A Sporty Day

The Water Tower at Volunteer Park

Laura and I had a delightful bike riding day planned.  She has a new two bike rack for her car, and this meant that we could go to pleasant places far afield, without the onus of the hills and traffic in the way of getting there.  Seward Park and the bike path along Lake Washington were on the agenda for the day.  Laura said she had been fretting about getting the bikes on the rack, but as I was not going to be the one dealing with this, I didn’t bother to fret about it.  Getting her bike on was easy!  I guess I should have fretted, because getting the second one on was decidedly not easy.   After some struggle, we realized that due to a difference in bike anatomy, the rack would accommodate two boys' bikes, but not two girls' bikes. What to do?  I thought my neighborhood was pretty boring for a bike ride, but I guess if you don’t live here, it is a tiny bit fabulous.  So we took a bike tour around the home territory.  You can read Laura’s take on it here.  It turned out to be a great ride, and seeing the local scenes through another’s eyes gave me a new appreciation of them. 

The Volunteer Park Conservatory

Thinking about bike anatomy reminded me that when I first started riding a bike, I wanted a boys' bike.  I was sure that the difference in the two bicycle sexes was somehow due to male chauvinism somewhere along the line.  Despite my pleas, my parents insisted that I get a girls' bike – it was a blue Hiawatha, which I rode for well over twenty years. I considered that bike one of my special friends and treasured our long happy relationship.  Nonetheless, I continued to harbor a certain resentment against those sexist bike makers who differentiated between girls and boys.  It wasn’t until possibly fifty years later, when I tried to ride a boy’s bike in a skirt that the light went on!  It was simply not possible.  Or at any rate not possible to do and remain modest and dainty. 

Checking with Pauline to see if she is receiving.

But about our next bike ride - not to worry, Friends!  Laura actually has two bike racks, so next time we can have our trip to Lake Washington after all.  It will just mean taking the bikes on two cars.  I am very much looking forward to it.  One of life’s true pleasures is a bike ride with a friend.  

A cool treat after a fun ride.

Update:  I didn’t mention that we went by Bruce Lee’s grave because Laura covered that aspect of our ride.   I was telling Becca about all the people there and how at first we thought it was an actual funeral, and then we realized that it was fans, and how surprising this was, as I had never seen anyone there before.  Neither had she, she said, but she and Rachael had taken a walk through the cemetary just the other day and she took a picture of Rachael.  I was certain that you all would want to see it.