My Lovely Lovely is getting more and more used to riding. One of these days this riding thing will be come a habit and then it will become a need and then we can ride every day. Woohoo!
There is a tree that is beautiful to look at. (Bear with me here, this really is a cycling blog.) In the month of March it explodes with a riot of white blossoms. It is quite impressive. It also has a rather striking aroma. (I describe it this way because smelling the blossoms is a lot like getting punched in the nose.) The tree, in fact, stinks. I know this because I think every single one in the area is in bloom. We rode through a cloud of stink. It was pretty to the eyes but foul to the nose.
We rode around the neighborhood together with a haze of stink drifting around us, then we crossed the street and then we came to THE BARRIER.
"How do you come to the barrier?" I hear you not asking. Well, I'll tell you. You ride down a really rough road. You reach a sign that says State Maintenance Ends and then the rough road becomes tremendously smooth. Shortly after that, you reach a speed bump and a sign that warns you that the road beyond is private property. Normally we stop at this speed bump and turn around, but today we decided to be scofflaws and we crossed the speed bump to visit the other side.
“Try to look like a wealthy woman of leisure,” I said. My Lovely Lovely grinned at me, and we rode on. After the first speedbump came two more in short order.
The stink of the Bradford Pear trees (yes, I knew what they were called all along, but I didn’t want to show off my extensive botanical knowledge earlier) stopped at the speedbumps. The sound of passing cars and airplanes faded away to be replaced by the blissful sound of bicycle tires on smooth pavement. The air was sweeter. The temperature was even nicer. It was amazing. I don’t know how they did it.
We wondered if we would stand out. We passed a group of people in a driveway and they waved at us. The natives were indeed friendly in this strange new land.
We decided to say and explore the area. The roads were all smooth and wonderful.
Way at the back of the other world was a narrow wooden bridge leading through a wooded area to yet another neighborhood. We didn’t explore the second neighborhood. This time.
As we headed back out, we approached the set of three speedbumps. In front of the first one was a sign warning of impending speedbumps, and right after the sign was a set of skidmarks, presumably left by someone who didn’t see the sign in time. This person clearly doesn't live in the other world, which is obviously a place of peace and tranquility. It was clearly an unruly visitor. My Lovely Lovely and I were ruly visitors.
In no time we were back in the real world where the roads are rough and the trees stink. But we know how to get to the other world now, and we’ll surely explore it again.
My Lovely Lovely rode six miles today, which is a personal best, so congratulations to her.
Tomorrow I’m looking at a long ride followed by yet another ride with my Lovely Lovely. Life is good.
See you on the road.
I think I need to try being a scofflaw.
ReplyDeleteWhy let a good word do to waste? It's been sitting around doing nothing for far too long.
ReplyDelete