Bikin' Kiev

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Scott Smoot (right, in Ukraine jersey) with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, virtually.

We're all Ukrainians now. (See my poem, Ukraine, Second Week.) But even before Putin's invasion, I had reason to put Kiev on my bike tour of places in the world I've "lived or loved."

The world tour is virtual: I've biked 536 miles on trails around Atlanta during the last 32 days. That distance takes me from Moscow to Kiev.

Before the 1980s, I knew Kiev as the source of a chicken dish my mom sometimes made, and I loved "The Great Gates of Kiev," grand finale of composer Modest Moussourgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. I'm touched by his transformation of his jaunty "promenade" into a monument to the composer's late friend, whose design for the gates was never realized.

Then I met Eugene from Ukraine, enrolled in 7th grade where I taught in Mississippi. I wrote about him in my essay about a great detective novel set in Ukraine, and Eugene's father Arkady contributed some comments. See Arkadya. I think about Eugene often, and told generations of middle school students about my adventures with this undersized kid who carried himself like Arnold Shwarzenegger. As often as I imitate his quirky English, I remember him with affection. He must be close to 50 years old now; he was funny, talented, and intense.

Miles YTD 2215 || 2nd World Tour Total 15,750 miles since June 2020 || Next Stop: TBA

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Use the arrows to follow the entire tour from the start.