Zen and the Art of Speedskating

Bicyclian bards who sung
Wheely ideas below,
Which always find us young
Or Always make us so.

Verse, like a choir of poets in its sound,
All on his seat the rotal poemster sings
And while he turns the vivid wheel around,
Revolves no sad incertitude of things.

-J.G. Dalton 1885

I really like that quote, even in the late 1800’s, when bikes were high wheel monsters that had an unpredictable tendency to throw riders headfirst into the ground, they inspired people the same way they do now. “wheely ideas -which always find us young, or always make us so” nice…

The bike has been VERY good to me recently, I rode to the gym yesterday morning, and for workout #2 did a long ride in the evening, and just felt silly strong; I had one of those rides where there was nothing in my mind but the torque and power I was applying through the chain into the road, no sound but the hum of gears & windsong, the rhythms of extended climbing, the swoop of maximum lean on twisty, steep Ithaca descents. If I could bottle that feeling and sell it, I would be a wealthy man. Hmmmm, I am wealthy for just feeling it! (why are the people who have this life philosophy usually somewhat poor in the pure financial sense?)

Filed under: sweat, from home