Two Bikes Passing in the Afternoon

This morning the temperature hovered in the low 60s as I climbed on my bike and pedaled off to work. This was the first time since Spring quarter that I've ridden my bike to work. The good thing about riding in the morning is that it's cool. The bad thing is rush hour traffic. I ride on the sidewalk for one section of road that is four lanes with concrete walls on either side. The rest of the time I ride on the road, claiming my lane, as I've been instructed to do.
The ride in this morning seemed to have a lot of stop and go. My rust-colored bag was slung across my chest and rested on my back. Whenever I took off from a stoplight, I'd have to readjust it. But the sky was the clearest blue ever and the air felt fresh on my face. I wore a sweater because it seemed a little chilly, but by the time I got to school, I had a small sweat spot between my breasts. I knew I should have dumped the sweater.
After working until 3, I hopped on my bike and started the ride home. The ride home always seems worse. First there's the hill and second there's the other hill. I was on the sidewalk section of the ride home when I looked to my left and saw there, amongst the traffic, a man on a red bicycle with a red helmet. He carried a gray backpack. I had to look again to be sure. Then I yelled, "Hey!"
There was my husband riding his bike to work downtown as I was coming home.
He raised a hand in greeting, and I wondered for just a minute if the gesture meant "Wait there," but I kept riding and I knew he had to get to work.
I'm way out of bicycle shape, but passing him like that reminded me of, guess what? Of course, our bicycle trip in France. We rode from town to town in Provence, carrying all our belongings in panniers, also known as saddlebags. It really limited our purchase of souvenirs, but it was our best trip ever. Here's a photo from our stop at the Pont du Gard. As I recall, on our first day from Avignon to the Pont du Gard and on, we didn't take any food along. I was sorely in need of chocolate before we had finished that forty miles.