It’s Rochester Bike Week. And it just so happens that the first day was perfectly timed with one of my favorite things — magnolia trees in full bloom. I wait all year for the street in the picture to bloom. Rows and rows of magnolias on Oxford Street. It is a fleeting moment of spring and I always make a point to ride along the street before the blooms are all gone. Shortly after this picture, the wind and rain took most of the blooms down.

We had a HUGE magnolia tree in our backyard in Capitol Hill, which was my first introduction. We had a postage-stamp size backyard, so the tree took over our yard and that of our neighbors on either side. And every April, the blooms would engulf our bedroom window (not hard to do, as our house was 17 feet wide). I waited all year for that. I super dug it. And now that we live in Rochester, I wait all year for the magnolia trees on Oxford to bloom.

Rochester is in full bloom right now, so get up on your bike and get out to enjoy it! And check out all the cool stuff going on for Bike Week, including the Bike Film Fest!

Also: mark your calendars for Monday, May 19th. There is a public input meeting about bringing a bikeshare system to Rochester! 5:30PM at the Central Library (115 South Ave). Click on over to rocbikeshare.org for more information AND to take an online survey about a bikeshare in our city!