Pedal like a Motherfucker

I get on my bike, clip in and head out downtown. The quickest way to get to downtown from my house is via Dexter Avenue. From my house I go across the hill then ride down a little gravel road, through a cheap plastic gate on a strong spring and into the old folks home. I have to be careful or the gate swings back into the bike. I go around the old folks’ home and on to Dexter, halfway up the hill. I don’t know if this is faster or easier than just riding down to the Fremont Bridge then up Dexter but it feels fun to use the short cut. I’m misbehaving in a little way. I’m so pathetic.

Dexter is main bike commuter road. It has bike lanes, although they aren’t the best. I see a rider ahead of me cycling in the lane such that if someone in a parked car opened their door they’d take him out. In that situation he would be rather hurt. As I ride I can’t help but think about how it would feel to be taken out by a car door.

I ride on the white line at the edge of the lane, balancing the threat of moving car and parked car. I look over my shoulder as I hear a car approaching so the driver knows I am here, I see them and I am human. I wear a helmet to make my wife happy, although I am not sure that is a good thing (Wearing a helmet might make a collision more likely. Great.)

I crest the hill on Dexter and see downtown sitting ahead. Now I am getting comfortable on this bike I try to descend with more speed. Since the bike has a fixed gear, the faster I descend the more my feet spin. At first it feels like a loosening massage, as gravity makes the bike go faster and forces my feet around but as my speed increases I start to panic. I bounce in the saddle. I feel like I am shuffling my toes back and forth across a floor rather than tracing circles.

I ride back on my old commuter route, along the waterfront and the railway line. I get to the pathway between the railway depot and the school bus parking lot and stop to take notes on my voice recorder. These include:

1. It takes about fifteen minutes of cycling to get all the junk out of my head. For the first fifteen minutes my mind is all over the place. After that time I start thinking. It is worth cycling just to get that clear head.
   
2. I am spinning so fast when I go downhill. Would my friend Johnny say “pedal like a motherfucker” or “spin like a motherfucker”?
   
3. I’m fast. I don’t know why I feel so strong. This bike is so much fun to ride. Then I note that I have a tailwind. Ah.