Like Riding a Bicycle…

I am an old man and have known a great many troubles…but most of them never happened…

Mark Twain

Interesting that I wrote about fear yesterday…for…after the post…I went for a bike ride…and…although…I’ve been for hundreds of bike rides…and ridden thousands of miles…over the last few years…there was an insecurity prior to this ride…

It went something like this…

I wasn’t able to ride like I wanted to last year…has it been too long…will I remember how to shift the gears…will I remember to clip out of the pedals before I stop…the remembrance of a broken arm while learning that lesson…crept through my mind…can I make the hills…can I ride my fancy road bike…or should I take the more predictable…less challenging…cruiser instead…and…what about airing those tires…quite the challenge…after months of slowly leaking…

Bertha…met me at the door…with cycling shorts and shoes in hand…listened to no excuses…reminded me to focus on what I want…rather than what I don’t want…had…me dressed…and pumping tires in no time…

Pumping the tires…a great triceps workout…I’ll leave it at that…

And…yes…she had me on the fancy road bike…you knew she would…didn’t you…yeah…me too…

I was delighted with the ride…my cycle computer died as soon as I clicked it into place…so I have no idea how far…or fast…I went…which is probably for the best…now…I can assume…or pretend…that my stats far outweighed…my performance…

Interestingly…my fingers knew exactly which levers to click…to shift into easier…and more difficult gears…my body…instinctively knew how long it could balance…in a near stopped position…then…my feet…automatically…unclicked at the proper moment…and…found the ground…there were no stumbles…no tumbles…

So…where did I go…well…truthfully…I made several loops…just around town…my experience has taught me…that…unlike the exercise bike…which allows me to abort my mission at any time…on the bike…wherever I pedal to…I have to be able to get home again…so…for uncertain days…I find it works to be close to home…and…honestly…in the Spring…there is so much to look at…I couldn’t have seen it all in one trip anyway…

The cool thing is…the first loop was the hardest…it was all uphill…and downhill…after that…

Today…new battery for the computer…I’m thinking a different route…maybe a little further from home…or…maybe not…it really doesn’t matter where I go…as long as I go…at least…that’s what Bertha says…and we know…she’s always right…

Jane