Day 7 – Bend it Like Bosque
I successfully wooed my bike and the deed was done, a well-inflated back tire. Of course, it took two trips to the local bike coop to get it done but at a certain age, a fella needs a little help now and then.
I’m ready for the first of my ritual bike rides as a weeklong resident. Not only does it give me a chance to work off the breakfast burrito, I get to don my new biking ensemble. I may not be Lance Armstrong but one can at least look the part (as all the other bikers are passing me up).
Not too sure about the crotchal padding though. I suppose it will give me a chance to experience what it’s like to wear Depends. But the black shorts are stylish (once again, always correct) and the color-paneled shirt is sure to turn heads (perhaps away).
My favorite bike trail is the Paseo del Bosque, a 16-mile route that follows the Rio Grande as it meanders through the valley between the Sandia Mountains and the West Mesas.
Recently resurfaced, it’s a fairly level trail that sports a variety of sites along the way including million dollar homes, a zoo, a botanical garden, a chile processing factory, merging arroyos, a miniature train for kids as well as the flora and fauna along the river.
With each season, I experience something new on the trail. Today was no exception. During the summer, the cottonwood trees obscure much of the view of the river. But occasionally you catch glimpses and watch the Canadian geese come in for a landing on the sand bars.
This is monsoon season in New Mexico so the water level is high on the river. Of course, you have to put it in the context of Mark Twain’s quote that the rio would really be grand if you put some water in it.
As a result, the flora is less brown than it usually is. Actually there were a number of flowering plants with gold and deep blue blossoms. There are also a variety of silver leafed native plants along with the usual cacti.
The fauna comes alive during summer. You run across (and over) a number of small lizards on the trail. They dart out like deer in the headlights. I also heard some rustling of leaves on the ground that I’m certain is a massive rattlesnake ready to strike me with its fangs if I dare get too close.
Oddly I also heard a confused rooster who apparently couldn’t shut off his morning alarm clock. I thought that he hit the snooze bar for a while but the crowing continued. Perhaps his hens were hearing impaired. I imagine them wearing tiny little hearing aids that buzz constantly because they have them turned up too loud. “What please?” they squawk.
But the star of this excursion was the beautiful, young coyote who’s path I crossed along the trail. There she was on the shoulder of the trail. Her markings and size were unmistakable, nearly full grown. She saw me coming and darted down the embankment as I approached.
I slowed down to take a look. We checked each other out – her shifting back and forth on the ground and me with my foot on the bike pedal ready to dart off at a second’s notice. I was torn between calling it over to pet it and respecting its wild instincts. I chose the later and continued on.
With crotch pad still in place, I finished the ride that has become such a reviving part of my second life. The experience reaffirms for me that life is about enjoying the passage of time (as James Taylor sings).
We choose the paths we take but what we encounter along the way isn’t always predictable, thankfully. Sometimes it’s great wonder, sometimes danger but it leads us to the place we need to be. So I bend it like Bosque on my trail.
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