It took me a
while to get back on my wheels – my Trek-brand hybrid bicycle – but I have done
it. And I am proud of myself. Most anyone would be after sustaining a traumatic
brain injury – while bicycling – and recuperating/recovering to the point of resuming
something that formerly was a big part of his day.
After five
straight days of on again/off again rain, Tuesday brought the northern New
England sun back. So, bicycle went on the car’s rooftop travel rack and off I
went to a favorite starting point for cycling on the Champlain Bikeway.
The bikeway
(http://www.champlainbikeways.org) is a network of bicycle-ready
trails – some of them set-aside bicycle lanes on highways – that circles big
Lake Champlain, a focus of life in western Vermont/the eastern Adirondacks of
New York State.
My starting
point yesterday was Airport Park in the town of Colchester. Bicycle off the car rack, water bottle in its
cage on the bicycle frame, I headed north, first through a residential area and
then onto a bridge built solely for cyclists and walkers crossing the Winooski
River’s mouth at Lake Champlain. A gentle uphill ride for a moment is about the
biggest terrain challenge for bicyclists on this section. Then it’s back to a
pancake-flat trail.
Crossing the
Winooski River (I see this Lake Champlain tributary every day as I live only a
quarter-mile from its passage under Vermont highway 2A and the town of Essex
Junction on its north side.
Once across
the bikeway bridge, the native, natural side of Vermont in the form of a
riparian forest grows along the bikeway – lakeside and upland side. Little
yellowish signs tell passersby that this natural area – “open space” in the
parlance of municipal zoning gurus – was preserved by action of the Winooski
Valley Park District.
According to
its Web site (www.wvpd.org): “The Winooski Valley Park District is a public, non-profit
organization created in 1972 through cooperation between its seven member communities.
It is funded by the member communities, membership dues, grants, and
tax-deductible private donations. The Park District's goals are to acquire and
manage open space, wildlife habitat, and natural areas while encouraging the
areas' natural diversity and ecology.
“The Park
District's member communities are: Burlington, Colchester, Essex, Jericho,
South Burlington, Williston, and Winooski. The support these towns provide is
instrumental to the Park District's capability to maintain parks and open space
in these towns for the enjoyment of community members and visitors.”
It’s hard
for this former Pennsylvanian to fathom the notion of such a level of
cooperation between just two Pennsylvania municipalities, much less seven.
Back on the
trail, I pedal, then coast, then repeat the motions. I encounter other lone
riders and the occasional boyfriend/girlfriend couple. Oh, and roller bladders,
too.
Almost from
the moment I enter the riparian woods, with gentle wavelets rushing ashore on
the lake to my right, I hear birdsong – lots of it, in fact. And it reminds me
of the many times I rose before dawn to conduct Breeding Bird Survey routes in
Lebanon and Tioga counties, Pa.
It’s hard to
collect field notes while cycling, save for the occasional rest stop, so l let
my memory do the note-taking. I heard the following bird species (identifying
only six by sight alone): Double-crested cormorant, mallard, Canada goose,
pied-billed grebe, downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker,
northern flicker, American crow, common raven, blue jay, common grackle,
red-eyed vireo, blue-headed vireo, warbling vireo, yellow warbler,
black-and-white warbler, American redstart, red-breasted nuthatch,
white-breasted nuthatch, American goldfinch and least flycatcher.
I’m sure I
missed some species. A more careful and easy-going survey would reveal many
others.
The central
point here, though, is this: Protected, open-space, natural land is critical to
keeping this avian diversity. And the presence of the bikeway and its natural
surroundings also heightens the value of the nearby human residential
community.
I’m now on a
section of trail created through the reuse of an old, abandoned railroad bed.
Up ahead is the Burlington Waterfront, a focal point for people taking a break
from downtown Burlington that’s just a couple of blocks up the hill from the
King Street ferry dock.
I know when
I’ve entered the busy waterfront neighborhood when I approach a sign that
declares the area is open only to bicyclists and pedestrians. That’s as it
should be. For its people traveling about on foot and by bicycle who notice the
world about them, not just what comes and goes in the flash of a second from
the car window.
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