Wow. It's 2022. Six years since last we met! Sorry for that.
Back in 2008 I was tired of always being stuck in my car- driving to work, driving 3 children everywhere, driving to the grocery store, drivingdrivingdriving, and never having time for anything other than driving. Life was stressful enough, and constantly being in the car wasn't making the situation better. My husband (you remember Hubby the Bikeman!) was finally back in stable employment after the god-awful post 9-11 tech crash, I was able to cut back hours in a career that was sucking me dry, and the world was waking up to the idea that life could be different. Living a slower, more deliberate life of lower consumption/more joy was grabbing hold, and I was spending a lot of time exploring the world of Slow Food (a movement that completely changed my world) and Buddhism (another exploration that changed everything). Suddenly, those searches were coinciding again and again with what was at that time called "Slow Cycling" (ironically, it stopped being called that pretty fast), and I kept stumbling on (the now defunct) "Amsterdamize" blog, by Marc Van Woudenberg (a lovely, funny man who will never know how much that blog meant to me). Repeatedly, while researching local food sheds and seasonal eating, my searches would turn up his photos and stories of people on giant, traditional Euro-style bicycles while wearing normal clothes, and not worrying about helmets or heart rates. They all looked content, and unhurried, and healthy. There were kids in bike seats eating snacks, and women wearing high heels, and panniers full of backpacks and groceries.
I needed that. I needed that bad.
I started with what I had- a 1988 Rockhopper Comp that I'd had since college, a crappy 8MP point and shoot, a brand new Flickr account, and a desire to try something different.
And then I met Meli after stalking her at Bikes and the City.
Before I knew it, I had a blog, a new bicycle, my first good digital camera, and 2 more friends to share it all with- Calitexican, and Caryl!
And wasn't that the point of what were saying back then? It doesn't matter how fast you are, how fancy your bike is, how you ride, or how you look doing it. It matters that you show up, that you try, and that you love it. Bicycles were the vehicle in our message, but they were only ever a metaphor.
