Tag: bicycling

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Bike Paths

Bicycling is the national pastime in Taiwan and there are miles and miles of beautiful, dedicated, paved bike paths all over the country. This made all the difference for me on my recent trip there. My decision about even saying yes to the trip turned on this dime. Still, I had no idea just how great the bike paths would be. Just look at these! Not only beautifully maintained but just plain beautiful!

I got to thinking about paths, in general, as I began to write this. Life paths and bike paths. The qualities of the path affect each person differently and might or might not fit with who we are now and what we can reasonably do.

At certain points in last month’s bike journey with my son, the path we were on affected each of us very differently. The long beautiful ones, above, were of course pure joy to ride on. But below, you can see that we encountered a section that was steep enough to inspire the building of shallow steps on either side of a slightly stepped ramp, rather than having people go careening wildly down a very steep path. For Cole, it was fun to ride the ramp, but I was more comfortable (duh) walking my bike down the middle while using the steps. It accommodated both of us, but in different ways, since we are completely different riders. Experienced/inexperienced. Fearless/fearful. Young guy/Old Lady.

At another point, we rode for 1.75 miles in a tunnel I had described as having had no bike path. In truth, there was a raised sidewalk for bikes, with a curb (but no guardrail) and the curved tunnel wall on the other side. I could not ride on it. It was just as wide as a regular sidewalk but psychologically, I could not do it. The wall felt far too confining, even though I could see that there was room. I could also see that Cole had no problem with it. (He can also ride hands free, hands in pockets, arms jigging back and forth, etc.) I felt like I could easily fall off the curb and fly wildly into a passing car. I felt that I would be giving myself over to chance. I chose, instead, to ride carefully with traffic, pulling over whenever I heard a car coming. I guess I trusted the drivers to see me more than I trusted my own ability to ride in a straight line. And so, that path was not for me.

Right after the tunnel, we took a shortcut through a jungly area with a very steep, narrow road that was wet and a little slick underfoot. Again, I could see Cole riding it but could not make myself get on my bike until it flattened out a bit. The old “Afraid of Falling and Breaking a Hip” shtick. Purely psychological, because I could just as easily have fallen while walking my bike.

But it’s good to know what is and isn’t for you and not get too tangled up in it. Right? Sure, sometimes it’s also good to push your limits. I’d love to be as fearless and carefree as my son–and I remember when I was. I remember wiping out completely on my bike, years before he was born. I was goofing around on the way back to camp after a day of mountain biking (a thing I would not do now to begin with). Laughing and being silly, I took a big fall. Giant nasty scrape on my leg . . . the guys shooting the dirt and gravel off with their water bottles . . . still laughing. No fear, no regrets, just fun. Sigh.

Every path isn’t for every person at every stage of life. That’s all there is to it. That’s what I’m saying and I’m sticking with it. Done.

“Let each {one} take the path according to his capacity, understanding and temperament. His true guru will meet him along that path.” ― Sivananda

“If you don’t know where you want to go, then it doesn’t matter which path you take.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

“There are two paths of which one may choose in the walk of life; one we are born with, and the one we consciously blaze. One is naturally true, while the other is a perceptive illusion. Choose wisely at each fork in the road.”― T.F. Hodge, From Within I Rise

If you’re looking for my cards or art, you’ll find all of that on my website. If you enjoy these letters, feel free to forward this one to anyone you think might like it. And if someone forwarded this one to you, you can sign up here to receive the letters right in your Inbox. Finally, you’ll find past letters and poems here.

Thanks for listening,
Kay

P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”

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. . . and I Am Brave

I am home from all my travels, home from California, home from Taiwan. I could tell and tell about it but in some ways, I haven’t the words.

I wrote before I left about my fears around this trip. I had many. I was afraid the long flight would be awful and that I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I wasn’t. I was afraid I wasn’t in shape enough for the bike trip. I was! I was afraid something dreadful would happen, in a country where I had zero ability to speak or read the language. It didn’t.

So when we came upon this sculpture, with this title, during our first amazing day of the bike journey, I was enchanted. “I am brave.” I hadn’t been feeling brave. I had balked at riding city bikes in the busy streets of Taipei and Taichung, with throngs of scooters, cars, trucks, and people. I did not feel brave, but I did it. I had moments of “I can’t do it” when we picked up our rental bikes and I found my “extra small” e-bike too big to get comfortably on and off of. I was afraid of falling in traffic or anywhere, and breaking a hip, like an old lady. And then I panicked when I read a couple of comments online about how scary the coastal route–our route–could be.

But I knew I could trust my son. He had made all the plans. He is a skilled traveler and cyclist. He was my guide. We set off, in this gorgeous land where all those drivers of scooters, cars and trucks really do watch out for cyclists, where there are miles and miles of beautiful dedicated bikeways, where bike lanes accompany practically every street and highway, where the many bicycle routes for traversing Taiwan are well-marked, where cyclists are warmly welcomed nearly everywhere. Bicycling is the national pastime in Taiwan and that is very apparent.

I would like to write more about the country and the trip in my next letter. It has been so much for me to absorb. I’ll let this one express my gratitude that my son made this happen for me and gave me the chance to be brave. This was much more than travel for me. It was transformative. I’ve learned that I can be fearful of a thing–anxious, worried, even envisioning terrible things–and yet still go ahead and do it, ultimately finding it utterly exhilarating. I once was better friends with that concept than I have been of late. It has been wonderful for me to revisit it.

Thank you, Cole.

