four rides make a post

[ursamajor]

Thursday:

"Never forget," they say, and every year, the voices shouting that catchphrase get more and more shrill, as if we could forget what we saw, and who we worried for.

Seven years and one day ago, she wrote about seeing a rainbow from her office window near the top of the World Trade Center. Seven years ago, it was so bright out it hurt my eyes, and I couldn't believe that such horrible things could be happening on such a beautiful day.

I take a quick ride down to the river; it's grey and cool, and it helps.

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Tuesday

It rained for most of our trip to Vancouver last month, yet I spent three days out of four there riding around town on a rented bicycle. Pedaling around Stanley Park, hefting my bike onto the miniferry, getting lost in Upper Kits, losing track of time and having to pedal the fastest I've ever gone in order to get the bike back before the shop closed. Me, flying up the seawall, a steady drizzle trickling its way down my neck, joyful.

Turns out this was good prep for my inaugural bike ride across the Charles last week to BU, (where I'm taking a databases class this semester). After my horrific experience with public transit the previous week (bus never came, hailed a cab, cab got pulled over for running a red light), I decided to see how realistic biking to class would be for me. The thought honestly terrified me a bit - I don't know the streets of Boston from a biking perspective nearly as well as those of Camberville; how they connect; which ones have true bike lanes; which ones are as craptastic and potholey as, oh, Prospect, or Putnam between Western and the Crate and Barrel, or Forest between Mass Ave and Beacon. JUST A HINT, CAMBRIDGE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS. But it's expanded my biking horizons a fair bit knowing that I can actually do this. Even with a laptop on my back. :)

Boston's been having an unusually *predictably* stormy summer this year - sunny in the morning, rainy in the afternoon; what happened to "If you don't like the weather in New England, wait five minutes"? Of course it started to sprinkle as I maneuvered my way onto the bike path on the south side of the Charles. Of course. :) Still, on my ride there, I discovered a convenient ramp-bridge across Storrow Drive right at Sherborn Street, where my class building is. (Thank goodness; I thought I was going to have to bike down another 3/4 of a mile to Mass Ave and then double back.)

And on my way home, I decided to try to stop by TJ's, since the one on my way home doesn't close until 10. Turns out there's another perfectly-placed ramp-bridge that lets me get across Mem Drive to the TJ's parking lot. The fact that their bike rack was nearly full at 9:30 on a Tuesday night pleased me immensely.

So I've ridden across both the JFK and BU bridges, and feel confident enough that I could do it again. I think next week I'm going to try the Harvard bridge - it seems to be the one I see the largest number of cyclists on on a regular basis.

*

Friday

I want more of my days to be this full of magical discovery.

Biking up the Minuteman Trail to pick up a bridal shower present for melissaagray in Arlington Heights, my longest ride to date. Splashing through puddles, grateful for my fenders, even if I am thinking of spray-painting them to coordinate with my shiny blue thing. (Horrified at the man I followed from Park Ave down to Arlington Center; I now understand exactly what kind of wetness pattern bike fenders prevent on your clothing, and why it looks especially gross on a mustard-yellow shirt.)

Coasting down through Davis Square, dismounting to make the turn on Elm Street towards home, when I look up at the Somerville Theatre marquee and notice that Dar Williams is playing that night. Buy the last remaining orchestra seat. Right before the lights go down, the curly-headed hipster next to me comments to his friend, "This is the first time I've ever been to a sit-down concert."

Shawn Mullins opens, sporting a dapper fedora; I learn that instead of a one-hit wonder, he's actually a fun and funny alt-country guy, and yes, XFR peeps, he did play Rockabye. :) When I tell him afterwards that the reason I know of him was because his pop hit was in a commercial for the X-Files on Sky1, he laughs.

Dar was fun and funny, awkward and awesome, as always. hyounpark and I should roadtrip out to see her when she's back at the Iron Horse the day after Christmas, as should any other local fans who missed her this go-round. (He missed out this time because he went camping on the Cape with bitty and bubblebabble, which I'd wanted to do, but couldn't make fit into my schedule.)

Setlist:
- The Easy Way*
- Spring Street
- Farewell to the Old Me
- It's Alright*
- Book of Love*
- Blue Light of the Flame
- Buzzer*
- The One Who Knows
- The Babysitter's Here
- Echoes
- As Cool As I Am
- You Are Everyone*
- Midnight Radio (from Hedwig and the Angry Inch)
- The Mercy of the Fallen
- Encore: The Christians and the Pagans

*

Saturday

Pedaling as fast as I can down the Mem Drive bike path towards Watertown. Quickchange into dress too delicate for that ride, then another hour in the car with fes42 out to the Wistah suburbs. Sitting in melissaagray's sister's living room, looking around at everyone who's come to fête her, realizing I've known most of these people for five years or more now. Biking back, a serendipitous turn down Mount Auburn results in me following my nose and the tempting scent of meat to Harvard Books and Bartley's; three used Tamora Pierce books, a chocolate egg cream, and a Sarah Palin (grilled onions and cheese sauce; sadly, not a mooseburger) make the trip home with me.

I've done three long rides this week, every one of them an adventure. Tonight, I'll bike down to BU for class again, and hopefully a quick dinner afterwards with a friend. Sunday, I'll go 10 miles at Hub on Wheels (any other locals wanna bike on Storrow Drive with me? and eat Redbones afterwards? :D ).

This is what life on two wheels is like.

*

(I need a good biking icon. Where should I look?)