Nothing better

On this lovely fall morning of all of 37 degrees, I'm flushed and sweaty and exhilarated. I'm also inwardly celebrating the great idea of having brought my $14 flea-market-find bike up to my small college on the hill.

There's really no better place than this one to ride around on a bike, especially because you can leave the bike anywhere and it'll be right where you left it when you return.

That's unlike anywhere I've ever lived, where I've usually had to factor in heavy locks and chains to protect the bike, and even then there was no guaranty that it would be there when I got back. That's not the case here, for sure.

I remember a bicycle that spent all of last year parked, unchained, next to a light post on a hilly road near my apartment complex. The bike changed positions each week. One week it was parked on one side of the street, another on the other. I heard that maintenance personnel moved it out of their way each time they had to do work on the road. But the bike basically remained undisturbed and unclaimed for an entire year.

It wasn't there when I returned this fall so either the owner finally reclaimed it or somebody decided that it was abandoned and took it or the maintenance people got tired and threw it away.

After determining that this chilly fall morning was perfect to give the bike a run, I set off to pick up the organic eggs I buy from a biology professor who has a farm near the college and to the library to collect another mountain of dissertation-related books. Well layered under my comfy fleece hoodie, goofy-looking helmet secured on my head and large backpack ready, I set off into the brisk cool morning and absolutely loved it.

True, the library wasn't open so that errand has to be postponed until later today but I can feel the endorphins dancing salsa in my blood so I'm sure to repeat the feat as many times as I'm able this year, while the good weather lasts. I'm already thinking that one of these Saturday mornings I'll take the bike for a longer ride around the nearby hills, to see what I see. And I always have next year, too.

I've never been much of an athlete (well, I've never been an athlete at all) but I have always appreciated the value and the endorphin kicks of working out. And, actually, there's really nothing better for improving the outlook of a grayish fall day that kicking those endorphins into high gear.