Proximity to large bodies of water has been a big and calming part of my life and psyche.

From my birth in 1946 until I was 26, my family’s home was 150 yards from the Atlantic Ocean in Revere, Mass. During my first two years living in Baltimore, my home was about the same distance from its harbor, part of an estuary of Chesapeake Bay. During the last 33 years in Evanston, IL, I have lived about a quarter-mile from Lake Michigan.

Cycling has become another big and calming part of my life this year, with the joy of being outside on a bike more important than ever. And water figures as bookends of my cycling story, too.