We used to live in a big bad city (of which I will later write,) and we loved it, much of the time. But it was a place where we had to keep a certain level of awareness, of caution, about us all the time, more so after dark. It was not a place to ride a bike at night while stargazing.
When we first moved here and I started to ride my bike to work and errands and for general transportation again I realized how much I missed the sensation of riding so casually and regularly. It’s a different feeling, for me, to jump on a bike in street clothes and zip downtown than it is to kit up, pump tires, fill bottles and head out for a ride.
A few nights ago I got out of a meeting around 9:30. It was 20 or so degrees and one of the other meet-ers pointed out the lunar eclipse that was in full swing. As I pedaled towards home under the cold sky with lots of stars I was able to stare at the eclipse while occasionally glancing forward to correct my heading and also to watch tiny comets of snow passing through my headlight beam. I saw few moving cars. Mostly I passed quiet houses with the shifting blue light of the TVs leaking out around the edges of their curtains. I got home, hung the bike in the garage and warmed up by the woodstove.
All those years living in the city I hardly realized I missed evenings like that. But now that I have them again I can feel how good they are for my heart and soul.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
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