Thanks, CHIEF! SBG is a joy!
BLM ... I started to say a simple thing and seven paragraphs later I realized I was in a rant and I was crying and angry. This is not a simple thing. What it is like to live a marginalized existence, to have to hide, to fear; to have to think twice every time you step outside your door? I'm gay: I can't change what I am any more than a black person can change what he or she is. I can relate to the pain, to the anger, to the sense of disenfranchisement and oppression. I hate seeing the rioting and the violence, I wish that it didn't happen, but I know the reasons, the emotions, and can empathize if not sympathize.
I hope we can all come together and change the world, do what the ideals upon which the constitution of the United States is founded say and make
ALL lives matter,
ALL persons equal under the law, and to each other. Will it happen in my lifetime? I can only hope for that. It is so hard. I sit at the memorial in Japan town most days this past couple of months and meditate on exactly these thoughts, these ideas. On purpose, so that I continue to hope.
the humidity is 97% and the dew point is 70 degrees...
Humidity like that would give me trouble without needing any other provocation...! Yikes!
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Saturday Morning Ride
For the first time since March 17, the Saturday Morning Ride and Breakfast with the Boyz resumed! The day broke cool and delightful, with light, high overcast, temps around 63°F. Over-jersey and gloves for the ride down were called for, and it was really nice to pound along at speed. I've done this ride so many times now it just flashes by in a moment, really, but I try to mentally slow down and observe, experience every moment of it anyway.
Regardless, the time flashed by and I was in the park. I noticed that there'd been a fire in the area right by the entrance where I usual come into the park off of Hedding. An old favorite tree has been damaged by the fire and looks sad. Hmm, have to go back there and make another photo. I hope it survives.
The boyz showed up on time, and I set off again, this time up to the northern part of the park at the edge of San Jose airport, then back, past the meetup point, and to the Panera where we meet. I stopped on the trail and used their app to pre-order my breakfast.
The Panera cafe that we breakfast at is reopening and following the guidelines, with take out and open-air patio tables available. All protocols to help reduce transmission of COVID-19 are in place ... face masks when you go inside, no more than 25 people at a given time in the patio area, seats and tables spaced apart appropriately to stay safe. And even with all these restrictions, it is a delight to see my friends again, in person, and have our usual banter and conversation.
I arrive, say hi to the couple or two folks sitting outdoors that I know. I used the new link lock to secure the bicycle to a rack while I was there, my breakfast was brought out, and the usual banter and mayhem commenced as another friend arrived and told his story of how he returned home from the South Pacific seas after the lockdown began. The rest of the gang arrived a little later, and we had a merry (and properly socially distant) time.
Afterwards, back on the bike, I did my usual run back up through the park, off on Hedding, east to Japan town and thence through downtown San Jose, back onto Park Avenue, and home to Santa Clara. For the second half of the ride, gloves and over-jersey all went into the backpack as temps were now in the low 70*F range: perfect riding weather.
The day's tally was 17.5 miles at an average speed of 12.3 mph; a lovely ride. The link lock works great, and sits very nicely on the top tube. SBG works perfectly and feels great. Life is good.
"And so it begins anew." All things come and all things go, the interruption posed by COVID-19, by the days of tumult and the foolishness of government, they will all pass once more.
Onwards! Always onwards! G