[Caprice]

i remember riding my bike uptown. waking up some mornings or riding after work. i always went uptown because i never knew it before. it was and still is a different world to me. the houses are old, and the people are something im not used to. i remember being this kid riding this shiny bike through these ghetto neighborhoods during the fall. people would stare at me from their porches like i was absurd. this white boy coming through this neighborhood sightseeing. a part of me felt welcome there, because they always smiled, and i smiled back. normally though, i didnt make eye contact, and i didnt get into trouble that way.
my favorite time to ride was near dusk in the fall. the crisp in the air matched with the orange sky and purple clouds always made me feel like i was floating through the city. sometimes i would ride with music, boards and bibio dominated my outlook. i remember one time, i was by this big house near loudon, and the sun was about to set, and the trees were orange and yellow, and the sky was a firm blue, and this song came on (this happens a lot, but this one moment stands out in particular to me), and i was caught balancing on my bike around the street out in the open by this big old house, looking at the sunset, and it felt like, it felt unspeakable. like everything is alright, like the world is too beautiful to care about you or anything that happens to you. this moment lasted for what seemed endless because the sun would not go down. i left that area and went on to other parts of the city, excited by what i had experienced, but also excited by what else i would find.
i usually would start out to coolavin and get sidetracked through other streets, i would ride for 2 hours or more sometimes looking at things. it is beautiful up there, old lexington. one morning that got me hooked. i woke up very early, i don't think i slept too well that night, i was in my apartment at the time. i stood up from my bed on the floor and looked out the window. it was dark outside still, and the city was quiet. the orange was barely coming up over the horizon. i was stuck there looking at it, thinking of lexington and where i was. i decided to get dressed and took my bike down to the street. i started to ride and didn't think about it. i started up rose onto elm, then i took third street when the sky started to light up. i didn't know where to go so i rode to wherever struck my eye. i got lost around the end of martin luther and went west. what i found left me awestruck. these old houses in these old neighborhoods. i remember riding slowly on the streets looking at these 100 year old houses that old money once occupied, in these beautiful neighborhoods laid out like in old times. i remember hearing lexington was once called the athens of the west because of the cultured and affluent people who once lived here. this is where they lived. the beauty of their houses and architecture only raises my imagination more to what kind of people they were. and the place lexington used to be. i entered this world in my head, and saw a glimpse of the lives they once lived. beauty comes in every-form.
my rides rarely got me tired. they took me to parts of the city i didn't know existed. i was this explorer of times past. people would stare at me like i was something new, something they never seen before. my regret is that there aren't many people i've shared these times with. almost all my rides were solo. not many people want to ride for hours at a time looking at nothing with no end (i hated planning a schedule for riding, almost all my rides were impromptu). it doesn't bother me though, because we all have a story...