Pedal Through The Pandemic

Today I was feeling sorry for myself because I couldn’t ride. Roads are covered in snow after yesterday’s storm, and I no longer have my mountain bike to negotiate those conditions. To compensate for my cycling inactivity, I shoveled. I walked Diggity. I hosted a contractor to give us an estimate for repairing the many things wrong with our house.

Then, out of boredom, I thought I’d write a new post combining a hastily-written poem, a couple of pictures taken in my front yard, and a couple rejected pictures from the previous few days. (By the way, ALL of my poems are hastily-written. Who knows how great or awful my poems would be if I had enough patience for re-write after re-write, edit after edit, like REAL poets do.)

Who knows?” wondered the Poet Laureate of his own mind.

Yesterday, a blast of ice and snow,
Oh Jeez!
All hunkered down today
Eight degrees!

Sittin' in the Greg Room
Nuthin' to do.
'Cept write a shallow poem
For you.

The virus cartoon I made sits in my desk.
Showed it before.
Emblazoned with a meaningful message
I can't ignore.

It's my secondary hazard theme. 
My backup plan.
When I can't be interesting or threatening,
The virus can.

The Covid-19 thing is messing up my life.
Pedal through it!
Hell yeah, pedal through the pandemic.
I can do it.






Do not enter if you have a cough or fever,
Indeed, I am a true believer.
I see signs like this everywhere I go,
So I just pedal past the snow.
It seems pretty academic,
To pedal through the pandemic. 


My driveway has a fine feature.
It's a corona-eating creature.

Chow down, eat up, my snowy friend,
Chew that virus to it's well deserved end.
Grind it up in your rocky teeth,
And send it to hell underneath.

Libraries produce hazardous minds,
 They challenge the conservative tie that binds.
 They let you borrow subversive books,
 The ones that result in questioning looks.
 "That guy is reading Nietszche," they'll say.
 They'd rather watch 'The Apprentice' on TV any day.

Just a few thoughts on a melancholic day. The ferret at the top of the page was created by my daughter when she was in about the 4th grade. It kind of inspired this whole post. Then I added the mask, put the coronavirus in its lap, and placed it in the snow.

Hi. My name is Greg and I ride my bike a lot. That is to say, I ride my bike almost every day. I go on long rides and short rides. Sunny rides, cloudy rides, and rainy rides. I like commuting, errand-running, day-tripping, overnighting, and touring on my bike. I ride on city streets, highways, gravel, single track, and snow with equal enthusiasm. Sometimes I ride fast and sometimes I ride slow. I try to keep my feet on the pedals at stop lights and I do not dismount when I hop up on a curb. I have a roadie bike, a mountain bike and a touring bike. I try to accept any challenge a bike ride can throw at me without complaint. But I don't like bugs.

5 response to "Pedal Through The Pandemic"

  1. By: Suzanne Posted: February 6, 2021

    Not being able to ride seems to increase your creative activity – if that is at all possible! Although your poems are edifying, your Corona Eating Monster is surely your greatest contribution to mankind.

    • By: gregblood Posted: February 7, 2021

      If nothing else, the monster has kept the Covid away from our house.

  2. By: Lednar De Nalloh Posted: February 6, 2021

    At least you can exercise your brain.

  3. By: The Navigator Posted: February 7, 2021

    Hope you got a break from the weather and melancholia. I note that my parents moved to CO, my brother moved to FL and I moved to Oz. We are all grateful for easy winters in each of those places where there is actual sun instead of the only sun being on TV in the weather forecast 3 days out (that never materialises). I’m glad winter inspires creativity in you, though – the alternatives are not so nice.

    • By: gregblood Posted: February 7, 2021

      We actually get quite a few sunny days in the winter. Unfortunately, those days are the coldest. Clouds help keep the heat in. My post today was in bright sunshine but it was our coldest day of the winter.

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