With this mild December it may not be my last bike ride of the year, but I like to treat each one as if it is. So as I biked along today I wistfully murmured to myself "Lo, how long before I zip up this steep hill again while barely pedaling?"
Did I mention that it's an ebike?
Oh, good. I like to keep you informed.
On today's bike trip I didn't take any pictures though I had my camera. Getting off my bike, parking it, taking off my gloves, putting on my glasses, unwrapping my camera, taking the lens cap off, and aiming to shoot the beautiful, enormous woodpecker that just flew over my head and landed on the tree in front of me always seemed like a lot of trouble to go to, especially when there seemed to be a reasonable chance that the woodpecker would have died of old age by the time I was ready to photograph him.
So I might have to come up with a more efficient biking and photography system.
Because it was a mild (for December) day, in the mid thirties, and a weekend, and almost entirely ice and snow free, the walking and biking paths were crowded. I got some good practice ringing my brass bell:
ping
ping ping.
Sometimes people would scurry alarmedly out of the way like I'd just yelled "DEATH ON WHEELS COMING THROUGH!" And sometimes people would pay no attention whatsoever. So the bell needs a lot of practice. Although it's possible no skill with bell ringing will ever solve the vagaries of human behavior.
Because of the crowded paths I learned one more really nice thing about the joys of my ebike. On a regular bike it could be frustrating and irritating to be blocked off by pedestrians or obstacles or dogs or traffic because it meant losing momentum that one had to fight ones way back to. But on an ebike, because that effort is always optional, and so the same as any other effort, I didn't mind.
In short, my ebike has made me a calmer, more agreeable bike rider.
No comments:
Post a Comment
If you were wondering, yes, you should comment. Not only does it remind me that I must write in intelligible English because someone is actually reading what I write, but it is also a pleasure for me since I am interested in anything you have to say.
I respond to pretty much every comment. It's like a free personalized blog post!
One last detail: If you are commenting on a post more than two weeks old I have to go in and approve it. It's sort of a spam protection device. Also, rarely, a comment will go to spam on its own. Give either of those a day or two and your comment will show up on the blog.