OK, so I'm jumping the gun — it's the 3rd.
But before this day (and summer?) gets rolling, and it's already starting to roll, and roll fast — seriously, I can feel the acceleration — I thought I'd throw a few things out there like the fact, earth-shattering as it is, that I was standing with my bike on Lower Thames yesterday when a friend rode by on his own bike. And by that I mean his motorcycle.
I had just seen this friend (with whom I used to work) the day before — or was it the day before that? — when we crossed paths on our respective bikes, both headed out toward Brenton Point on Ocean Drive. My motorized friend rode beside me for ten seconds or so before zooming off into the sunset (it was the end of the day) during which time I managed to ask, "Hey, how fast am I going?"
Now I'm not sure I heard him correctly, given the wind in my ears or the sound of his bike or perhaps my fading ability to remember things, but after glancing down and regarding his gauges for a few secs as I pedaled just as fast-fast-fast as I could alongside, I think he said, "Twenty-five."
Really? That's hard to believe, not that it's particularly fast, but the last time I got a good read on my speed, it was significantly slower; click HERE to see what I mean. And, in all honesty, Motorized Friend may have said, "Twenty." Which is still more than he'd said a few days before (yep, three times in one week) when I'd seen him (yep, on his bike) stopped at the light on Bellevue & Memorial where I stood on foot, on the sidewalk, and we shared a nod and a wave.
But back to yesterday on Lower Thames: When I spied Motorized Friend riding past oblivious to my presence in a bricked courtyard by the side of the road, I cupped hands to mouth and yelled, "Yo!"
At which he turned, smiled and called back, "You're everywhere!"
Then he drove on — returned eyes to the road, slowed with pre-Fourth of July traffic — and it occurred to me that that's largely the point: everywhere-ness.
That and you never know what or whom might see parading forth by land or sea, at Brenton Point or wherever you might be ...
