Today marks the 30th day of the #30daysofbiking. Imposing a constraint, like riding every day or pledging to post a daily blog entry and picture, imposes a certain structure. These are not epic journeys or novel-length meditations on the meaning of travel.
I have made something in these past thirty days, something that a GPS would render as a series of small squiggles, never moving farther than 18 miles from a spot in a valley, at the base of some mountain, with a lake to the north. The map calls that dot Issaquah. I call it home.
Add up all the squiggly lines and the number in miles in this month and call it 257. Measure it in terms of speed and you find a lot more stopping than going, a lot more "hey look at this" than "hey let's go there." What I stop to photograph or remember is probably not the same as what someone else would notice, even if that someone else is me and the day is tomorrow or yesterday. But here, now, it's the me that's here and now.
And so I roll and stop and take some pictures.
Tomorrow is another day, another month. Tomorrow will be different but today I do not know what that difference will be.
Today I ride my bike, take my pictures and post this very small story.
Tomorrow I will find out what tomorrow is.
Keep 'em rolling,
Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA
6 comments:
Thank you for 30 days of biking blogs!
Makes me want to buy a Dahon.
Enjoy the little things in life.
Thanks for sharing a month of riding around Issaquah. I’ve enjoyed the series very much. Often a short post and a picture will stir the imagination and cause my mind to dwell on a topic more than in lengthy in-depth article. You live in a beautiful part of the world.
Jack Moore
That's a really nice piece of writing there. Not that I'm a writing critic or anything, but it was very nicely put together.
Thanks for your riding and your posts Kent. You're an inspiration to me.
David
Outstanding Kent! As someone who writes occasionally about experiencing the world by bike, I really respect your #30 days project.
Riding anywhere to do anything changes one's perspective on distance, time and speed. When we start to critically examine these concepts in the absence of the automobile, our reference point changes significantly. Thank you for taking the time for the #30 days project, it has inspired me as a rider and a writer.
Cheers,
Matt
Issaquah looks like a nice place.
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