When we first moved to Portland, OR, we lived in a condo
downtown…and my life was downtown-centric. Now, we live in a little house across the river. I love our quiet neighborhood, but it's a bit removed from the action. Several times a week, it seems like I'm commuting somewhere, and my favorite way to do this is by bike.
I hate driving, for one thing. The bus is reliable but takes a while. And I’ve slowly outfitted myself with a
variety of bike gear—waterproof this-and-that’s, good gloves and booties, and
even most recently, a truly sweet headlamp that is so high tech you just plug the whole thing in to recharge.
And then there’s the commute itself. Portland has this wonder called the
Springwater Corridor and wow is it great. It allows me to travel much of my commute on a dedicated bike path. No cars, just bikes, joggers…and the
occasional goose.
You see, the section of the corridor I travel runs alongside
the Willamette River, skirting the edge of the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge.
As I ride, I see kayakers or crew teams in the river, and,
on the other side of the trail, Great Blue Herons standing quietly in the
marsh. Three times now I have even
seen a bald eagle. There are
hawks. And in the spring, there
are baby geese—Canada Geese that start out as tiny yellow puffballs and quickly
grow into gangly awkward goslings.
I commute by bike a lot, and my favorite ride is to and from
my critique group meetings. The commute home often proves to be almost as
productive as the meeting was.
My critique partners raise good points, ask good questions,
leave me wondering how on earth I am going to fix the problems I didn’t even
realize were there until I went to group.
But as I start pedaling, once I’m off the busy streets and into the quiet, tree-filled, goose part of my commute, I find that
I’ve started to work out those problems, without even realizing it. I’ve had to stop my bike more than once
(sometimes more than once in the same ride) to write down what I’ve just
figured out while I was pedaling.
I’ve come to look forward to those rides home. And I always
pack my notebook and pen in easy reach.
4 comments:
In addition to being a very talented writer, you are also a lucky writer indeed to have access to a wonderful critique group and to live in Portland. That bike commute sounds amazing!
I used to work through a lot of writing issues while I was swimming, though it was harder to keep track of the revelations in the water. But now, of course, I am intimately aware of the transformative power to cycling. I do envy you your beautiful bike rides.
Such quality of life! Must admit I'm a fair weather cyclist, but you make me want to invest in the right gear & clothes.
Wonderful to hear that the solutions arise on the way home from our meetings. Perhaps I should get on my bike after a meeting!
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