Wednesday, April 6, 2011

#30DaysofBiking: The Return of the Octocog


Today's #30DaysofBiking ride begins with a bus ride from Issaquah to Seattle and then a hike up Capitol Hill to my friend Mark Canizaro's place. I'd loaned Mark my Octocog while he was having the frame of his Bianchi Volpe powder-coated and now that work is done and his bike is back in tip top rolling condition. I don't just grab my bike and head for home, for Mark and I are civilized men of letters. We pause for a few hours to discuss the many problems of the world in a place where the tables are made of dark wood and Italian machines press precise amounts of heated water through precisely ground beans to make beverages precisely engineered to take the chill away from a cool spring day.

Suitably prepared for our journeys, we head out on our machines. These bicycles, like all bicycles, are marvels. Inert until we put foot to pedal, our meager efforts transform metal and rubber, grease and chain into something more graceful than ourselves, something fast and smooth and flowing. It is a good day to ride.

Mark rides with me as far as the I-90 bridge where we part company. I head east over the bridge and Mercer Island and then back to Issaquah while Mark, his bike and BOB trailer head off on his mission to gather groceries and then return home.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA

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