As Simple as Two Wheels and Pedals.

I was going to post about hills, but decided against it. I was going to sit down and wax poetic about how much I hate hills. I hate hills the way many small children hate having to eat a green vegetable at dinner. Hills turn my tree trunk sized thighs into screaming painful factories of misery, and make my body cry in protest for having my mind force it to conquer something through the use of leg power that could’ve easily been handled by that huge, black, four wheeled speed machine back at the house.

Instead, I’m going to speak briefly about the bike, and why I do this again and again, over and over.

Why do I ride?

Why do I wear tight shorts and funny helmets and silly gloves and gear up and get on a narrow hunk of metal, with only two wheels, and go blasting through the neighborhood, or along a trail, road, path, wherever?

Why do I do any of this?

It’s actually pretty simple.

When I’m on THE BIKE, I’m free.

I’m quick and graceful and nimble. I am faster than I have ever been on foot. I am swift. I do not feel hindered by this large human shell that I call 'a body.' When on my bike, I can glide. I can fly. I can cut close turns and tight corners. I can balance perfectly while the bike inches forward. I can hop and jump and traverse obstacles. I can power this engine to a velocity a thousand times faster than anything I will ever know on foot. I will watch the world zip by, as the wind tickles my ears and the sound of my ticking heart fills my consciousness.

THE BIKE will free me from a physical frame not designed to do the very things IT allows me to do.

In return for Its grace, I will push myself until I can’t see straight, until every fiber of my body wants to stop, and I will master my body's screams by beating it into submission, by refusing to halt the cycle of stroke after stroke to travel inch after inch.

I will push through my wall. I will find the dark cave where my body doesn’t want me to go, and I will extend its limitations. I will live in that spot. I will get better. I will get faster, and yet, I know it will never stop hurting.

And I’m okay with that. I'm okay with pain. 

The bike will remind me that within the universe, as I once was, I still am a child, and I should always observe with the wonder of a child.

I will remember the joy the bike gave me in my youth, and empower the joy it gives me today. I will explore. I will go distances I previously hesitated to tackle. I will expand my visible horizon one driving pedal push at a time.

THE BIKE will take me up and down, through hot and cold, wet and dry, whatever Mother Nature feels like sharing.

It will remind me of the beauty of  Mother Nature, that no matter how crappy this world can be, or how disgusting we can be to one another, every one of us, every person, like this world, can be absolutely beautiful in spirit and act, especially when you least expect it.

THE BIKE will test me.

I will become a better person by these tests. I will understand the power of two wheels, not just what it does for me physically, but mentally, as well. I will understand this perfect tool.

I will meet new people and make new friends. I will expand my social circle. I will learn. I will enjoy. I won't even mind it when they give me a nickname, as everyone does, because of my size.

So, there you go. Like I said, the reason is pretty simple.

THE BIKE is happiness, even when it sucks.

Just like life.

But I still hate hills.