Long, leisurely bike rides offer a different perspective on
Hollister
A leisurely Saturday bike ride turned into a 14-mile journey
through town last weekend as my wife and I took advantage of lovely
weather to get some exercise.
Long, leisurely bike rides offer a different perspective on Hollister
A leisurely Saturday bike ride turned into a 14-mile journey through town last weekend as my wife and I took advantage of lovely weather to get some exercise.
I know it was 14 miles because we were so proud of ourselves after the feat that we went back and drove it in her car so we could check the mileage. So we burned calories in an environmentally friendly way and then hopped into our gas-guzzling SUV to re-trace the route for vanity’s sake.
Most of our bike rides are a couple of miles long at best; end-of-day journeys around the neighborhood to get some fresh air and stretch out the legs a bit. We were feeling particularly energetic last weekend, though, as the rain was gone and the sun was out.
We started our ride in Ridgemark and cruised north toward town, which was downhill most of the way. I kept thinking on the way down that it would be nice if we could put our bikes in our son’s truck and get a ride back home to avoid heading uphill. The ride was almost too easy, with no wind slowing us down, light traffic and a warm sun keeping away the chill.
We meandered down Enterprise Road, avoiding the busy Airline Highway. A right turn at Southside brought us to a bicycle lane, which was reassuring, as Enterprise did not have the extra space for two-wheelers.
The road dissects walnut orchards, which were rolled flat in advance of the harvest and lightly blanketed with grass whose sprouting no doubt was influenced by the recent rains.
We went left on Ladd Lane and then took Eastview over to Cienega, where we passed another orchard on our way to San Benito High School. I’m a big fan of orchards, as they remind me of my youth in Hollister.
So many houses now sit on land that was once filled with trees that the site of an orchard brings me back to the days of playing hide-and-seek among the trees or throwing un-ripened apricots at passing cars on Line Street. I now realize this was not a wise thing to do, but my friends and I were young and dumb and we didn’t have video games to keep us anchored to the television.
After a brief stop at the high school gym, where our boys were playing basketball, we continued north on Monterey Street, a road I drive almost every day. It looks different from a bicycle seat: there’s time to look at houses and notice the uneven sidewalk and say hello to people watering their front yards.
We went left on Fifth Street past the county courthouse and rode down past Sacred Heart School. We passed a number of garage sales and kids playing outside and even an old lady mowing the lawn in her robe. It was Smalltown, USA.
Line Street brought us past R.O. Hardin School, where my wife spent some of her elementary school years and where our children had baseball and football practice on many a late afternoon.
Back to Nash and back to the high school, I thought our journey was complete, as the boys were still playing basketball and my oldest son’s truck had plenty of room for his parents’ bicycles.
It was not to be, however, as my workout-obsessed wife said that we couldn’t quit now. I didn’t view it as quitting; I considered it reaching the finish line. But for her, the finish line was at home, so we saddled up again and re-traced our path.
It was easy spinning until we hit Enterprise Road again. In a car, the change in elevation mostly goes unnoticed. On a bike, it means getting off my hindquarters, down-shifting, and working against gravity and fatigue.
We pushed through it and made it back home before our boys did. It was a 14-mile roundtrip that might as well have been a marathon – without the finish line and cheering crowds.
Rolling through town has a different meaning on a bike. It puts a person more in touch with their surroundings and lets them feel much better about themselves when they make it home.
I wasn’t able to walk or sit on a hard chair for three days after the ride, but it was worth it.
Adam Breen teaches newspaper and yearbook classes at San Benito High School and is a reporter for The Pinnacle. He is former editor of the Free Lance. He can be reached by email at ab****@pi**********.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamPBreen.