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – Nelson Mandela

“Courage conquers all things: it even gives strength to the body.” – Ovid

“In all realms of life it takes courage to stretch your limits, express your power, and fulfill your potential.” – Suze Orman

If you’re looking for my cards or art, you’ll find all of that on my website. If you enjoy these letters, feel free to forward this one to anyone you think might like it. And if someone forwarded this one to you, you can sign up here to receive the letters right in your Inbox. Finally, you’ll find past letters and poems here.

Thanks for listening,
Kay

P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”

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Open Open Open

One morning not too long ago I was walking my dogs up the street and there, on the curb, was a smudged piece of paper with the words OPEN OPEN OPEN on them. Well! I picked it up, of course. It had to be meant for me and it had to be a sign. I’m always saying I want to stay open–to people, places, things, and ideas–so I took this as the universe saying, “Here. Stick this on your wall and do it!”

Turning it over, I saw that it was a sheet of sandpaper. ? Odd, but beside the point. I brought it home and set it down somewhere here in my studio with all the other scraps of paper and pieces of thing that I need to do something with, i.e. it’s not on the wall–yet. Also beside the point. The point is, I took it as a sign.

Found it!

Possibly as you’re reading this, I am on my way to or already in Taiwan. Whoa! My son invited me to go, I took a breath (many breaths, really) and said YES. He wants me to go enough to have bought me a ticket! And he wants us to rent bikes and ride the coast. As I said, I took many breaths. But I thought, If I don’t do a thing like this now, at 71, when would I? And even though just the fact that he asked is enough in itself to make me feel very much loved and happy, the actual going will have to be even more amazing. I can just imagine the opening that will happen, with so many new experiences.

So I will fly to California and visit siblings and their kids and then, from there, fly for 14 hours to Taipei. (Many many breaths.) In Taipei, the Taiwan Lantern Festival will be taking place. Whoa. My eyeballs will be filled with the wonder of it all. The theme of the Festival is “Light Up the Future.” It is a celebration of blessings, ushering in the first full moon of the Lunar New Year. It is all about hope, light, and reaching new heights. I feel that it fits right in with that scrap of paper commanding me to “Open! Open! Open!”

I will report back upon my return.

“Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke

“Let go of certainty. The opposite isn’t uncertainty. It’s openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox . . . . ” ― Tony Schwartz

“That’s the funny thing about life. Extraordinary things can happen to ordinary people like you and me, but only if we open ourselves up enough to let them.” ― Mike Gayle, All the Lonely People

If you’re looking for my cards or art, you’ll find all of that on my website. If you enjoy these letters, feel free to forward this one to anyone you think might like it. And if someone forwarded this one to you, you can sign up here to receive the letters right in your Inbox. Finally, you’ll find past letters and poems here.

Thanks for listening,
Kay

P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”

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Bicycle Bicycle!

The tunnel at Rocheport MO on the Katy Trail

Last summer my son visited from NYC for three months and we bicycled together a lot. I had been meaning to bike more after my last visit to NYC and Montreal, where I rode city bikes with my boys. So I got my bike fixed up. But that was November and I only rode twice before it seemed too cold to ride.

I say “seemed” because now I’ve learned that it is not often that it’s “too cold” to ride or do anything outside, at least in mid-Missouri. I rode one chilly day this fall and decided 45 degrees was as cold as I could do. Wrong! My son is back here again and we rode the other night in 28 degrees, with no sun and plenty of wind, at 5:00 p.m. Now that was cold! Bone-chilling, even with my newly purchased windproof/waterproof gloves, wool gaiter and hat, and shoe covers I’d inherited from a friend. Brr. But! Still fun!

When I get on my bike (I say “my” although it is a super-cool bike on longterm loan from an apparently very good friend), I feel like a kid, zooming down the street, whatever the temperature. The freedom! The air in my face! Though when it’s cold or very hot, I hesitate to go, I always end up wondering why I was reluctant. Because every time I leave my driveway, standing up on the pedals and sailing down the street, I feel so free and happy! It’s worth those first few minutes to get out there and feel like a kid. I could easily come home and build a blanket fort in the living room for the way it makes me feel. With baloney and ketchup saltine cracker sandwiches.

I am certainly not a big time cyclist like others, not by a long shot–but maybe I don’t need to be. My sons have taken many long, challenging rides in all kinds of places. Cole, for example, cycled the coast of Vietnam by himself last winter and is now hoping to one day cycle the entire coast of Taiwan. My friend Julie rode 3,000 miles in 2019! And loads of people ride across Missouri or Kansas or the U.S. or Europe every year. I have done none of those things and maybe I never will. But I have fun the minute I get on that bike.

“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.” – Arthur Conan Doyle

My longterm loan super-cool bike, resting by a creek
My first bike was a turquoise and white girls’ bike with fenders that rose to a peak down the middle. It was a surprise birthday gift, my Dad’s idea, a thing I had not asked for or even dreamed I’d get. We girls used to try to ride our big brothers’ bikes and we were neither welcome nor very able to do it. So I was thrilled to have a bike of my very own. And then when we moved into the City, just a mile or two from Forest Park, we girls zoomed around the neighborhood on our bikes, getting all scratched up through bushes, and up and down little hills. There was definitely gaiety involved then.

Now, at 69, I want to do everything my body will let me do, all the things I can that feed my soul. I want to be outdoors as much as possible. I want to camp and hike and mess around creek beds, rivers, lakes, and the ocean. And I want to ride my bike!

“Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of riding a bike.” – John F Kennedy

I hope you take as much time as you can for fun and whatever sort of adventure feeds your soul.If you’re looking for my cards or art, you’ll find all of that on my website. And if you enjoy these letters, feel free to forward this one to anyone you think might like it. Finally, you’ll find past letters and poems on here.

Thanks for listening,
Kay

P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”