If only the cars got the same sign at their stop sign
A state advisory council that I used to be on had a 20 year reunion lunch at Kincaid Park on Friday. I was only working half a day so I decided to bike across town to the reunion. I could only weave a small portion of the Campbell Creek Creek greenbelt into the route so I hoped to link neighborhoods together and avoid the major arteries as much as possible.
Unfortunately, the Seward Highway forces bikers on to major roads to cross it here on the south side. As I pedaled along Dimond Boulevard, I remembered Thich Nhat Hanh's advice for walking meditation - smile slightly. I thought I'd try to be 'mindful' on my bike (could save my life) and I'd try to hold a smile (could reduce my stress on the busier streets). A couple of minutes into my biking meditation, a truck decided that he could wait for all the cars to pass before turning left but not for me. I didn't exactly grin at him, but my response was a little more low key than usual. I was similarly cut off another two or three times in the 25-mile round-trip, and each time I tried to channel TNH for a calm response.
During the garden tour, we happened upon a little greenbelt dedicated to Kathleen Joy Lowry and I was happy to incorporate that into the route. The gravel path follows a grassy drainage ditch between two neighborhoods and passes a small lily-covered pond with a covered observation deck. I pedaled through several neighborhoods that I'd never been in before.
a break at the deck in the Lowry greenbelt
The highlights of the trip were the usual for Anchorage town rides. A sunny summer day that seemed like heaven after a few days of August rains. A moose that just had to cross under Minnesota and would not be deterred. Smiling people walking and biking along the greenbelt paths. Nice, considerate, alert drivers who waited for me at cross walks. Despite the impatient drivers, I couldn't have picked a better way to spend half the day.
I felt marginally safer behind a clump of cow parsnip and a sign
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