Be friendly on your #bicycle

@postaday 87; #postaday2011
Check my stats?

Went on a short ride today because family obligations. Not that I needed an excuse to avoid the hills and the wind again. By shaving off the hills, I subtract about 10 miles from my ride. So today I went 22.44 miles, my max speed 28.2 mph, my average moving speed was 16.5 mph. It took me about an hour and a half.

Aside from the occasional jerk in steel sausage casing, most drivers are quite generous. Today by the soccer fields on Kalanianaole Highway, two HPD SUVs and a Honda Odyssey were blocking the bicycle lane. There was lots of traffic, I checked my rear-view mirror, stuck out my hand, and hoped for the best. Sweetness. An old guy in a big honking piece of golden Detroit metal hung back and let me take the lane. I LOVE HIM. When stopped at the light, I tried to connect and give him another wave for helping me out. But he seemed to be back in that place where old people go when they are behind the wheel. However, theBus driver who was next to me gave me a wave. You know, I love to connect like that. We’re all humanity and it costs us nothing to be pleasant to each other.

When I ride I like to be friendly. If you pass me, I’m going to say hi. I like it when you say hi. When you and your boys are across the street and I wave and you don’t wave back, I figure you left your nuts on your wife’s night stand. I’m not exactly pole dancing. I’m kicking my own butt on my own ride and quite possibly kicking yours, too. Let’s recognize that we’re both in pursuit of the same thing: joy on a bicycle, pain on a bicycle, survival on a bicycle, and looking good naked.

When I get home after a ride, I have this sense of accomplishment and a sense of gratitude. I think about what went right and what could have gone better. I think about how fortunate I am when it was uneventful. And I think about how stronger I am getting because I don’t chicken out when it comes to the hard stuff like hills, and wind and rain and road grit.

I shape all this while on my ride. What a great way to come up with a blog entry.

Love, me.