT FELT GOOD. 

---I’m noticing slowly some changes to how I ride...and I’m liking it.  Without really thinking about it...I now, after a dead stop, while start standing up and pedal to get some speed up...Not all the time, but I just started doing it without realizing it.  It’s like it makes me feel more in sync with the bike.  Hard to explain besides just saying that it feels really like I’m part of the bike, together.

Daybreak

The time changed already!  I know it's later than it used to be, but it caught me off guard...
But..what was so cool about it was riding in to work this morning is that I left at the same time, and it was already so beautiful, bright, not a cloud in the sky.....

The song DAYBREAK, yes, that one by Barry Manilow, total guilty pleasure....but it kept popping into my head as I was riding in this morning....I wonder if I'll be that when when I'm old....amusing myself like that...My Dad used to always say, "I guess I'll go tell myself some jokes I haven't heard before, "...then wander away chuckling....I know I'm going to be like that...!!!

 But I digress...that song made me think of this.....which made me laugh even more.

After a very strenuous, physically demanding day at work...driving home in the dark for the first time was stressing me out a bit....until I saw, after turning the corner only a block from my office, this view of the almost full moon rising.....

That picture can't do it any justice....but, you can see the moon over the hills.....it took my breathe away, honest...what a sight.

The rest of the ride home was nice...I went slower on purpose to let myself adjust to riding in the dark...I'm guessing it'll be like anything...before too long I won't even think about it.  Funny how that is...