bicycle dreams

this morning seems to be all about bicycles. i woke up from a dream of riding a unicycle around town, wind in my hair. it was easier than it looks, in my dream. I think i'll have to try it in real life. anyone own a unicycle? got an email this morning about riding bicycles through piles of leaves. and on sunday i rode my bike to tutoring, cold cold wind, leaves blowing around my face, nose running and red. nothing better than that wind-and-bicycle-induced snot, flowing out of control.

so this morning i decided to read about our lovely two wheeled friends. some factoids:

''All the bridges built since the last war over the St. Lawrence River in Quebec have omitted facilities for bicyclists. And the four bridges involved include both those constructed by the government of Canada and the government of Quebec... In Montreal things are actually retrogressing. The hundred year old Victoria Bridge was renovated to eliminate sidewalks in favour of two additional car lanes. In Philadelphia, no less than four bridges crossing the Delaware river have no bicycle access. One such bridge is named after Walt Whitman, author of the Open Road. ''

''The most spectacular do it yourself cycleroute was built in the summer of 79 between bristol and bath in England. George Platts, chariperson of bristol's cycling organization writes: 'We have achieved a number of firsts, including the construction of a five mil stretch of inter-urban cycle and footpath in ten weeks using volunteer labour and raising the 5000 pound material cost ourselves.''

''The bicycle was recognised by nineteenth-century feminists and suffragists as a "freedom machine" for women. American Susan B. Anthony said: "Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel...the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood."

and the best one of all: ''Sociologists suggest that bicycles enlarged the gene pool for rural workers, by enabling them to easily reach the next town and increase their courting radius.''

think of where we'd be without bicycles...

my favorite memories from asia are those lazy afternoons when i would rent a bike for pennies and take off. oh, those lovely hundred-pound one speeders that would take me sweating along flat open rice fields, past waving kiddies, cute as buttons.

someone must force Harmony to ride a bike. it's so made for her.
stubborn girl.