This is Biking Week from May 21 to the 28th. There are at least ten reasons to dust off your bike and take it for a spin.
1. There’s nothing like fresh air blowing in your face and sunshine in your eyes to make you feel young and alive, as you pump away. Let’s hope your bike is oiled up and you’re wearing a helmet.
2. Biking for awhile will give your body a workout. Make sure you carry some bottled water, and refresh yourself along the way. Afterwards, you will be ready for a shower and your laptop, or a meal at an inn with your friends. The rushing blood in your head will make you a gifted writer or talker.
3. You can save on gas if you can bike to work or the nearby store. Biking communities enjoy better health and less traffic accidents.
4. Biking is healthy; it reduces obesity.
5. Biking is fun. It’s one thing to hop on a stationary bike and go nowhere, and it’s another to feel the wind in your hair and feel like a kid again.
6. Biking makes the roads safer because drivers have to slow down when they see bikers and be more careful. With slower cars, there is less chance of accidents.
7. Biking brings people back to nature to find trails and follow Rochester’s Erie Canal on bikes. There are wonderful trails in and around Rochester.
8. Biking is good for the economic community. It encourages trail building, parks, and inns. It increases tourism and possible job opportunities.
0 Comments on 10 Reasons to Enjoy Bike Week as of 1/1/1900
A couple of years ago I took a break from writing nonfiction children's books and spent several months editing them instead. I had been hired to fill in for my own editor while she was on maternity leave. This temporary dream job gave me the opportunity to work with--and learn from--some wonderful authors, including fellow Inklings Sue Macy, Deborah Heiligman, and Roz Schanzer.
I've recently received copies of two of the books I worked on during that time, and I'm almost as proud of them as if I had written them myself. I can't resist showing them off. The Erie Canal by Martha E. Kendall (National Geographic, 2008) tells the fascinating story of one of America's greatest feats of technology. Two hundred years ago, many people--including Thomas Jefferson--thought it was impossible to build a canal across mountains and through wilderness. But as Kendall writes, "DeWitt Clinton, governor of New York State,
proved them wrong. In 1825, he celebrated the completion of the Eighth Wonder of the World. It was called the Erie Canal, and it changed America forever. This manmade waterway, 363 miles long...made travel easier, cheaper, and faster than ever before between the American East and West. It is hard for us to imagine that transportation on the canal at four miles per hour could be considered 'high speed,' but in the 1820s, that pace seemed very fast indeed. Two hundred years ago, the canal...was a miracle of technology."
**Shameless bragging alert--feel free to skip to the next paragraph.** For those of you still with me, I'm delighted to report that The Erie Canal was one of two National Geographic titles among the four 2009 Jefferson Cup Award Honors bestowed by the Virginia Library Association. The other was my own Helen's Eyes: A Photobiography of Annie Sullivan.
The second book I'm excited about sharing is Margaret Whitman Blair's Liberty or Death: The Surprising Story of Runaway Slaves Who Sided with the British During the American Revolution. Scheduled for release in January 2010,
Thanks for the reviews and congratulations on your Jefferson Cup Award! :)
www.shannonkodonnell.blogspot.com
I really enjoyed your website! Your book reviews are wonderful reading. Have you heard of Danny the Dragon? It’s worth a review: http://DannyTheDragon.com Please let me know if you are interested in reviewing this nominee for Best Children’s Book of 2009! [email protected] Thank you, Rosie