Thursday, May 15, 2008

Less Boring... More Fulfilling

Today's ride to work was relatively uneventful, but at the same time I was reminded of the little diversions that make riding a bicycle more interesting than driving a car. I suppose that it helped that I wore my Charlie Brown t-shirt today. That tends to make people smile, even if it only to say "look at the nut job on the bike."

As I cut through the park, I slowed a bit as I came near some geese. As I came closer, I noticed that one of them was leading 4 or 5 little yellow and gray goslings. It was terribly cute. I fumbled for my phone to snap a quick picture, but they were already on their way into the stream. Now, when I think back to times when I've seen geese while driving it was rarely a pleasant experience. In fact there was probably some car horn honking involved.

Then, as I neared the park exit I overtook an older man pushing a beaten up old mixte-framed 10-speed up a small hill. I slowed and noticed the improvised front cargo rack, supported by a single oxidized metal strand of linguine on either side. I offered my wrenching services. His reply was "no unnestan English". I wished him a good day and continued on my ride. As I rode away, I guessed that he most likely just pushes the old mixte up the hills for lack of shifting ability. Regardless of the reason or level of language comprehension, though, it's nice to interact with other people in a way that's impossible while confined behind energy absorbing steel crumple zones.

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