Abundance

  First of all, I am going to apologize right away for not having any photos.  Remember what I said about the Carol Burnett/catastrophe thing when I eat on a bike?  Well, it's even worse when I try to take photos on a bike.  I could either be describing the amazing photo I took just before the crash that broke my phone (and my head), or I could be describing all of those picture-perfect moments that eluded digital documenting while I stayed upright and in awe of my good fortune.  We'll go with the latter.
  It has been a good long while since I added anything here - I forgot what happens when there is actual bike riding going on!  As Henry Rollins said (or yelled, while flexing), "Don't talk about it!  Do it!"  Well, I've been doing it! (not it, but "it" - you know what I mean!)  When Spring finally hits in Buffalo, there is an abundance - an abundance of flowers in the many gardens, an abundance of bands all playing on the same night, an abundance of cookouts (food!), and this year, I believe, there's an Abundance of Kick-Ass Ladies on Bikes.  May is National Bike Month, so women, men, children, marmots, insect colonies - they're all out there on bikes, in force.  But I'm noticing (and I'm not just wearing rose-colored Oakleys) here in Buffalo that this year the women are on their bicycles and they're excited about it, big time.
  Last Sunday, May 11, was Cyclofemme, an international event honoring women and the joy of riding a bicycle.  Here in Buffalo, there were at least two "official" Cyclofemme rides held that day - one by GoBike Buffalo, and the other by The Bike Shop in East Aurora.  I use "official" in quotes, because anyone riding that day was celebrating the event as far as I'm concerned!  Having recently discovered The Bike Shop and its awesome all-women group rides, I joined their ride that day.  And I have to say, there were some eye-popping moments.  Besides experiencing a heart-stopping half- second of the dreaded wobble, I was thunderstruck at some point by the uniqueness of this ride.  The magnitude of this hit me when I fell back from the group for a while, to check on a few riders behind.  After I saw all was well behind me, I watched this pack of, well, cyclists up ahead, just flowing along a country road, and I thought, "They're all women!" (it takes me a while to catch on, sometimes) I realized at that moment that this was only the second ride I had ever been on that was all-female (the first one being the women's ride sponsored by The Bike Shop just the week before), and definitely the first ride where I was with fourteen other women!  I'm still feeling the impact of this on my brain, and the implications - that this rare, surreal event might not be so rare or unusual pretty soon.  And Hooray! for that.  A fellow rider that day, Alexis David, had some mind explosions herself, it seems.  Here is her account of the day.  I think everyone on that ride said the word, "amazing" at least once.
  Still flying high on the Cyclofemme ride, I rammed right on in to a back-to-back 5K race (Greek Fest 5K) and 62.5 mile cycling event (Hospice Gran Fondo).  Why did I think this was a good idea when I really wasn't in shape for it?  Oh yeah, souvlaki.  And wine.  The Hospice Gran Fondo is new this year, and went very smoothly, except for some cars getting stuck in muddy ruts in the field where we parked.  Since my car is made of styrofoam and Chinese newspapers, it wasn't heavy enough to get mired, and bounced jauntily along the hillocks into its parking spot.  "Jaunty" is not the word I would use to describe the bike ride part, however.  The course was beautiful; winding around wine country in Niagara County, and almost completely flat.  It was, by far, the easiest bicycle course I've ever been on.  Yet by mile 50, there was Excessive Whining.  My hip flexors and quads were alternating between uselessly leaden and blowtorch-braised, like filets. Luckily, I had a friend who was eager to join in the crying game, so we whinged and moaned our way ("Not another incline! Auuugghh!" Yes, you read that correctly - "incline".) the last 12 miles to Chateau Niagara Winery for lots of food and about a zillion different wines. Oh, sweetness!
  So the next day I was massaged with hot oil by lithe and attentive servants, who also fed me pizza when I snapped my fingers.....Nah, I went on a bike ride.