appreciating the bike path
Heading into March we're thinking about cycling a little more seriously again. The snow is going fast! One day the trails will be dry again! But yesterday, when I set out for my once-a-week solo outing, they were not. And unlike last Sunday when I was able do some serious snow biking, the snow yesterday was too soft to ride on top of but too deep to ride through. So when after starting from home with no plan in mind I found myself on the Minuteman bike path, I decided to go with it. It seemed to be working for the 200 other people riding, walking, and running on it, anyway! For most of the pandemic we've stayed off the Minuteman because of the crowds—plus I certainly did my time on it over all the years I was using it to commute, first to Lexington and then to Cambridge. But maybe at the end of February it has something to recommend it.
Certainly, despite the crowds it was lovely being able to ride steadily without thinking about where I was going; and before I knew it I was almost to Lexington Center. That seemed like a fine destination, so I pushed on the rest of the way. When I reached it I almost kept right on going, such was the thrill of the ride, but I restrained myself with the thought of walking around in civilization—that is to say, a bustling commercial center—for the first time in months. It was momentarily delightful, but there wasn't actually much to do, so before long I was back on the homeward trail. It was cheery passing some of the same people walking or running that I had seen on the way up, almost like we were getting to know each other. I'm really looking forward to getting back onto the real trails—the ones in the woods—but you know, at the end of February the old bike path isn't so bad after all!