Let the Good Times Roll

Mud. Jimi Hendrix. Childhood. Blues. BB King. Bikes. Freedom. Sunlight. Breeze. Fun. Dirty. Proper. Pretty. Nasty. Cherish. Abuse. Value. Rush. Adrenaline. Beauty. Rock n Roll.

How do we put all of the above words together???

For me:

a picture is worth a thousand words.

so wait:

there's 2 thousand....

or just 2. CROSS BIKE.

today i took my daughter on her first real bike ride

she is not quite 3, but subsequent to the joy she experienced as she learned how to glide on her push bike, she wanted to ride 60k home from her aunt's house. 

that is how i feel on my cross bike...like a big kid. 

yes, she has put me through heaven and hell with mechanicals, but even in her previous, eurasian incarnation, we had some snowy, viking like expeditions that vivified one of the bleakest winters in recent years.

the don valley after  a snow storm

ahhh, but now that she has an italian drive-train (ie. soul) and  italian designer shoes, she is like some kind of a combination combat tank and ballerina ; she rolls through mud, sleet, grit, snow, roots, wet, cold and mayhem, like a trooper, yet she always appears graceful, if not full of grace. 

we have nimbly conquered urban playgrounds, spiral overpasses, parklands, dirt roads in the country, stair cases, conservations areas, the lawns and gravel parking lots of industrial parks, and that most dreaded of creations, the rail to trail gravel energy sucking giant. 

now, as i drive in my car, i spot wicked places to do rad loops on my cross bike.  i have not looked at a playground in the same way since...

she is like a well dressed girl, with nice jewellery and diction, but large feet, who you do dirty things with. 

toronto harbourfront

deer on a dundas dirt road

atop milkman's lane in downtown forest hill

dundas valley conservation area

yes, we have been together a short time. but we have already built some memories.  we have seen some extremes. there has been abuse. and great joy. yes, she has made me feel twenty years younger. yes, i buy her things. new rubber for different conditions. new things that allow me to pilot her through more and more unpleasant conditions and for longer. she is always ready for a good, dirty rocknroll in the mud.  she looks better in person than in pictures, but i like to stare at her either way. 

and yes, like any good mistress, my wife wants to kick her out of the house.