Going The Extra Miles

"I don't know what lies ahead, 

but I want to keep going forever."

-- Fuyumi Soryo

Bike tire, bottle and shoe 9-20-14

"A new challenge keeps the brain kicking and the heart ticking."

-- E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly

"There are no traffic jams on the extra mile."

-- Zig Ziglar

There's a song I like that opens with the line "Drunk on a morning sky, it's the kind of day you want to wrap your arms around." 

Yesterday was that kind of day.

Ohio was shamelessly showing off just how gorgeous she can be.

The weather was perfect.

My legs felt good and strong.

The bike felt good and snappy.

I'd had an extra cup of coffee, so I had plenty of extra energy to burn.

So I pedaled and pedaled and pedaled some more.

And when I got to the end of my usual bike ride, I just kept pedaling. 

There was no compelling reason to stop, so I didn't.

I kept riding until I felt that good and useful kind of tired -- the purposeful, heady blend of exhaustion and euphoria that is the preferred drug of endurance athletes everywhere, that feeling that keeps us going extra mile after extra mile after extra mile, day after day after day. 

When my ride was done, I totally could have called it a day right then and there and been perfectly, completely happy.

I could have called it good.

Because it was.

Riding My Two-Wheeler

"A good bicycle, well applied, will cure most ills this flesh is heir to."

-- Dr.  K.K. Doty

Fat tire two wheeler with wire basket 4-13-14

"A bicycle ride is a flight from sadness."

-- James E. Starrs

"Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia."

-- H.G. Wells

They say you never forget how to ride a bicycle.

I'd argue that you also never forget the very first time you did it.

I must have been 4 or 5 when my dad took the training wheels off my little red and white Schwinn, trotted along beside wobbly me until I found my balance, and then finally let me go.

And even though I can't remember my exact age when it happened, I will never forget how it felt the very first time I rode a two-wheeler.

I only made it past a couple of mailboxes down our dirt road before crash-landing in the ditch (Lesson #2, Using the coaster brakes), but I'd done it. I'd tasted smooth, unbridled freedom. It was the best feeling in the world. 

I wanted to do it again. And again. And again.

I couldn't get enough.

I still can't.

And even though I've traded my little red Schwinn for an expensive, multi-geared, high-tech, feather-light, narrow-tired road machine, and my scuffed up Stride Rite sneakers for clip-on cycling cleats, and my Toughskins for aerodynamic padded Lycra tights, the feeling I get riding a two-wheeler hasn't changed a bit. 

Smooth, unbridled freedom tastes the same no matter how old you are or how fancy your stuff is.

If you have a bike and you haven't ridden it in a long time, why don't you dust it off, clean it up, grease your chain, pump up your tires and get out there. A bike doesn't have to be high-tech or look super-cool to feel great. So what if the baby seat is still attached and your baby is in college? A baby seat is just the right size and shape for a bag of groceries or a couple of six packs. Just remember to strap them in. I know a lady who takes her two elderly Dachshunds for rides in the pull-behind Burley bike trailer she bought for her grandkids. I see them cruising all over town, and it's pretty damned adorable. 

Sometimes I like to just go cruising on my heavy old retro "Susie one-speed" with her fat tires, wide springy seat and basket on the front.  

Anyhoo ...

This is all by way of saying that yesterday, after many winter months on the indoor trainer, I finally got back on the road. (I still ride a red and white bike. I guess that hasn't changed either.) It was chilly. It was windy. It was glorious. It was the best feeling in the world.

I want to do it again. And again. And again.

And I will.

Whoever said "enough is enough" was obviously not a cyclist.