One of the most magnificent things about Cycling is that not only does it represent different things to different people, it represents different things on different days. Some days, it’s training – a means to an end. Other days, it’s the culmination of a body of work; rather than a means to an end, it represents that end itself, whether that end is exhilarating or devastating. But these two facets represent Cycling only as Sport, the complex simplicity of the balance between dedication and results.
Cycling stands apart, however, in its many dimensions beyond Sport. For me, Cycling is meditation, a time to clear my mind of ancillary concerns and contemplate on those that require my focus. It is thoughtlessness, a time to eliminate everything through the simplicity of pain. It is simultaneously medication and therapy; even a short ride can shake a heavy lethargy from my bones and rejuvenate aching muscles and joints. It is simultaneously tension and release; Cycling can fill my being with effort, an effort that overflows my legs and lungs and spills over to fill every fiber of my being, flushing from me all those things I wish not to keep.
Cycling is penance for my mistakes; a few hours at the mercy of the Man with the Hammer can help me understand the error of my ways. It is cleansing of other’s mistakes – here the Man with the Hammer helps pound out the ripples in the surface of Life they cause me.
I am by no means a great man and never will be. But I am a better man for my bike, and for that I am eternally grateful to it.
Vive la Vie Velominatus.
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A-Merckx
A-Merckx, brother. A-Merckx.
Ah, well said, Frank.
All too true. Cycling is a necessary yet completely optional aspect of our lives; it enables our delusions while continually shattering them on the cold, hard reality of genetics. It has quite literally saved my life while putting me nearly daily in harm's way. It saves my marriage from me (too tired to argue, too tired to cheat), yet is That Fucking Bike.
So shall it be.
Stunning!
It isn't just talk you are spouting there, science backs it up. For those of us magpies out there, give a read to Riding is My Ritalin, http://www.bicycling.com/news/featured-stories/riding-my-ritalin, from Bicycling a while back, and if I can find it, a great article about Tom Danielson getting his head together and being able to focus. I can't find it, but when I do, I'll post it.
Now, must go focus on something else.
Nice Frank, just reading "It's all about the bike - Robert Penn" so will borrow a paragraph .....
The bicycle saves my life every day. If you've ever experienced a moment of awe or freedom on a bicycle; if you've ever taken flight from sadness to the rhythm of two spinning wheels, or felt the resurgence of hope pedalling to the top of a hill with the dew of effort on your forehead; if you've ever wondered, swooping bird-like downhill on a bicycle, if the world was standing still; if you have ever, just once, sat on a bicycle with a singing heart and felt like an ordinary human touching the gods, then we share something fundamental. We know it's all about the bike.
If those words accompanied by the picture of that Col do not resonate with you, then you need to hang the bike up for good. I wish I could go ride a Col now instead of face a full day of the office.
Nicely put Frank.
The bike & cycling are a good metaphor for life. I learned pretty fast as a teenager after getting into cycling to smile when it rains, work hard and take my turn on the front & most importantly to really savour the few wins or days every year where you couldn't feel your legs, but could rip everyone else's legs off. This pretty much sums up life in general for me too. As you said, most of the time we are 'base training', with a few podium spots along the way.
I met my wife while working on a pro bike race 18 years ago, 2 kids later & still happily together, a day doesn't go by where I don't think about what cycling has added or introduced to my life. Still have to try & hide any new equipment or gear that I buy after all these years though! As long as the frame colour stays the same it seems to work!
@mblume
A-Merckx. And very well put, Frank. Just back from a little Great Escape myself, here - http://www.heaphytrack.com/. More wild weather and rugged terrain than warm sun and smooth tarmac, but equally facilitative of mind-clearing contemplation. Damn I'm glad I ride.
Nice read! I like the picture of the Man with the Hammer "... pounding out the ripples in the surface of Life ..."