Saturday, April 21, 2007

Another Cool Think about Bicycling

When you're a fit middle-aged cyclist, sometimes very nice things happen. See, you're hidden behind all the idiotic-looking bike-geek-wear, so nobody can tell how old you are.

Sometimes it's just the whistles and cheers and catcalls from attractive young ladies who have no idea they're ogling their fathers' contemporary. Those times are pretty nice.

Sometimes it's something even better. Like today, toward the end of the first serious ride of another glorious season, when I was charging through a busy and sometimes dangerous crossroads. There was an SUV waiting to pull out from the right-hand side street, and as is my usual practice to try not to die, I made eye contact with the driver. She was a breathtakingly pretty young thing, and everything else around the intersection was clear, so I kept her eye as I rode by. She started to smile, keeping my eye too. And the more I stared, the bigger her smile got, until it could have done just as good a job melting away our way-too-long-and-cold winter as today's glorious sunshine and spring temperatures.

I finally had to look away, and the whole thing didn't last more than a few seconds. But what a magical way to spend those few seconds.