Sometimes, at the end of a long dragging day, when the weather is nice and my mood is crummy, it’s nice to come home and go for a long evening bike ride. Nothing to brighten my mood like wheeling through dark streets on a crisp winter night, the stars like shimmering points, just enough light from streetlights and my bike’s headlight so I don’t disappear entirely into the dark.
It reminds me of my college days, when I used to go on long night walks.
I wonder, sometimes, what it would’ve been like if I’d had a bike, if I’d learned how to ride a bike, years ago, instead of last summer. But thinking back on last year, I’m glad I had that spike of joy and self-confidence that I got from learning at 29 instead of 8. I needed it last summer, maybe even more than I would’ve when I was a kid.