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?
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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!
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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.
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Ok, this isn’t what I saw while riding my bike around *today* but I finally have a minute to write about it. I went to Miami last week to watch women’s basketball and visit some natural parks. I have no desire to spend money in a state like Florida, but I have every desire to spend money supporting women’s basketball, and I also really needed a vacation after canceling everything good last year. Thanks a lot, cancer! No clean living in capitalism, so I headed down there by myself, sunscreen and sneakers in tow.
And oh, I had such a wonderful time. I fed so many parts of myself. I went to Biscayne Bay National Park and learned about coral reefs, mangroves, and how many different histories overlap in a single place, as always. I took the bus to Miami Beach and South Beach to hobnob with rich people and the people who are meant to stay invisible while making sure the rich people don’t have to know that it takes labor to get that effortless lifestyle–and I got to learn a new bus system. I also learned, again, that yes, I like my black beans Cuban-d.
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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.
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It has been a really long time since I sat down and wrote about what I saw riding my bike around today. I was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time in June, 2024, and it has been a whirlwind. It was the best kind of cancer you can get, sort of, I guess, but the way you treat this cancer, especially the second time around, is by cutting out and off everything. I had three surgeries in five months, and even when I got on my bike between surgery #1 and surgery #2, my heart wasn’t in it. I knew as soon as I got back to my old fitness I’d get knocked down again, and also I was just still so tired.
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When I first rode my bike around east Baltimore after moving to town 13-odd years ago, I often rode through the Perkins Homes public housing development. I wondered to myself why the city let public housing and the people who live in public housing live so close to the ritzy neighborhoods of Harbor East and Fells Point. and here we are, and Perkins Homes is gone, being rebuilt like this. It is like being in a whole new place I barely recognize, and I also know that once it’s finished, it will feel like it has always been here. Because we get used to things, for good or ill.
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It’s the seventh anniversary of this blog today. I’ve been riding my bike and writing about what I see pretty regularly for a full seven years. That sounds like a long time, sort of, but what seems like really forever ago is me not riding a bike and writing about it. I ride a bike–it’s what I do, for transportation, for fun and pleasure, for vacation and work, for everything. Seven years ago this was not the case at all. Seven years ago I had recently moved to New Orleans with a car, and I was mostly driving to get places. Continue reading
Sunday’s ride took me up to Hampden for a late breakfast–I think they call it “brunch.” The ladyfriend came too, riding her sexy pale blue 1972 Miyata 10 speed bicycle. Oh, life is better when the people you love want to take their bikes, too! We locked up to some road signs in the neighborhood, put our names on the list, and settled in to wait. I watched as the easy flow of mostly-white folks wandered up and down our Avenue, a million miles away, it felt, from the Baltimore we’ve all been talking about. We saw a bunch of people we knew, shared our hellos and our stories, and ate well and did some window shopping before getting back on our bikes. Unreal privilege right here, I tell you. Unreal.
I’ve been biking seemingly all day, every day for the past week. Saturday was especially long, up to Loch Raven, taking the lane on some seriously busy streets, down and over to check out the tulips and babies and puppies and mansions in Roland Park, and then down to Fell’s Point to avoid Pirate Day (you know pirates were often slave traders, especially when piloting the superfast Baltimore clipper ships, right?) and Record Store Day (the ladyfriend’s got that covered) and choke down a quick crepe before taking the Lombard Bike/Bus lane–good lord, I love that thing–to Ridgely’s Delight for a ride home. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 