"For I would ride with you upon the wind ..."
-- W.B. Yeats, The Land of Heart's Desire
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| Pinwheel toy 4-27-14 |
"The wind envelops you with a certain purpose in mind ..."
-- Haruki Murakami, Hear the Wind Sing
"Air, I should explain, becomes wind when it is agitated."
-- Lucretious, On The Nature of Things
Cycling into a strong wind makes cycling feel a lot like hard work.
But thankfully, for every headwind there is an equal and opposite tailwind.
Turning the corner and riding a long stretch of smooth road with the wind at my back makes all the hard work worth it. This the part of the ride I live for -- the warm, gooey center.
It's like dragging your sled up a huge snowy hill just so you can whiz down and feel the speed and freedom of fast. I'll gladly endure the burn in my legs and plow into a headwind or grapple with a crosswind for the sweet, exhilarating reward of being carried along by a strong tailwind.
Headwind, bad.
Tailwind, good.
