PERSONALBLOG---Some folks are so uptight! Sometimes I think the world just needs to go for a bike ride. If they did they all would understand that there is so much more to life than frustration, anger, stress and conflict. Sometimes I think if everybody would go on a bike ride they would free themselves, learn to relax, enjoy the possibilities of and the wonder of life. There is so much to cycling. Like life it has downs, ups and periods of flatness.
The Descents: I remember when I was a kid and I would watch the superman TV show, how superman would fly so effortlessly. He would just zoom up into the air without moving. He would just swing his arms to turn. I thought I would never experience it. But, I have. I will never forget the first time I rode my bike down Old Santa Cruz Highway.
Powered by gravity I flew effortlessly through the redwoods, swinging my arms, shifting my body I flew, just above the ground, on thin wheels, effortlessly, like Superman. The sheer joy of it was indescribable. It was like a flying dream; except I was awake. This was real!
The Climbs: There is pleasure even in the climbing. For me climbing is a silent often solitary activity. Quietly I climb, conserving my energy I hear every sound. My body is a machine, in the morning climbing is like a prayer. It is me, the road, the bike, the road, the trees, the birds, my thoughts; all these become one, fused in the slow climb to the top of the hill.
The Flats: From reading this you would think that riding is a solitary experience, but it is not. It is very social. Besides the climbs and the descents you have the great area of life called the flats.
No I am not talking about what happens when the air goes out of your tires. I am talking about the vast majority of land that is not steep. Those miles between the hills. These are the miles when you talk and even sing with your bike buddies.
In those miles and miles of flat riding you talk and share stories. I have worked out a great many problems and helped my friends with many of their problems over the vast flatlands between the hills. On a long ride you get to know each other very well. It is far cheaper and far healthier than group therapy.
I cannot recommend bike riding enough. People in their cars do not understand. From their metal cages they think we are looneys. They shake their heads at us. They think we are nuts, who don't belong on the road. They are ignorant, deprived of the knowledge of what it is to be so free.
3:35:20 PM 
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