[LEMONS] 6.07.2001
Last night, we did some volunteer work at the bicycle coalition. We handed out postcards and gathered signatures at 7th and Market to urge the board of supes to allocate $250,000 for Market Street improvements. Later we labeled and stuffed envelopes. Boring work, but I enjoyed doing it.
It got me thinking about bikes again. How much more free I am on a bike than in the bus or in a car. This morning, a beutiful day, I was riding down Fulton Street in the bike lane, passing all the cars. I wasn't pedaling even, nor was it a steep grade. Traffic was just at a standstill
At the top of Alamo Square, I can look down all the way to City Hall, and see the sun peak over its golden dome. It's an amazing thing to see in the morning, and something you probably would not notice in the morning--just as the beutiful weather would not be as significant. By the time I hit Webster, I had caught all the lights. I was going too fast for pedaling to do me any good. It feels like flight. It's the same sensation that I love when I'm skiing. As I approached Webster, the light was still Red. I'd been watching it. It had been red for a while; I kept going. Coming into the intersection it's still red, and I'm going entirely too fast to stop without going over my handlebars. So I closed my eyes, and I just went, trusting God and everything else in the world that the light would change. I felt my stomach come up as I entered the intersection, and there I was, in the dark, flying. I opened my eyes, the light was green, and I was through. It was beautiful.
- l i n k -
