And this includes not just celestial phenomena, like those caused by the interaction between electrically charged particles from the sun and Earth's magnetic field, but also intangible concepts like fellowship, adventure, and surprise, all of which are invisibly visible when cranks are cranked and two wheels turn.
The plan was to stay close to light rail, and while an initial proposal to extend the club’s “bounding box” via public transit was eventually discarded due to the prospect of too many disappointed National Football League fans, that particular desideratum was, in fact, adhered to, partly thanks to one of our fair city’s newest pieces of bicycling infrastructure curling under the vast Montlake interchange, just a hop-skip-and-a-jump (or crank-turn and pedal-spin) from the deepest of the Partial Underground’s underground stations.
And speaking of the invisible made apparent (if not visible), here’s another one: Cross-cultural exchange!
As my father sometimes pointed out (in a probably not entirely culturally-sensitive way), “A billion Chinese couldn’t care less about this or that” (usually something I was whining about according to Dad), but as it turns out, at least forty or so Chinese students from the University of Washington DO care about the aurora borealis and are willing to walk through muddy trails and across rickety metal bridges to get somewhere hoped to be dark enough to see it.
And what’s even more surprising is how many of them were even more delighted to run across an unexpected little bonfire by the side of a lake, especially when it was stoked higher and higher through the addition of liquid plastic.
The flames were visible, but the warmth they inspired just had to be felt.
Apparently, time-lapse photography could render the greens and purple of the aurora on people’s phones, despite one’s eyes not being able to.
Sort of how bikes make possible joy that would otherwise never be seen.
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