Lonely Сyclist

Like all the other kids I had a bicycle in my childhood and it was small. So when I turned ten and left my hometown I forgot about riding for a long eight years. Last year my friends suggested to ride bikes during Moscow night. We rented bicycles and hit the road. Night roads were empty, car owners left the city during the May's holydays and flocks of the same guys fluttered out onto the streets, finally getting behind the wheel after a long winter. The lights of the night city, the warmth of spring, the laughter of my friends, the smell of blossoming lilacs and other spring flowers, a sense of freedom and the approaching summer followed us during the night.

Later I started renting bikes very often, I rode around the city at any opportunity until the end of the season, until the snowdrifts began to interfere in my passages. I like walking, discovering new places, thanks to Moscow it is a huge city, so I can choose hundred of roads to get to the right place. I love simply feeling wind and speed. Riding and thinking. Reflecting on something I do not have the time to think about during the bustle of the day.

Before leaving for the United States, I was afraid that the bicycle would not be with me, but my host family allowed me to use one of their bicycles for a whole year. I ride almost every day if I just feel tired or vice versa, I’m too excited and want to ride. After a day of classes, I just go to Green Monster or ride around the ponds. I like to ride when it is very late, one or two passers-by meet on the street, the heat subsides, and stars appear in the sky. I still can’t get used to the natural silence here, to the lack of light in the streets, to the chirping of cicadas, to the stars. I won't find any new paths here, but I do not care. I ride without the exact route or exact time. I am just cycling, enjoying the moment.