Golden Gardens Park at sunset on a gorgeous May weekend

Bikes, bongos and barbecues on a superbly unexpected riding weekend. Seattle in summer can be magic.

This week's lunacy at the Boston Marathon

I am astounded at all the craziness this week.

With my less-than-perfect left ankle, I'm no marathon runner, nor do I see it in my future. But I know several runners. My dearest Aussie friend Trish (friends since preschool) took up marathon running as her response to turning 50. I expect she's got "Boston" on her top ten list.

This thoughtful post came from the IPhone app I currently use to map my daily bike riding. As I don't run, I usually ignore the posts from the runners. But I really like this map posted by runner samshah27 in San Francisco.

It's such a nice sentiment. As are the comments from Bill Iffrig, the 78-year-old marathoner knocked down by the bomb blast a few feet from the finish. He's from Lake Stevens, WA, a town near one of my regular ride routes.

“Somebody came by with a wheelchair, but I said, ‘I’m fine.’ I wanted to finish,” said Iffrig, a retired carpenter..." 

Rest in peace, Martin, Krystle and Lingzi. Such a stupid thing to happen during such a wonderful event.

At the old school Chelan Cafe on the Alki bike trail

Brilliant sun today so time to drop everything and ride a 28.5 mile loop to West Seattle and the Duwamish Trail. Brunch at this longshoremen's cafe with all the seniors and babes in arms. Along with your eggs you enjoy the maritime decor, including this reminder of the 1930s, the Kalakala, which is a heap of scrap somewhere.

Chilly Hilly 2pm ferry from Winslow

Weather today is breezy and cloudy with sun breaks. Starting at 6:30am I volunteered as a cashier for this year's bike season opener, then rode a piece of the Bainbridge Island route with all the happy customers. Definitely chilly and I've done it enough times to know how to avoid the "hilly", but, hey, it's dry, it's February, and you take what you can get, especially when the bike's been in the shed for a few weeks.

It's All About the Bike by Robert Penn

This charming and illuminating book by a British rider, subtitled "The pursuit of happiness on two wheels," is just the thing for the long evenings of winter.

Had I known in 2010, when I bought my Brompton, I'd have sprung for the Brooks saddle. I was feeling less anxious about money in those days. Still, not to worry. Penn's book wasn't published in the US until 2011 anyway, so I didn't know. I love Penn's description of visiting Chris King Precision Components in Portland, in search of the ne plus ultra of headsets:

"The employees were sitting down to lunch. They looked more like a chapter of Hell's Angels than a light engineering workforce.
'Ah, yes,' Chris said. 'The Portland look. The longer you live here, the more tattoos you have. It works a bit like oak tree rings.' "

After I finished the book, I found it so easy to convince myself to go out and order a custom made bike. Here in Seattle, there are a bunch of handbuilders who'd happily help me part with my dough.

One day. For now I'm sticking to my three bikes. I really shouldn't complain.

I just had ankle surgery to remove some of what I now call my "souvenir of New Zealand" hardware.  I managed a 7 mile spin to Golden Gardens on Sunday, and later this month I'll risk my cleats again. It should feel wonderful to be rid of the ankle tweaking I've endured all year.

Making riding part of your life

Summer's over, so time to return to blogging.

Being laid up by my ankle break, I missed riding so much, I forced myself back on the bike in May. My ankle continues to hurt at times, but you get used to it and it does seem to hurt less and less. For the first months, I swapped out my cleated pedals for flat ones so I could ride in shoes, and I walk up a lot more hills pushing the bike than I used to.

Currently I'm participating in King County's InMotion program, which rewards local residents with prizes for driving less and doing more by bike, bus and walking.

Challenges like this are fun, and Seattle's 3-month run of unbroken sunshine makes it easy. Because it's not a stretch for me to do errands by bike, I'm deliberately planning complex rides across town. I did two great trips this week. Tuesday, I rode downtown, took the King County Water Taxi to Alki (bikes travel free), took the free shuttle to Alaska Junction in West Seattle, and rode to a cooking class at a natural foods store. The return trip, at 9:30pm, was too late for a return on the water taxi, so I used the new Metro Rapid Ride, "C" and "D" routes, and then rode the last mile home. Not too many drunks on the night bus, and it took about an hour.

Yesterday, I rode through the University district to Montlake station, hoisted the bike down the stairs, and rode Sound Transit across Lake Washington to Bellevue. The return was from Bellevue Transit Center to downtown, finished with a return home by bike.

On both days I used William the Conqueror, the baby bike that draws a lot of interest. Metro buses have bike racks, but they don't fit my bike with tiny wheels. And the folding bike is certainly a lot less hassle to wheel onto escalators and out of the bus tunnel. A Brompton is designed for this sort of travel.

Still, I continue to tour, and did manage one good one. In May I took William for a week long trip in Southern Utah. I flew SW Airlines, so there were no bag fees for the cardboard box I cut to size to transport the bike. With a rental car, I had a great time riding and car camping in Zion and Bryce National Parks. Certain parts of each park are closed to private cars, so cyclists can ride some of the best scenic routes out there. Everyone else is stuck in the mandatory park bus.

Inspired by Anne Mustoe

I recently finished reading Anne Mustoe’s Two Wheels in the Dust: From Kathmandu to Kandy (2001), a book about biking the route of the Ramayana’s major characters Rama, Sita and their divine assistant, Hanuman, the monkey king.

I’d hoped that this adventurous woman, who’d be in her 80s by now, was still going strong. Unfortunately, she died in Syria in 2009, on what turned out to be her last bike ride.

I have a copy of the Ramayana, but found it difficult to read. No superlative is ever too much where this epic is concerned, which makes for hard going. It must work better in song or theatrical form. Now that I’ve seen it through Anne’s eyes, I’ll try to read it again.

Last November, I spent a month in Nepal. While in Kathmandu, I glimpsed a beaten up long distance cyclist pushing his rig through the Thamel neighborhood. He was the dustiest person I’ve ever seen, and had his gear wrapped in torn black garbage bags. He disappeared before I catch up and chat. The fact that I wanted to “catch up” with someone who looked like a dangerous vagrant says a lot about how long distance cycling changes your outlook on life.

Where ever I travel these days, I check the terrain for cycling possibilities. That's what riding long distance in France, followed by long distance in the USA, and  in New Zealand does to you. For now, I won't be broaching the subject of riding from Nepal through India to Sri Lanka with non-riding friends, as they'd think I was crazy. With the right mindset, which solo female cycling in the subcontinent would demand in spades, I think it would be a grand trip.

Thank you Anne Mustoe, former headmistress, and late-to-riding pioneer, for lighting the path for the rest of us.