Riding to Rest
by Scott Shaffer

I extract my 21-speed from the garage, wipe away dust, fill tires,
check lights, pack cell phone and water bottle. As I set out, I recall
my first solo bike ride around the block 63 years ago:

six years old, pedaling my first two-wheeler, a gold “speedster”–
off on adventure to explore foreign lands … with dad’s permission.
Today as I pick up speed, I wonder:

Why do I enjoy bike riding so much? Maybe it’s the bracing breezes
on my face; the sun’s warmth anointing azure skies, seeping
into skin and soul; the cooling shade of the timbered, green cathedral;

scaling and then plunging down small bridges at full throttle.
Or maybe it’s the wind’s “woosh”; bird calls piercing the still forest;
the clickety-clack clatter as I rumble over bridges.

Or perhaps I’m grateful that while riding I can think out loud, solve
thorny problems. Or that it’s excellent exercise. All good reasons
to ride; but my delight is deeper: Sometimes when I bike

I have a sense of simply BEING–I’m alone, but not lonely; content,
not restless; not trying to control anything, complete my to-do list,
or prove myself; living fully in the present, unself-conscious, joyful.

In such moments, confining clock time transforms into a freeing,
somehow more-real time. My soul seems designed
for such times of rest–when I ride on the wings of the wind.



 

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