There’s a slogan printed on the lining of my bright, neon-yellow bicycling rain jacket: “Never A Bad Time To Ride,” the cheery message proclaims. “Great,” I think to myself, “just what I need: A pep talk from my sports clothes.”I looked out the window of my house yesterday morning to see that, not only were we getting a dose of the Pacific Northwest’s typical chilly January rain, but the wet stuff was blowing horizontally. Nevertheless, I took my jacket-maker’s inspiring sermon to heart, steered my two-wheeled steed out into the elements and headed off for a ride around Bainbridge Island (billed not-so-humbly as “Beautiful Bainbridge Island” on license plate frames I saw on cars that splashed past me.)
Yikes! Sales Pitches coming at me from This Way and That! Such is life in the country that a social critic referred to as “The United States of Advertising.”
For the record, I should admit that I’m kind of over-the-top blown-away by the simple practicality of the bicycle. Plain, no-nonsense recreation or transportation on the one hand, sometimes a finely-crafted work of art on the other, I think that bicycles are amazing machines. A diamond-shaped steel frame, a couple of wheels, a chain and a seat--why an investment of $500 in a bike would easily make it possible for an individual to ride from Los Angeles to New York City with not a penny spent on gas, not one puff of planet-warming carbon spewed into the air.
Yesterday, it seemed the photographer in me was fixated on bike spokes. On my front porch as I prepped my bike for the ride, I noticed that the patterns and lines of my bike’s front wheel contrasted nicely with the design of our wooden porch bench. Later, as I rode along the shore of Bainbridge, the bike spokes struck me as a visual element that I could play with and incorporate into a quick self-portrait.
You’ll notice that in the self-portrait, there is sunlight breaking through the rain clouds and beginning to shine on the waters of Puget Sound. As the sloganeers and pitchmen would be quick to point out:
“It was a good day to ride...On Beautiful Bainbridge Island.”
