I have so been enjoying being back on my bike this year, especially since we’ve had some unseasonably warm weather. And that unseasonably warm weather has come to an end, for now, so the question is, will I still ride my bike?
Continue reading
One of my bike rides this week took me down to Baltimore Bicycle Works, our local worker-owned coop bike shop, to make an appointment for a tune up and some new bar tape. I went with my friend R., who is getting the electric bike her dad gifted her in better working order. It took both of us making each other go to take care of this task, and I’m so glad we have each other to overcome the inertia that can keep me, at least, riding on a bike that needs a derailleur adjustment for far too long. Friendship is magic!
Continue reading
I had a great week on my bike. I rode to the Y and back, even when I could have used the car–a small thing, but a big shift, and it takes basically the same amount of time. I biked to Mount Vernon for a coffee date, to Hampden for a lunch date, and down to Harbor East for dinner with a friend I hadn’t seen in over 20 years. It helped that the weather was unseasonably warm, but really, it’s a mind shift: the bike is how I travel, so that’s how I traveled this week. It was glorious.
My ride to Hampden took me along Wyman Park Drive, which was a construction clusterfuck because Johns Hopkins is building their new AI center on that corner, and they are cutting down a bunch of trees to make room for it. People who care about those trees are not happy about it, not at all. Hopkins says they’ll plant an additional 300 trees, but people who care about these trees want these trees.
Continue reading
I didn’t ride my bike that much in 2025. I spent much of the first part of the year slowly but surely recovering from three surgeries in the second half of 2024. I could bike commute that spring, but a single ride would take me two days of recovery. I spent a lot more time on buses and in carpools than usual. And then it was summer–too hot–and fall–work was so busy. Lots of late nights, I don’t like to ride at night, my boo works ten minutes from me–we’ll carpool.
Continue reading
I had the time, energy, and weather for a bike ride today, and wow, it had been a long time since I got to do that. I started with a quick ride down the hill to meet friends for brunch, in celebration of B. and D.’s birthdays. I had a cobb salad–classic brunch dish, I know–and a cup of coffee, cheers-ed the friends, felt grateful for this part of my community, and then hopped on my bike to head home.
Continue reading
I was worried I wouldn’t still like riding my bike around, and then I’d lose access to the part of myself that likes riding my bike around. And then I thought to myself, if you don’t like riding your bike around anymore, that’s ok! Things change! You’ll always have enjoyed that, it will always have made your life so much more interesting, and you can be on to the next thing. It’s like getting a tattoo–what if I regret it? But regret or not, it will always have marked who you were at that moment, and that’s a record worth keeping.
Continue reading
It’s like they threw me in a blender at the end of June and I’m being poured out just in time for a new school year. Cancer, man, it’s a trip. I had a skin sparing double mastectomy on July 19, and the following couple weeks are a blur. And then it was all appointments, waiting, stripping that one drain that wouldn’t let up, and wondering if I’d have to do chemo. I found out on Monday that I won’t be doing it this time around, and my relief, overwhelming. I’ll do it again if it is important to extend my life, but I have never felt so detached from my life and whether I lived or died as I did when I was doing chemo. Happy to not go back there.
But there’s still a lot of healing to do, and more surgeries and treatments. I’m still fatigued. If you don’t know the difference between being tired and fatigue, ask one of your friends recovering from surgery, living with fibromyalgia, or doing pregnancy. I don’t know what my body will be up for each day, and when it turns off it really turns off. I can’t really put into words what it feels like, but believe me, it’s a rough go, and all the sleep in the world can’t fix it. For me, it’s my body’s way of telling me to slow down, we’re still healing, take it easy.
Continue reading
I haven’t been blogging much these days, too busy with work and out of the habit. But I was thinking about this blog on my ride yesterday and wanted to check back in and say thank you, bicycle and bicycle blog, for teaching me how to pay attention in new ways.
Continue reading
I spent last weekend all by myself–the ladyfriend was visiting family in St. Louis. I love her so much, and I was also thrilled to have four full days in the house by myself to do whatever I wanted. Now, I do whatever I want all the time. I don’t have to wait for her to leave to sit on the couch watching terrible reality and eating a whole box of cookies, for example; she’s happy to share space with me as I am being myself, and I feel completely able to be fully myself, too. That’s my favorite part of this relationship. And yet, there’s something different about being truly alone, and I was so excited to have that time and space.
Continue reading
Sunday’s ride took me down the hill to meet L. and friends for her birthday brunch at our regular place–she’s fun and 41, as she says! I don’t personally celebrate Easter, but it looked like everyone else in the neighborhood did. There were lots of suits and ties, dresses and hats, kids squirming in clothes that looked cute and uncomfortable. I rolled up to the bike rack and had to ask a family of eight to make way so I could use it. We shared some words about the weather (it was amazing) and waited impatiently for the restaurant to open. When it did, they got themselves a big table at the back, and I grabbed the corner bar for us, ordered coffee, and stared at my phone until my friends showed up.
Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 