When I ride my bike I think a lot. I have many ideas and it's funny because I smile, I talk to myself, I breathe consciously and sometimes some of the best ideas fly away. 🦋 They don't stay long and I don't have a way to write them down at the time.
Precisely now I'm trying to remember one of them, I only have the vague feeling that one I experienced joy in which I even said to myself: oh, but how wonderful, this pedalling thing is so good! I can even think of what I can write in my next post!
Of course, amid these musings, I had to dodge two holes, a boulder, and three Almendrones (old cars). A traffic light turned green and I picked up the pace... so you see that besides thinking and processing this complicated web of thoughts of mine, I have to pay special attention to the city traffic, to the potholes or unevenness that can be dangerous and, not least, to how my body is responding to the effort of pedalling.
One of the things I thought about the most today is the need for one of those tiny action cameras to record some rides, as this is my purpose with my two-wheeled friend, to exercise while I visit places and show them to the world.
This was on Friday, when I visited a neighborhood called El Sevillano.
I know that everything takes a process. Transitioning into a high-performance athlete, such as reaching Varadero and participating in a marathon, require extensive training and time as success isn't immediate.
Hey, hey, hey, hey... wait. I'd like to participate in such an event to document the race from the inside, and you know, to work out and why not? get to the finish line and receive my medal. But honestly, I'm exaggerating about Varadero (145 km from Havana). Today I found out that there is a Cuban Club in STRAVA that has a challenge to go all the way around the city and it's like 50 km. This would be the first thing I would try to accomplish.
I am here to tell you a little bit about my Saturday. A day in which I did some new things and others not so much because I'm still that little animal of habit. I always say why try something new if I already have this stuff here that is good. It must be because of the bad time that always makes me feel a disappointment.
The first thing I did was this route by bike. I had never cycled from my house to 12 and Malecón, in Vedado. I can say that I lost my virginity. It seems like something that happens often everywhere. 😁
[music]
route in STRAVA APP (screenshot)
I went because a few days ago I discovered this (more active) group of young cyclists and I told them that I liked to play frontenis. They told me that they also go there sometimes, but lately, it was hard for them to agree. It seems that I shook them up a bit and they were up for it this Saturday. Anyway, only three of them went and one girl who was also in the group wanted to go, but I think it was too complicated for her. I hope to meet her in the days to come.
Shortly before arriving, I stopped at the Iron Bridge on the border between Vedado and Miramar to take these photos.
It is an important engineering work that guarantees the traffic on the Almendares River, very close to its mouth at the sea.
I don't like to cycle over it. I did it once when I had a motorbike and I found it a bit slippery. So I got off it and walked where passers-by do. Then I would have a better chance to show this place later.
The sun was so strong that the photography activity was a bit complicated.
I got off my bike right there and crossed the road to take the pavement, because as you can see there is no place for pedestrians on that side.
That tower you see over there is El Cocinero, my favorite restaurant in Havana, and right next to it is the Cuban Art Factory (FAC).
I was also there for a while taking some photos with my smartphone. Remember that I was going to play frontenis and couldn't carry my camera as well.
The sun is like an eraser!
Just one more photo and that's it. Some players were waiting for me and besides, these images are not a big deal.
I have to go back for two things: the castle...oh, right. I haven't told you about it. Near that area where I went to play, there is a castle by the sea. Oh, the sea is so beautiful... I thought that maybe after playing I could spend some time in a castle. I had so many ideas in my head. But I'm not going to deny that even though as the days go by I feel more comfortable and easier pedalling, the strong sun and perhaps being aware of the traffic exhausts me a bit. That's why I didn't go. After I finished playing, I was already very hungry and also looking forward to getting home, but I still had about 7 km of biking ahead of me.
The second thing that left me wanting to go back on a bike along that route is that on the walls of FAC there's a great display of creativity in the form of murals and graffiti, and I want to go with my camera to take pictures of them.
(Awww, finally, the frontenis)
created with Free GIF Maker
When the ball goes down the street you have to jump over walls. This makes me laugh, they've even made it easier by removing the fence from that piece of wall. Or I don't know... it's just what I thought.
We were worried about the quality of the restoration work on these facilities, I am referring to the frontenis courts. It is true that they are close, very close to the sea and they suffer from the saltpetre. But they recently had a makeover and it looks like it was pretty bad because you can see the holes in the walls.
(There didn't seem to be any paint either to finish the job)
Ride: A Short Film About Cycling (I've been watching a lot of cycling stuff on Youtube lately)
It was quite a busy Saturday .... in sporting terms.
Before returning home, I had to replenish some energy... 😇
What happened here? 🤣
🤤
