The Thursday Thought - Bike Riding

Bike Riding

There’s something different about bike riding that singles it out as being such good fun. I really enjoy taking my bike out for a little run on a weekends’ afternoon, as long as it’s dry at the time, and pedalling off into the not so distant distance. Nothing fancy, just a trip down the old railway tracks to Monton and back. Not too far either, I can’t remember how far exactly, but I average out at an hour. And with my bike computer getting fixed soon, I’ll be able to clock my stats over the same run again and again.

But yeah, back to my cycling trips. This is the time of year when it gets really, really good. It’s spring, so all the trees are in bud, blossom everywhere, new fresh bright green leaves beginning to sprout as if by magic from the barren branches of the past few months. It’s so pure, so genuine, so natural. Ok, the track itself isn’t quite so, a strip of pathway, made of sand, stones and mud changing every so often, but it beats the cold feel of tarmac against my tyres. It’s a different sound, after all, the one of wheel on tarmac, smooth and non-changing, and then the sound of wheel on sand and stone, grating, changing pitch all the time, there’s nothing quite like it.

I suppose the great thing about bike riding is the feeling of pure control. You are very much in the driver’s seat (or saddle at least) and everything that bike does is down to you. You are the one to peddle away to build up speed, brake to slow down, brake hard to come to a stupidly fast stop. You are the one to know how hard or fast to turn the handlebars, with a direct result from even the slightest twitch, and you are the one to feel the result as a force on your body. The wind rushing past you, whistling at your ears, the sights flashing by the corners or your eyes as you tear past the scenery, the sudden sharp turns to avoid bricks on the path – there are no rules on where to ride like on the road, it’s all up to you! – the people you get to fly by, the puddles you get to run through and splatter all over your bike, clothes and face. Everything you do, has a direct on your path, on your speed, on the sounds of the wheels, on the whistling of the wind, and that just can’t be recreated anywhere. It’s a direct input to output that can’t be shown elsewhere. I guess it could be that.

Or, could it be the feeling of being alone. There is no one with you on a ride like that, it’s just you and your thoughts. You get to think about what’s flashing past under your wheels, but also get a chance to escape from everything else and be alone, to have time with your thoughts, take in some clean, fresh air and think about them without being disturbed too much. I mean, what else is there to think about, apart from your route between the puddles of mud, the fallen branches, the twigs, the bricks, the odd shard of broken bottle to hinder your progress over the path and into the distance. Yeah, I think that’s the bit I like.

So, I urge you all to saddle up, water bottle filled and tyres pumped up. Turn off your phone, leave the MP3 player behind, go off into the distance and chase that horizon. You know it makes sense!