!

8.8 miles yesterday, but walking.  Some streets were closed down for cycling.  They do this twice a year.

Big deal, right?  At home, they do it every Sunday for about half the year.

However, that's not a festival.  It's super and awesome, but it's not much more than a bunch of people going from A to B as quickly as possible--which is cool, especially weekly, don't get me wrong!

Here, though...it was definitely a festival.  Everyone was out.  The guy with the super tall bike that defied mounting, check.  The family with custom-built heaping twisty chrome bikes, check. The steampunk people with their Victorian bigwheels, check. The guy (or girl) pedaling a doghouse with a real dog sitting in front, check.  The quasi-motorcycle gang with the black leather and raised handlebars--but on bikes and with spiked helmets--check.  The zillion dogs, check.  The fixie popping wheelies, check.  The couple on skateboards, check, check, check.  The guy on some sort of motorized unicycle--and not a hoverboard--check, and check. Tricycles, for all ages, check.  Walkers, runners, strollers, check.

It kind of looked like a large charity 5K or something, but with bikes and Mad Max, and so many dogs.

Oh, yeah, and music.   There were some stages set up along the way, but a lot of it was from phones and boomboxes.  Here, it's not unacceptable to carry, and blast somewhat, your own tunes while cycling or running.  At home it's more like, shhhh, nature/neighbours/cross looks, but this is a larger, noisier city and there's music out year-round, so bringing your own vibe along with you doesn't raise eyebrows (except mine, the first few times).  So, yes, instead of a bunch of headphones, it was more noise.  I wouldn't have appreciated it as much had it been one person stuck near me for miles, with pop-country, but most of it was either electronic or funk, either which I can happily live with.

Plus, THE FOOD.  I actually just had ice coffee, mango lemonade, raspberry lemonade, and strawberry lemonade, during this walk, but there were a bunch of stands, plus the route went past restaurants.  Even the dog got some snacks along the way.

It was a fun afternoon.  I've been grappling with the probability that I won't be returning to Ottawa anytime soon, and that has made me sad, especially since my last trip was in the fall, which is already laced with nostalgia, and so much of it...but there was a moment yesterday, when I was in the sun idling gazing at someone who had dressed to match their bike (both a pale aquamarine), and there was a bunch of other colours, and noise, and people, and I thought, wow, I could stay here.

Yes, there are fleeting moments like this in many expat experiences; however, sad to say, most of the places I've moved to in the States have been more like, fuck, no.  And then I start digging up the fun stuff to do, the fun places to go, and the good food...and by the end, usually, I've been sort of sad to leave (except for southern Virginia, that was like, fuck, yeah).  This place, though, had my number from the get go.  I might eventually not be so sad to leave, who knows, but it has set a deeper hook.

Anyway, today, I just ran 2.5 miles.  Time to start going longer.  I really miss the zone.