In my limited defense I've got only this: between May 1st, when I got on the Miyata this spring, and November 23rd, when the really cold New England weather set in and daylight hours seemed to become ridiculously compressed, a few miles did go on the bike. As it turns out, in 2010 not a single one of those miles involved riding around Narragansett Bay. YO! What is wrong with that picture? A TON is wrong with that picture, which I will try to rectify in 2011.
But it turns out over 1500 miles that DID go on the bike, and while those did not involve going around Narragansett Bay, they may have had some small impact on Narragansett Bay. Before the cold weather forced me to surrender (being not quite ready for David's Colorado-"lobster-mitts" level of bike rider commitment) I managed fifty-five (55) bike commuter round trips, offsetting nearly 3/4 of a ton of carbon dioxide. That's using a bike to offset, in some small way, the impact of global warming impact. More specifically: using a bike v. continuing to use a car to travel back and forth to the Bay Center.
YO! Dat BIKE be better on every freakin' level!
In 2010, what it ultimately came down to was, on 55 separate occasions, pedal power actually carried me to Narragansett Bay, if not so much around Narragansett Bay. The preferred mode would combine bike commuting with an on-going and never-ending search for the most interesting sources of local grub, i.e., clam cakes, ice cream, etc., as well as photographically documenting scenic vistas around Narragansett Bay.
Oh, do stay tuned on all fronts...
OK, so working for Save the Bay, at the Bay Center, is to be never very far from Narragansett Bay or STB's mission of preserving this incredible resource. For that I remain extremely thankful. Of not being able to quite make enough time for actual recreational bike riding, well, that would be the part of the overall program that still needs a little work...
Given all of that, here are my renewed "goals" for this "blog" between now and when the three-season-bike-semi-fanatic hops on the two wheeler again in the spring:
1) Come up with additional potentially interesting bike rides that may or may not revolve around consuming local food stuffs;
2) Inspire more people to brave the roads of Rhode Island on two wheels in search of the little wonders presented by the beauty of Narragansett Bay;
3) Finally, continue to shamelessly dip into Bill Strickland's excellent The Quotable CYCLIST and share his words and the gems he has culled from a life on a bike that continue to inspire me, sort of like the following:
The First Ride- The Quotable CYCLIST: Great Moments of Bicycling Wisdom, Inspiration and Humor, pp 172-3, Edited by Bill Strickland, Published by BREAKAWAY BOOKS, Revised and updated 2001
First we are floaters, swimmers in what William Kotzwinkle calls the "secret sea." Then we are bound to the ground, unable to even turn over. By degrees we gain mobility, strengthening our muscles and out coordination until we can sit up, then clamber to our hands and knees, then rock back and forth, then put those motions together into forward movement, and finally we grope our way to our feet and walk and it is wonderful but it is a battle against gravity the whole time.
We swim again, of course, but not the way we did before. the crawl and the dog-paddle so precisely describe our progress, the butterfly a laughable antonym of how we actually proceed through water.
It is not until we find the bicycle that we rediscover flight, the unrestrained weightlessness we knew in the womb, the easy, lofting movements and sweeping curves possible with a subtle tilt of our bodies. The bicycle ride is something we remember from before we had memory, plus more. It is wind, it is a world of color to rush over and by and below, it is a world of friction yet freedom.
Humans were meant to ride bicycles, or else we could never accomplish the feat. Scientists cannot explain how a bicycle stays upright. There are too many forces and variables. We can shoot a metal can across our solar system but there are not enough mathematical formulas to explain how a six-year-old child rides a bike. The explanation is simple. The explanation is this: We already know how to ride a bike. We just need to remember it.
We never stop remembering how to ride a bike. There is always more to remember. There are finer and finer movements to make, the tiniest shifts of weight, imperceptible leans. There are tricks, ways to pedal or hold the handlebar, a stance for your knees as you ride over a log, an elbow movement that sucks up the impact of landing after a hop. When you become older and slower you can sometimes go faster than ever if you use everything you know about riding a bike.
It is always sweet for that reason, but never like the first time. Remember that first time. Remember how to ride. And remember, of course, how true it really is that we never forget how to ride a bicycle.
That's it from one person hoping this year's Winter Solstice settles gently upon the land, and Spring does not take its sweet time melting the accumulated snow and ice. Between now and then I'll be "test riding," from the comfort of a computer, new rides around our wonderful Narragansett Bay, and very much looking forward to that 2011 moment when circular rubber will again meet the road!
