Yesterday, I decided to get the old mountain bike out and haul it up to Oak Mountain for a little ride. It has been roughly 4 or 5 years since I got on the trails with my ole Gary Fisher and in the beginning it showed. It was weird. I was as timid as I would be trying something completely new for the first time. As I began riding, I wondered about this. I kept looking around and wondering, can anyone see me, am I riding fast enough, am I handling the technicals correctly? What the heck, who am I? Once again, I was shown that my desire for approval or acceptance does in fact spread across all parts of our lives. I was alone in the woods for goodness sakes and there I was hoping no one would spot me just in case I was to make a wrong move or worse yet, maybe fall off a bridge over a rocky water crossing. It pretty much went this way for the first couple of miles, and then I began to feel my groove to some degree, things started coming back to me like I had never forgotten them, and the more I thought I about this, the better and faster I did ride. It was around mile 3 or 4 that I felt I had completely gained my confidence back and really started moving through the woods much faster and daring. It was complete release for me, and I think I've been craving that for sometime now.
Riding through the thick of the woods, not knowing what is around the next curve or over the next hill but pressing on like there was no fear of what is to come...it was awesome. It made me think about one of the books I'm reading currently "Way of the Wild Heart", and talking about the "Cowboy" stage of life. Another reminder to me that the "cowboy" in me is still much alive. As I said above, it has been probably 4 or 5 years since being on the trails with my mountain bike, and I have missed that, but more than that I miss road cycling. I was so into road cycling, it was a normal and regular part of my everyday life. Not many days went by that I did not ride at all and on average I would ride between 150 -200 miles a week. I loved it, never knowing exactly where I was heading, just exploring the road sometimes with others and sometimes alone, either way it was always exciting. I want to get back to road cycling, it was the one thing in life that I really found release, a place to think, a place to press out frustrations, a place to explore God's creation, all upon the wheels of a bicycle. I am not sure when, not sure how, but I do plan to purchase another road bike sometime in the near future I hope, but I am committing to not go in debt over it, I will have to pay cash, and right now, I don't have that much to spend on a bike, but no time like the present to start saving.
Why am I writing this, I guess to say one thing...never let go of your passions. What do you love to do that you have not done in awhile? Go do it!
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