Forming an attachment to the roads
Originally Posted by
rousseau
Not literally.
But every spring I get back onto roads that I haven't been on for a couple months over winter, and it always feels like seeing old friends after a hiatus. The synapses of memory fire and re-establish dormant connections with every dip and curve and grade…
I can't help but feel enraptured at finally doing more riding after the freezing cold April that the middle and northeastern part of the North American continent had to endure after we'd been promised a milder winter and an earlier spring.
There really is nothing like a good bike ride, is there?
Another thing:
I consider streets and roads to essentially belong to one of two classes: those with lines, and those without. Line markings signify the presence of voluminous motorized traffic, something to be endured for the first 4 or 5 km of my ride (in any direction! I'm lucky) until I get far enough out of my city of 32,000 to be surrounded by little more than cows and corn.
There are stretches of pristine tarmac around here where in the early evening I can ride for minutes/kms at a time without encountering combustible engines. To say that this is a joy and highly to be prized is an understatement
Ten years ago, when I got back onto a bike as an adult, I never would have foreseen myself feeling so sentimental about, even possessive of, the roads I ride on. But I do.
I really do feel rooted in my community and region because of my bike. And that I'm a roadie saying this is a bit ironic, considering that many of us (older types) are seen as lycra-clad middle-aged narcissists without a bone of local consciousness in our bodies.
So here's to consciousness-raising on a road bike. Cheers!
Originally Posted by
badger1
I get this sentiment - "like, totally"…
Question: where the hell are you -- rough indication will do! I'm in Middlesex County.
I have that renewal experience every year, as I expand my usual year-round 14 mile commute onto revisited training rides all over metro Boston. In fact I post about the
"road" as a physical structure, and
"Road" as a unifying, virtually metaphysical concept. This winter I had to drive one of my usual summer cycling routes, and posted about it on a local Boston Northeast Regional Discussion thread:
Originally Posted by
sherbornpeddler
Ditto but 20 miles through Sherborn, Millis and Norfolk. Smaller potholes and more twigs and tree debris than salt and sand. I've done so little outdoor riding this year it felt odd yesterday. I wonder if drivers need to be re-aclimated to bicycle traffic?
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
About two weeks ago around dusk on a misty, rainy/wintry mix evening, I drove from Norwood to Milford via Rte 109, to include my oft-ridden, nice-weather areas of Westwood, Medfield and Millis all the way to Milford. All along the route I recalled various checkpoints, reminisced about past rides, and planned new ones...
I once categorized the roads I ride on in reverse order of cycling desirability (couldn’t find the quote, and this is a recollection) as heavy commercial, urban downtown, light commercial, urban/suburban residential, exurban and rural. I had a special term for those intimate, tree-lined, low volume, grass abutted roads, often without lines:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
…The route took us on leafy, well-paved and lightly-traveled roads though the ritzy suburbs of Carlisle, Concord, Bedford, and Lexington. I have a personal term for such roads as “enchanted,” and the stretches I encounter on my usual routes are very short, but here they went for a few miles each. …
I also recently posted on the Living Car Free Forum:
Originally Posted by
valleyrider
… Then I realized that bikes are a much better form of transportation, so I decided to bike as many places as possible. Living in a smaller city makes that difficult, especially since many of my friends live on farms outside of the city, but I love it.
I know the city much better than any of my friends. I know every landmark on my way to work, I see amazing things that people pass by everyday without ever seeing…
There are many more reasons than that, and every day I ride I can think of another reason.
Originally Posted by
Machka
+1
I have moved into an area and cycled to places which the people, who have lived in that area for years, have never been to. I'll return to work on Monday morning and ask people about this place or that place and many times they might have heard of it, but they've never bothered to get in their cars and drive there. Yet, I've cycled there.
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
…Also, Boston is a compact city, amenable to cycling, and in the downtown inimicable to a car.
With regards to learning the geography, many people I have met tend to know mostly their own neighborhoods, but since I live in the Metropolitan Center, I have explored essentially the entire Metropolitan Region, and posted a cycling guide to Metro Boston.
I in turn often ask people where they live, because invariably I have ridden in their neighborhood, and that question usually sparks an engaging conversation.
Finally, I grew up, and began my adult cycling lifestyle in Southeastern Michigan, and had relatives in Kitchener. Pinery Provincial Park was a favorite day trip (by car). My then-girlfriend-now-wife and I did some touring in Southwestern Ontario, including a memorable ride along the Lake Huron shore from Sarnia to the Bruce Peninsula, ferry to Manitoulin Island, on to Sudbury, train to Toronto, ride to Kitchener, then home via Windsor. Currently we visit Detroit from Boston a couple times a year via Buffalo though Ontario to Sarnia and Port Huron.