I’ve often felt that the cycling speed of 12-25 mph is the perfect speed – fast enough to cover a significant amount of ground in one day (in 200 miles you can cover a wide variety of terrain and weather conditions), yet slow enough to “smell the roses” and see the little details that are often missed when speeding along in a car, isolated in its box of metal, glass, and plastic.

But now that my cycling days have been temporarily suspended, I’ve been exposed to a different perspective – the speed of walking. And I find that it too, is the perfect speed. Yes, it’s true you can’t cover the same amount of ground as by bike – I can’t travel around the entire city in a day—but I do see things that would have gone unnoticed on a bike, and I have rediscovered that hiking along the trails in the mountain preserve near our house can be quite relaxing. And I no longer get caught up in the typical “any ride with two or more cyclists is a race” scenarios.

Just the other day I was out walking with my wife and our two year old golden-doodle, and we spotted a flock of green, iridescent love birds, about the size of parakeets, about twelve in number. These birds appear to be feral, and they seem to be thriving in our hot Phoenix climate. We’ve discovered that they like to make use of the holes pecked out of saguaro cactus by other birds, and the love birds have taken up residence in numerous saguaros in our neighborhood.

It was a surprising discovery. I doubt that I would have noticed these birds if speeding by on my bike.

And I have to admit, I don’t really miss cycling right now. I often see groups of cyclists out pedaling the streets and trails of our neighborhood when I’m out hiking, and I’ve had no regrets for not being out there with them.

I wouldn’t have expected this, but then again, it’s a part of my personality, this pattern of obsession and indifference.

I used to be really “into” photography, and couldn’t imagine not taking a camera everywhere I went. I used to compete in a local camera club, often winning, even at the state level. But now, I usually don’t bother taking a camera. I often don’t even think about it.

I’ve gone through several on and off cycles with photography throughout my life, and I suspect I will return to my obsession with cameras sometime in the future.

Just like I’m sure I’ll return to my obsession with cycling. I just don’t know when. Right now, I can’t even reach the handlebars of my bike with my right arm. It may be months before I can. Not cycling the rest of the year is a definite possibility.