So my sister Thu came home for a weekend visit before
embarking on a new exciting adventure. As any good brother would do, I took her
biking. Joined us for the ride was the world-famous Clipless in Seattle blogger and celebrity socialite Di Jolly. Well,
perhaps Di hasn’t given any interviews on ESPN or Vogue; she is a REI, PB, CBC card-carrying
member (That’s Recreational Equipment Inc., Performance Bike and Cascade
Bicycle Club, FYI for you less-cool people).
We started at Gas Works Park, a beautiful 19-acre park,
former gasification plant, over-looking Lake Union and downtown Seattle with
plan to head north to Bothell along Lake Washington on the Burke-Gilman Trail.
Di let Thu borrowed her padded riding pant, and I lent her my other cool bike.
Thu commented on how light the bike was and how she had to stoop so low to ride….
Tsk, tsk, little sister, I think a little French girl once said the something like that to
Lance Armstrong…hehe
It was a beautiful day to ride. Sunny and warm!! And whenever
it’s nice and warm, I start to get creative. Selfies on bike yo! That was fun…I
almost ran into a birch tree.Yike!
We stopped at Mathews Beach Park in Lake Forest Park. A
place full of kids and geese chasing each other.
Our destination was Log Boom Park in Kenmore, a nice park
with a pioneering logging history. History meets modernity. A young lady was
learning the sport of tying-a-giant-water-hose-to-my-feet, lifting-me-into-the-air,
smashing-my-face-down-to-the-water…Goodness! people, you don't have to
spend the weekend volunteering at the Food Bank but at least, don’t kill off
any last remaining hope for humanity by repeatedly smacking your face into goose
poops-infested water and laugh like a hyena…bo' tay!
After some R & R on the dock, we headed back but not
before stopping by the Metropolitan Market in Sandpoint for absolutely delicious
pasta and baked teriyaki chicken. Food at this place is so heavenly that it got
me day-dreaming again. A while ago, I thought of starting a non-profit
advocating and promoting bicycling as a mean of exercising for kids and the
elders in the Vietnamese community. My thinking was that bicycling is
not gender or age specific. It’s a fun sport that anyone can join regardless of
athletic ability. Secondly, biking is natural to the
Vietnamese people - kind of like how skinny jeans are to hipsters. Back in
Vietnam, people ride bikes everywhere. Not here in the States. Anyway, I’ve
been thinking that since the City of Seattle closed off a 3-mile stretch of
Lake Washington Boulevard from Genesee Park to Seward Park on Sundays in the
summertime, I could get a group of people to haul bikes out there so the elders
and the kids can ride them around, have some good exercise and a banh mi thit picnic.
I’m thinking of connecting with local bicycling non-profits to donate bikes and
gears like helmets. If any of you reading this blog and would like to help, let
me know.
Not too long ago, walking by Proletariat Pizza in White Center, I saw
this cool child seat behind a commuter bike.
Immediately, fond memory began flooding
back of how Dad used to transport us kids on his rickety bike all over the village.
Back then, I saw child seats perching on handle bar, top tube, and back rack.
Vietnamese people are pretty small and very resourceful. The two dispositions that make it possible
for them to stack that many people on a bike hehe…Anyway, here’s a picture of
my little brother Tho on his bike…probably the last time he ever did anything
athletic in his life :)
