Imperfect Circles

By Ed Cangialosi

Welcome to the new year! January looking backward and forward at the same time is all about the rolling around – in some circles anyway. There was a very nice article on the first page of the Science Times section of the New York Times on Tuesday, December 8^th titled, “The Circular Logic of the Universe”. If you read it, I hoped you enjoyed it as much as I did, and that it inspires you to take a trip to the Guggenheim Museum to see the Vasily Kandinsky show in its spiraling exhibition space. You can climb the hill in the museum, but this is the off-season, and holiday season, so it’s ok to coast a bit…start at the top and roll the downhill way.  

There aren’t any bicycles in the Kandinsky Guggenheim show, or in the article which focuses on nature’s work and how it inspires us. The Times article author, Natalie Angier, points out through her source work that perfectly round is not natural. The wheels on our bikes are slices of spheres and optimally round unless we happen to crack them up. Angier circles in on the concept that we are drawn to circular objects. Back in the day, (way back like more than 5K BCE) before we had really reliable calendars and history was not written down the times of the year were consistently noted by festivals celebrating nature – spring’s green, the fall’s harvest and those equinox times of the year. Not recording history gave us a way to keep a continuity stretching back and forward without end in a nice circle.

Recording things makes it possible for us to make them linear. For example: On July 4, 1776, the Colonies declared their independence and we can trace a (few messy) line(s) of history down to our present American day. Or more in more bike friendly terms…How many miles are on your odometer after a season of riding? These two concepts of time being circular and linear are not contradictory; they work together.

I like my roads smooth. Someone in a factory somewhere trued my wheels as round as possible, and smooth roads keep them that way. I also like my roads linear, after a fashion, going up and down as well as around and around. I like connecting my roads and making loops so that I eventually get home again. I am drawn to the bicycle, and now  Vasily Kandinsky too.

So while pedaling those imperfect circles on my rollers this winter I will take a moment to reflect on, if not record, the round trips of the past year and look forward to the rides ahead with friends.

Enjoy!