{"id":7101,"date":"2014-04-17T21:01:28","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T04:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wabikes.org\/?p=7101"},"modified":"2014-04-17T21:01:28","modified_gmt":"2014-04-18T04:01:28","slug":"30-days-biking-day-17-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2014\/04\/17\/30-days-biking-day-17-magic\/","title":{"rendered":"30 Days of Biking, Day 17: Magic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today’s word was supposed to be rain. Or fenders. Or flaps (I have a spiffy new extra-long reflective WA Bikes mud flap extension on my fenders).<\/p>\n

Instead it’s magic<\/strong>. Here’s why:<\/p>\n

The day started with a driving rain, in both senses of the word: The Seattle skies opened up, and I needed to drive to Auburn for a meeting with Jeff Scully, president of Ortlieb USA<\/a>. This was definitely the kind of weather that makes their waterproof bags an essential piece of gear and apart from the traffic — and the navigation — and the lack of visibility more than a few yards in front of my front hood — I didn’t mind driving instead of biking.<\/p>\n

The day flew by, complete with parking ticket because I can’t remember to keep track of a car’s needs. Sheesh, it’s like having a Neopet<\/a>. (Remember those?)<\/p>\n

Drove home at day’s end. Still raining. But that’s not the word of the day. Because if you don’t like the weather, just wait.<\/p>\n

A few minutes after finishing dinner I spotted blue skies down low near the horizon. The sky took on that golden end-of-day glow when the nearly horizontal rays of the setting sun catch all the glistening raindrops on the tips of pine needles. The rain had stopped.<\/p>\n

It was time to ride.<\/p>\n

Here’s where the magic starts:\u00a0I didn’t have anywhere in particular to go.<\/strong> So much of my bicycling is destination-oriented. I’m riding to the bus stop. I’m riding to the restaurant for breakfast or dinner. I’m riding to the meeting, and then the other meeting. I’m riding to the grocery store.<\/p>\n

I decided to noodle around a few blocks of the neighborhood, taking care to go in a different direction from any of my goal-oriented routes. Wending my way through a few quiet neighborhood streets, I checked out the architectural styles and the flowers in various yards.<\/p>\n

Turning onto 130th St. NE I spotted the next sign of magic: A house with the interior lit up by colored lights. Glowing jewel tones of magenta and lilac filled the rooms of the little house. I don’t know why and I imagine it makes for a terrible reading light, but it looked pretty cool radiating out of the windows. A wizard’s house, no doubt.<\/p>\n

\"Gazebo<\/a>A couple of blocks ahead, yet more magic: A gazebo in someone’s yard with a cap of little tiny lights. Their house blocked the gazebo from sight at first, then it popped into view like a giant glowing mushroom in the rapidly deepening dusk.<\/p>\n

Satisfied that I’d gone on a ‘splore (for you Winnie the Pooh fans) and had an experience created solely by participating in 30 Days of Biking<\/a>, I pedaled home.<\/p>\n

Final bit of magic: Those new fenders and the extra-long flap kept my feet from getting soaked when I splooshed through an especially deep puddle in the last block before reaching home.<\/p>\n

Day 17 in the 30 Days of Biking, 30 Words, 30 Pictures series. Why a series? Why not?<\/em><\/p>\n

Related Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n