biking in dresses

There are many ways in which life does not imitate art, despite the adage. For instance, when I ride my bike to work in the summer, I do not look like Juliette Binoche or any of the lithesome French women in dresses on bikes I've seen in the movies. I mostly only wear skirts and dresses in the summer because I'm always too hot, and I abhor fabric, any fabric, surrounding my legs from top to bottom. Anyway, there I am, cycling along with my skirts either hiked up or tied between my legs. I would like to imagine myself looking like a French ingenue in a flowered summer dress, hair blowing ever so slightly in the breeze, lipstick in place, a wicker basket on the front, and cute little shoes. But I don't. I can't. The bike is all wrong, I own dresses but not pretty ones with delicate floral patterns, and I wear running shoes and a yellow helmet. There is no cute hairstyle.  There is no lipstick.  I don't look effortless. I look like I'm pumping uphill and sweating, which I am. There's nothing wrong with looking like a normal person biking to work, it's just that I would rather look like Juliette Binoche, or maybe Charlotte Le Bon in the "The Hundred Foot Journey." I would like to look as carefree and flowing and french as I FEEL when I'm on my bike. Photo: commuting in a downpour and looking decidedly unFrench.