My trusty steed

I’ve lost more than twenty pounds since the surgery three weeks ago. Even though I started walking around the hospital two days after the operations and taking strolls around the neighborhood since the day after getting home, I’m woefully deconditioned.

My bicycle — my trusted steed — is central to my plan to recover, get back in shape, and start gaining some weight back. I haven’t owned in a car in a few years; my bikes are my main mode of transportation. I say bikes in the plural form instead of the singular because I’ve also got a funky old bike in Holland for when I’m teaching in Amsterdam.

Even though most of the worst things that happened to me physically, like breaking my leg when I was seven years old, occurred while I was out riding my bike, I love getting around by bicycle, no matter where I am. Indeed, all but one of the Feldenkrais® teacher trainings I’ve directed have been in a city — Strasbourg, Santa Cruz, Amsterdam, and Adelaide — made for biking.

I’m glad to say that I’ve been out riding my bike nearly every day for more than a week. I even went out to run errands the other day when it was drizzling. It was one of those days that if you asked a Dutch person if it was raining, they would say, “Not really.” A few days earlier I’d gotten caught in the rain, but it was entirely worthwhile because, even though I got pretty damp, I got to see a great rainbow.

When I was teaching in Florence, Italy several years ago, I found an unusual helmet built on the design of a World War I Italian fighter pilot’s helmet. It had been created as one of a handful of samples of a product that never got made and, luckily enough, I bought it when I had the chance. I thought it looked cool, but I had no idea that it would receive more positive comments than anything I’ve ever worn. I love it because folks smile when they see me coming.

Time for another bike ride!