Thanksgiving

Claire Petersky

For 'mericans, it is Thanksgiving weekend. Here's my bicycling thanks for this year:

I am grateful that bicycling continues to strengthen my body -- that my heart, lungs, legs, even
arms are stronger because of it. Bicycling has strengthened my previously weak ankles.

I am grateful that the few close calls I had this year on my bike never became collisions with
other vehicles or pedestrians. The few spills I had are all healed except for a few sproket scars
on my leg.

I am grateful that I have a decent bike, and the time and resources to maintain it.

I am grateful that my husband and children were patient with me when I went off on rides without
them. I also appreciate that they let me know that they missed me.

I am grateful to my teachers, which have been other riders, my father (who taught me to ride as a
kid, and was a cyclist through much of his life), people on r.b.*, resources on the web, and even
the disparaged Bicycling magazine.

I am grateful that I have a good way to carry things on my bike -- a good trunk, handlebar bag, and
this year new panniers to carry even larger loads.

I'm grateful I can afford equipment to make cycling possible -- and relatively comfortable --
year round.

I'm grateful that my work place provides a flexible work schedule, a hot shower, secure parking, and
a place to hang my work clothes, so that bicycle commuting is a rational alternative way for me to
get to work.

I am grateful to the City, who has a way for cyclists to have a voice in the planning process. Mike
Ingram, our mole in the Planning Department, has been a wonderful liaison for the Bicycle/Pedestrian
Advisory Committee.

I am grateful I live in a community that is supportive of bicycling -- rarely am I yelled at or
deliberately intimidated by motorists. Instead, I think other people on the road do their best to
accomodate
me.

I am grateful our area has a strong and active bicycle club, which sponsors great rides, and gives
me resources to build my abilities as a ride leader.

I am grateful that I have this wonderful resource of bicycling, which gives me exercise, a way to
get to work, out into nature, transportation that is gentle to the planet, and conviviality with my
husband, my kids, my friends, my neighborhood -- or solitude, if that's what I'd prefer.

All the best to you all --

Claire Petersky (cpetersky@yahoo.com) Home of the meditative cyclist at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm

Ron Hardin

Claire Petersky wrote:
> I am grateful that bicycling continues to strengthen my body -- that my heart, lungs, legs, even
> arms are stronger because of it. Bicycling has strengthened my previously weak ankles.

Homer referred to women as ``neat-ankled,'' an epic epithet that picks the aptest feature and
attaches it to its object.

Knees are ``quick.'' You don't say what happened to your knees.

Lautréamont uses the line ``Arise, mother of my family on your strong ankles,'' more in line with
your experience, in _Maldoror_.
--
Ron Hardin rhhardin@mindspring.com

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.