Shadow on the road of a person on a bike.

In These Strange Times

Your life is not normal right now, no matter who you are or where you live. COVID-19 is sweeping the planet and affecting everything from whether your grocery store has toilet paper in stock (it likely doesn’t) to whether you…Continue Reading

Happy Holiday + Awesome Alliteration

I Absolutely Adore Alliteration. My fondness for that particular form of wordplay is possibly exceeded by the joy of coming up with a clever acronym, but not by much. Thus when I served as “guest prof” for #bikeschool* on Thanksgiving…Continue Reading

A week after wrapping up the longest bike travel effort I’ve ever undertaken, what’s going on physically in addition to the mental and professional aftereffects? I did a reasonably good job of preparing myself physically for the trip and I’m really glad…Continue Reading

Disclaimer: I’m not any kind of trainer, certified or otherwise. This is my personal experience and YMMV.* As I’ve ridden more the past few months I’ve learned two things: Listen to your legs. Don’t listen to your legs. Listen to…Continue Reading

Olympic bike stamp, Munich games, 1972

Faster, Higher, Stronger

Yesterday was a red-letter day: I rode my bike for the full round trip to and from work for the first time since we moved so much farther from the office. When I rode to work the first Monday after…Continue Reading

What Biking Gives Me

What a bike ride home gives me at the end of the day: exercise fresh air direct experience of neighborhoods I don’t live in and wouldn’t otherwise see up close the chance to smile at a little kid holding his…Continue Reading

Cyclometer close-up showing 22.02 miles

Riding More, Riding More Often

Coincidentally I started making a point of riding every day as a lead-in to 30 Days of Biking at a time when I also started racking up significantly more miles than I had in previous weeks and months. I’ve noted before…Continue Reading

An updated version of this post appears on the Washington Bikes blog, Personal Privileges and Biking: It Takes More than a Bike Lane to Start Riding ————————————————————————————– A few weeks ago I had the wonderful opportunity to give the luncheon…Continue Reading

I Am Woman. I Bike. I Am Strong.

One of the many things I love about biking: It makes me feel strong. Not as strong as the women who are currently riding the Tour de France route ahead of the men, mind you, but still. As I mentioned…Continue Reading

Old illustration of a woman on a bike wearing a full-skirted dress

After the post with a round-up of links to the connections between women and biking, I thought you might enjoy a taste of the writing of those long-ago days. Here’s an excerpt from The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine (Volume 54, May-October 1897),…Continue Reading

I’m going to blow my cover here. What with being a poster girl for riding a bike in all kinds of clothes and all kinds of weather, I have people reasonably convinced that I’m “active.” They say that very thing:…Continue Reading