“Black” Holidays, Hot and Cold

This is odd. Juneteeth was one of the hottest days of the year so far. Unseasonably hot. MLK Day, almost exactly five months ago, was one of the coldest. We were in the deep freeze. On each of those extreme weather “black” holidays, I was doing the same thing, or at least a similar thing. I was riding my bike.

Gimme a cold one…

After coming inside this weekend to cool off, I couldn’t help but remember the frigid January morning when a few of us brave souls navigated the city of Detroit to commemorate MLK Day. As we set off from the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the temperature was 7 degrees F. The ride was 11 miles, but I only made it through 8. It was the first time in my life that I failed to finish an event like this. It was SO cold and SO windy, and I made the mistake of riding the little folding bike (Brompton) that I have taken with me to locations around the world. The bike has 16″ tires, so I had to do more work than the other riders, who were mostly on sleek road bikes or, in one case, an electric bike!

I know. Excuses, excuses. But I have receipts! As I was riding through the wintry Detroit streets, Shawn Ley, a reporter for WDIV-TV, pulled alongside in a minivan. He interviewed me as we rolled along, saying at one point, “This is the best interview we’ve ever done.” He didn’t realize that the action cam mounted on my helmet was filming him at the same time, so after receiving the WDIV news footage, I managed to capture the interview from Shawns’ perspective and from mine!

Can you take a hint?

Is God trying to tell us something with the extreme weather on black-themed holidays this year? Maybe we’re given yet another chance to demonstrate our strength, resilience, and determination. Anyway, that’s how I choose to see it.

I noticed that just 30 days after the MLK ride, Shawn Ley left WDIV after a long and distinguished career there. Glad he accomplished that “best ever” interview before leaving. I wish Shawn nothing but the best – he’s a good guy, even if he got my last name wrong.

I’ve posted four versions of my MLK Day Bike Ride video: tiny, small, medium, and large. The tiny one is just over 3 minutes long and is easily digestible, so unless you want to see the full range of my suffering, you can stop at that one.