By Friday Morning Bicycle Group Rider Linda Hanson
“It’s cold out!”
“I don’t want to get out of bed.”
“Maybe I’ll skip the bike ride this morning.”
Those were some of the thoughts going through my mind a couple of weeks ago as I got up and prepared for our weekly bike ride. I’ll admit, sometimes a little bit of encouraging self talk is needed to get me going in the morning. But I put on a sweatshirt and some gloves and started pedaling.
As I struggled up a hill to our meeting place, I saw our leader, Mike Wojcik, and several other bicyclists cheering me on. This is our Friday morning bicycling group. We meet at nine o’clock in front of the entrance to 125 LIVE, but you don’t have to be a member to join the bike group. Everyone is welcome. We wait a few more minutes and, sure enough, one more late-comer arrives. We are a diverse group – different ages, different abilities, different bicycles. Some have e-assist cycles, some have old bicycles, some have expensive, brand new bikes. I have a twenty year old single speed bicycle with coaster brakes. Last year, one of our members even had a unicycle! What we all have in common is a love for cycling.
“I thought we might do the Cascade Lake trail today,” Mike says.
Oh, I like that idea. The fall flowers are in bloom and they should be lovely this time of the year. Where we ride varies from one time to another. We have a few favorites that we revisit (my favorite is the Bear Creek trail) but Mike mixes it up, often adjusting for the weather conditions. One time, he’ll take us to a new area; another time he takes us to a more familiar area, but in a different way. He mixes it up, so we can’t get bored.
Off we go, headed to Cascade lake. The air that I thought would be cold when I left home, is not. Instead, it is crisp and invigorating. This week, I am in the front of the pack. This is not because I am the best cyclist, nor because I am the fastest. It is because, this week, I am the slowest, and I am setting the pace. We try to make the ride comfortable for all of the participants, and it is easier for the faster members to slow down and have a relaxing ride than it is for the slower member to have to pedal furiously the whole while, trying desperately to keep up. On another occasion, depending on who shows up that week, I might be one of the faster ones. But I don’t mind slowing down, relaxing, and enjoying the scenery.
Our rides are usually about eight to ten miles long, lasting about an hour, but that varies somewhat. What doesn’t vary, is that I always return to our starting point at 125 LIVE energized and feeling at peace with the world. Even the time we went out in late autumn and got caught in a snow squall. The snow didn’t stick to the paved bike trail, but it certainly did stick to my sweatshirt and pants and helmet. I came back looking like a walking snowman! I had never ridden my bike in the snow before. It was fun and exciting!
The bike rides are always changing. Different participants, different types of cycles, different trails, different weather conditions. The one thing that doesn’t change is that I always enjoy them.