Cycling With Susan

I had been thinking (a dangerous pastime, I know) that sometimes what Susan and I really need is a little adventure in our lives.  And what could be more adventurous than a bike trail that is home to a large population of black bears?!  Time to go to the Great Dismal Swamp Canal Trail in Chesapeake, Virginia.  Susan did not consider the prospect of trying to out-pedal black bears an adventure; in fact, she thought it sounded pretty foolish.  But I talked her into going anyway.  She’s a good sport.  Besides, she pedals faster than I do.  You know the old joke… Before our ride,  I did a little research on the canal itself only to find that its history is as long as the founding of our country itself.  It would be a grave omission to write about the canal and the trail without acknowledging its origins. The canal itself was created to (indirectly) link the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia to the Albemarle Sound as a means of transporting goods.  ...

At the beginning of spring 2020, when Susan and I were contemplating whether we could train enough to endure the 52 mile Capital Trail that runs from Jamestown, VA to Richmond, VA, we knew it was time to get a divorce.  From our old bikes. Phillip's old Navigator 300 -- w/ broken front brake Several years ago, Susan had purchased a hybrid bike from a major brand at a box sporting goods store, which ended up being a pretty low-end model.  Among the issues, much of the metal on the spokes and handlebar stem were rusty and pitted.  On the other hand, I had a Trek Navigator 300 hybrid bought maybe 14 years ago.  Bright red with grip shifters, I loved that bike.  Mostly.  Its tires were definitely more mountain bike than road bike, but without any of the other benefits of a true mountain bike.  And those wide knobby tires made me work my tail off to keep up with Susan.  At least, that’s the reason I kept telling myself every time I lagged behind. With ...

The time for which I was alive in the 1960s could be measured in days, so I can’t really honestly claim to have lived through (or even during) the decade.   But from the stories, movies, and books, it was a period of cultural upheaval that had the potential of producing profound change in our society.   That perhaps fell well short of the goal.  It seems to me that today we are in a time of reckoning to rival those days.   We have just celebrated our Independence Day, where many sat it out because we are still falling short of the ideal that “all men are created equal.”   We are questioning the word “freedom” and who we can trust and who should even be called an “American hero.”   Place that against another complex backdrop:   On July 3 Disney + premiered a filming of the Broadway production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash hit Hamilton .   We have a largely Black cast interpreting (in rap) events that focus on fighting for liberty in the late 1700...

In Wordsworth’s poem “The World is Too Much With Us” he describes a world in which “we are out of tune” with nature and that “it moves us not.” As I drive the roads and see hand-made cardboard signs declaring “Viruses Don’t Exist” and “Dethrone Northam,” I feel that I live in a polarized and politicized community where emotion and self-service often come before kindness and community—a place where the world is too much with me. Sometimes I need to turn off the news and ignore the propaganda so I can return to the things I cherish. Sometimes biking should not be about the distance. Or the speed. Or training. It should be about how cycling can be restorative. This is why we bike Gwynns Island and this is where we fell in love with cycling.  Gwynns Island, in total about six square miles, is located at the tip of Virginia’s Middle Peninsula and juts into the Chesapeake Bay, and every view at any time of the day is gorgeous. From the stretch along the water to the churches to quaint co...