One Man’s Account Of Cycling During The Week Of The Marathon Bombings

An interesting read:

The policeman stood in the middle of Arsenal Street, the main road through Watertown,Massachusetts, and screamed at any vehicle that didn’t belong to some arm of law enforcement or the emergency services: “Turn round! You need to get turned round!” Either side of him in the 1am dark sped, flashed and wailed a procession of emergency vehicles of a variety and quantity that, even in a career where I’ve covered a reasonable amount of terrorism and other trouble, I had never before seen.

A little up the road, I now know, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the presumed bombers of the Boston Marathon, already lay dead. Somewhere else in the nearby suburban streets, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, his brother, was hiding, trying to evade the arrest that would come around 18 hours later. And my attention, for at least a few seconds, was focused on a bicycle.

It was one of the themes of the week I spent in the Boston area, starting a week ago last Monday, covering the aftermath of the bombings at the annual marathon, that I often found myself staring longingly at bicycles. I missed my wife and children very much. I was moved at some of the expressions of shock and grief I encountered. But the sight of people on bicycles provided a persistent, nagging reminder of what I was missing about my everyday life. Those people, for that moment, could experience the uncomplicated feeling of freedom that so often comes from riding on a bicycle – and I couldn’t.

Read the rest here.

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Riding Through Back Bay After The Bombing: Open Thread

I rode into work through the Back Bay area today.  It was very strange.  Bomb sniffing dogs, national guard with rifles, absolute gridlock bumper to bumper traffic, and lots and lots of media trucks with cameras and reporters.

The entire thing felt surreal, is this really happening in our sleepy little metropolis?  Its been so…weird…just so nuts the last few days.  So many emotions, and they surge and fade.  I keep thinking about losing a leg, and not being able to ride my bike the same way as before, and what those poor families who have lost loved ones must be going through.  And why for the love of all things good and pure someone would do such a horrible and useless act.  I am not sure I will ever understand fully, or really ever come to terms with this, but I think the best thing we can do is continue to do what we did before.  Live our lives, live them free, and full of love and compassion.

I do have a couple of suggestions for folks thinking about going anywhere downtown in the next couple days/weeks:

Leave your car at home.  You will not be going much faster than a toddler waddles, and I saw more than one car overheating in the gridlock.

Get on your bike, its gorgeous out there, and its really the fastest way to get anywhere these days.

Tell the people close to you that you love them.

I want to here from you, what have your experiences been like?  Have you been riding in that area?  Leave your thoughts and comments below.

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