Bicycle, Bicycle, Bicycle... I Want to Ride My Bicycle

A week into June I got on my bike to go for a ride for the first time in 9 years and discovered I wanted to do it again the next day, and the next, and the next! I have spent a significant number of hours riding my bike this summer. At the start of the season, I averaged 8.5 mph, now as we are transitioning into Fall I am averaging 12 mph. My first bike ride was 5 miles long and included a great deal of stopping to rest. My longest ride thus far has been 30 miles (and included a lot of stopping to rest). 

I am stronger and healthier, and I am not one pound lighter or one inch smaller. No lie! This fact could have been the defining truth of a very frustrating summer, but as it turns out it could not matter less to me. This has been among the most exhilarating and wonderful summers I have enjoyed as an adult and it all began with a decision to get on my bike and visit a friend.

Passing Landscape on Chena Hot Springs Rd. 

This fall I will be 45 years old and what I can tell you is riding my bike now is a lot like riding my bike when I was 10. I am able to get myself where I want to go on my own power. I am smart enough to find my way, strong enough to go the distance, and I am free! Free to go slow enough to really enjoy the world around me: weather, nature, people. Free to stop and talk with friends I meet on the path. Free to go farther from home than I have gone before, free to go a little too fast, or dawdle on my way home.

Over Labor Day weekend, friends and I drove out to Rosehip Campground on Chena Hot Springs Rd. and from there we traveled (a very slow) but delightful 30 miles to the hot springs, where we swam, soaked, made new friends, and really appreciated being driven home. Along the way we talked, enjoyed the view, chatted with others traveling on the same bit of road, and I realized, that in addition to all this, riding adds to my sense of purpose. 

A sense of purpose that grows with my increasing capacity, adjusts for my setbacks, and helps me stay connected both, internally and to those around me.  On the day we traveled to Chena Hot Springs the purpose of the trip for me was simply to pedal in good company farther than I had before.  I have discovered that each day that I ride my bike for at least five miles is a guaranteed good day and every mile after that just takes me closer to a truly awesome day. 

This is an unexpected discovery to make in my mid-forties and like any time we find ourselves in unfamiliar territory there are risks involved. On my bike, these range from navigating potholes and puddles to sharing the road with forces bigger and more powerful than me, but with risk comes tremendous reward. Including a new way of seeing the landscapes both, internally and externally, all of which continues to unfold before me as I pedal farther than I have before.