I have been playing tennis since I was a youth. And as an adult, I played on both USTA women’s teams and on mixed doubles teams and women’s doubles teams at my local club. For decades, my friends and I played on Wednesday nights. We’d have a cold beer or a glass of wine afterward—and then Covid hit and our club had to close.
My friends and I started meeting every Wednesday night on Zoom during our regular tennis time. We’d make ourselves a drink, and we’d talk about cooking, good books, good series to stream, and what was going on in the outside world. We stayed connected despite the aloneness of Covid.
My friends also enjoyed biking. And once the weather got warm enough, they talked me into going with them. I hadn’t biked since my kids were little. The first few weeks were tough—we were still social distancing. Even though we were outside, we still wore masks. But, I grew to love it.
And biking with my friends has opened up the possibilities of so many adventures. In addition to biking in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, we’ve biked together in Key Biscayne, Florida, Budapest, Hungary, and Provence, France. Last winter, Bernard and I escaped the winter for a visit with friends in Hilton Head and in Florida. I took my bike with me.
My love of travel and biking has also informed the contemporary romances in my Providence Office Series. Of course, the characters in my novels are better bikers than I. One of the joys of writing is to enable my characters the ability to do things that I only aspire to. So, bikiing has enriched both my life and my writing!
Thanks for tuning in,
Margaret
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