Free Exercise

I’m fortunate to work at a hotel that overlooks the Willamette River, and sits right next to an 11-mile stretch of bike path.  I’m also fortunate because the man who loves me most got me a functional clunker of a bike that I can ride around town and not worry about someone stealing it.  (Bike theft is huge in Eugene!)

I love my morning bike commute.  It takes me about 15 minutes, and most of that is on a nice and wide bike path that I share with lots of other morning bike commuters.

The first leg of it is right outside our apartment complex, near a mulch running path that is always full of morning joggers...of all shapes and sizes.  I always feel especially inspired by the brisk-walking-white-haired women who habitually walk together.  You can tell they are doing it more for the friendship rather than the exercise, and that makes me smile.

We also happen to live right next to South Eugene High School, so I get to watch the high schoolers who walk or skateboard to school.  Every time I pass one of them, I think about what it was like for me to be in high school, and I wonder if their experiences are similar.  I look at their outfits and wonder how much time they took to pick it out that morning.

Then there’s the short stretch on High Street, and the same transgender person is always sitting at the same table having coffee at Full City Cafe.  He/She sits and reads the paper, with his/her overstuffed shopping cart of belongings setting nearby.  This coffee shop is right next to the Tibetan shop that sells singing bowls.  Across the street is my favorite McMenamins pub, because they have a backyard with a fire pit.  This entire scene on this one corner of town - that I ride by in five seconds (with a green light) reminds me of how much I love Eugene...for its quirky nature, unconditional acceptance of all types, and all the good beer you could ever want.

About two minutes later, I cross the Ferry Street Bridge which leads into Alton Baker Park, which Brian affectionately refers to as “the goose poop park.”  It’s always full of geese!  

Once when I was riding over the bridge, I witnessed some crazy college kids jumping off into the Willamette.  I stopped and waited with my cell phone ready to call 9-1-1. Didn’t have to use it, thankfully, but I felt for the girl who I watched mentally prep herself to jump because I figured she was only doing it to impress the guy she was with.  

The tail end of my ride is a straight section of path along the river that is completely covered in tall, lush, green trees that arch over the path.  It feels like a bike-path-fairy-land of some sort because it’s so peaceful and centering.  On this stretch, I pass the same woman running, always wearing a black sports bra, black hat, and black shorts.  I always think she looks like an ultra-marathoner on mile 99.  You could drive a truck through the space between her thighs and her knock-kneed gate makes me cringe - and she’s ALWAYS out there running!

In a 15-minute time span, I experience a lot.  I notice little things that take my mind to a place I would never have gone to driving inside a car.  It’s a great way to start and end the work-day, and as Brian likes to remind me, “It’s free exercise!”  ...in more ways than one, this is so true.