Riding Around

Like my sister, I’ve internalized this superstition that what you do on New Year’s Day influences what you’ll be doing for the rest of year, so it was important to me that I spend a good amount of time on bike yesterday, even though it’s pretty certain that whether or not I rode at all on January 1, 2009, I’ll still have plenty of opportunities on the other 365 days of the year to be out on two wheels.

But whatever, I loaded up my pannier with the last batch of Christmas cookies to share and pedaled through virtually empty streets to the Greenlake basketball courts for the super-secret and very exclusive New Year’s Day Cargo Bike Ride at just before 1:00 and still had a good half hour or so to hang around before we left, later than usual, but well within appropriate tolerances for a New Year’s Day ride, I think.

We were a small group that got smaller as we passed the Pacific Inn Pub, several of our number joining up with the .83 ride leaving from there around then. I thought about bailing for the warmth of the bar, but decided to stick with where I was, enjoying the company and pace of the current arrangement, and also, because I wanted to see in action military issue wood-burning campstove that this guy Carl, who always comes to the cargo bike rides, was hauling behind his single-speed Swiss or German army bike.

Eventually there were six cyclists ranging from age about 8 to me or slightly beyond who pulled into the shelter at chilly and windy Golden Gardens. We shivered until a tarp was put up and the woodstove got cranking; then, it was like standing around in a cheery beachfront living room with big windows.

I had a beer, then rode around some more, but eventually remembered I want to be home a lot, too, in 2009, so off I went.