Bicycling
Kudos to the person who invented the bicycle. As with most inventions, I imagine the final product was the collective work of many people - each one building upon the success (or failure) of the inventor who had gone before him (or in the case of partners, those who had worked alongside him). However the process worked, I thank Providence that the human mind had the ability to imagine - and then create - the bicycle.
I can’t think of a comparable human invention that is at once so useful and so much damned fun. I love rolling through the streets of San Diego - wind in my hair, sun on my back - taking in the sights. I pity motorists stuck behind the wheels of their automobiles, rushing from one appointment to the next, barely stopping long enough to take a deep breath. I love the fact that riding my bike has increased my aerobic capacity (that will come in handy the next time I have to outrun a Siberian tiger (Hey, it could happen.)), strengthened my legs and given my a better outlook on the world in general. I think it’s those happy pheromones coursing through my bloodstream. Whatever the reason, I’m grateful. Bicycling is fantastic.
Now that I’ve waxed rhapsodic about the joys of bicycling, allow me to tell you about the two (2!) 100 miles rides that I plan to undertake this spring. One happens in March, and goes from an elevation of sea level to more than 4,000 feet before returning to more prosaic levels. The second - in April - rises to 6,000 feet above sea level. Either or both of these rides has the potential to turn my legs into noodle-like jelly. Either or both of these rides has the potential to cause me to lose more than five pounds of bodyweight in the course of a day. (I am not kidding. You have NO idea how much I sweat when riding hard.) Either or both of these events has the potential of taxing my physical limits to the breaking point.
So why am I doing this? I LOVE BICYCLING!!! A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. And if it kills me, at least my friends can say that I died doing something I loved. What more can you ask for?
