NAME: Caroline Hamilton
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA
OCCUPATION: Scholar and Poet

Where do you live and what’s it like riding in your city?
I live in Pittsburgh, which has been developing an impressive cycling scene, even though there are still those who don’t grasp the notion that biking is a means of transportation. One summer Sunday afternoon I was coming back from a really idyllic ride downtown, along the rivers, when a guy yelled at me, “Get a car!” Either he couldn’t tell that I was having fun or he didn’t like it.

What was your favorite city to ride in, and why?
I’ve biked in Paris, London, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, Florence and Berlin. My sentimental favorite is Paris: I biked around the Eiffel Tower at dusk, over the river, up and down the Champs Elysées at night, all around the Left Bank, and through the Marais at rush hour. I bought a French leather saddle—an Idéale, like a Brooks—at a flea market for about $5, cleaned it up, and brought it home. It’s on my Rivendell Atlantis.

Why do you love riding in the city?
It took me a while to realize this, but I enjoy the way you have to stay alert when you’re cycling in an urban
environment.

Poetry anyone?
Biking Through the Streets on a Summer Evening

(after Robert Frost)

This evening, as the dusk moves west

into its shadow, people rest,

kick back, watch baseball, pour a beer.

Nobody sees me cycling here.

My little bike must love these rides

as fishing boats love ocean tides.

We coast and swerve and slowly swoop

in an expanding, endless loop.

It gives its copper bell a ring

as if to tell me I should sing.

The only city sound I hear

is fire engines, far yet clear.

The streets are lovely, black and bright,

but I should go inside. It’s night,

and all the bridges are alight,

and all the bridges are alight.