Word After Word

Some of my friends criticize cycling, bikes, the group rides, the bright crazy t-shirts, the wild colors, the gear, all of it. We’re in their way, the whole thing is annoying somehow. I’m always surprised when my own friends are cranky about something so clearly beautiful and pleasurable and healthy and exciting. People are outside, on bikes! We want to live in towns where the citizenry is out cycling in the evening, having fun. It’s only good. I’ve been looking for a handy way to respond to my friends who fear cycling, who fear, perhaps, they don’t know how to engage this part of self any more. Last night, on the Night Ride, I found it!

When we blow out of town, we’re still all together, in a tight pack, some thirty cyclists, bike lights and shirts flashing, all tucked tight up against each other, wheel to wheel. And as we wind our way through town, to the outskirts, two by two, kids line up on the sidewalks, always. They line up one deep, in straight lines, so every body has a front seat view. And we when we go by, they wave and yell riotous and pro joy things like “HEY! HEY! HEY!” or intelligible parade-esque chants—I don’t know exactly, it’s a little hard to hear. But they wave and they have amazed looks on their faces and they are purely for this behavior, this spectacle, it’s everything they are for, hoping for, moving towards!

The long ribbon of us is dramatic and beautiful and colorful. We are like a land kite or a beautiful piece of living string. We’re under-supervised—there’s not a leader or a boss. We’re bikes! They know bikes are how you leave your parents. We are fast and we are heading out town—this is essentially the definition of joy.

People who complain about cyclists: is it that you are a little hungry for pure unadulterated joy? Are you doing enough things that cause children (that spirit in you) to  pause in their play and stand on the sidewalk, and pay homage, pay witness?

Some Adults holler rude things at cyclists and feel we are interfering with their passage.

Some Kids yell Go go go! and know there is always a way to escape!

Which camp would you want to be in?