My bike Molly: A love story

I truly love my bike, who I named Molly, after the woman I bought her from on Craigslist a year ago. Molly takes me places my car never could, and pedaling around on her is much more fun than walking.

She’s really come through for me this weekend- a particularly gorgeous November weekend- coming to us after a solid week of pouring rain and dark skies. I had been wrestling with a sore attitude all weekend that I could not join Ebon at the beach, taking full advantage of this rare weekend, because I have a huge project due on Thursday. And I know, it’s my on fault I’m in grad school, no one’s making me do this but me. But still, it’s so freaking beautiful out and I wanted to go to the beach, so I was bummed. Until I took a little study break and got Molly out of the shed for a bike ride.

The Lents neighborhood in outer southeast Portland, where we live, has an undeserved reputation for being crime-ridden and poverty-stricken. With so many hip neighborhoods in one city, Lents doesn’t exactly fall on peoples’ radar as a “place to go.” And until I brought Molly home, I had been feeling that way about my own neighborhood too. But it didn’t take long for me to start cruising around Lents on my bike and actually start seeing things in my own neighborhood. Things that are surprisingly beautiful and wonderful.

I’ll share:

The Springwater Corridor Trail is just five blocks away from our house, and once you turn onto the path, it’s like leaving the city and entering a sudden world of wetlands and pastures. Hard to believe that this narrow length (over 20 miles) of greenspace winds through a city of almost 2 million people. My absolute favorite spot along the trail is a half-mile or so stretch just entering into Gresham where Mt. Hood, snow-covered volcanic peak, rising idyllically up over the trail.

Let me re-emphasize that this is right in the middle of the city. I can’t even describe how happy I felt the first time I discovered I could just instantly escape the urban jungle by hopping on Molly and pedaling down the street.

This next picture was taken in a little spot called Beggar’s Tick Natural Area, right smack in the middle of Lents, between Foster Road and Harold Street. I never would’ve guessed this morning that I’d come across a city of dew-covered, pancake-shaped fungi sparkling in the morning sunshine. Life is completely amazing.

Heading west a bit, back toward 101st, is a huge recycling plant that kind of stinks. But it smells much better than a landfill, I’m sure. I love to see all of this stuff that isn’t in a landfill right now. It’s such beautiful non-trash that I had to leave it in color for this blog:

I love Molly. She’s treated me well, she doesn’t guzzle down oil, she doesn’t contribute to a lazy American lifestyle or to global warming, and she takes me places I would’ve never known existed.

If only I could put as much energy into writing my position paper as I did into creating this blog! Wheee! No more excuses. I’m going to crack down now and focus on highlighting journal articles spewing obnoxious academic language and try to formulate something more cohesive than the big pile crap that is my current draft! Blah. Why do I torment myself?