Tuesday, March 10, 2009

hi there

Take the long way home. Find the secret path and take it. Pick a direction and follow it. Choose a spot and go there. Stop on the way. Investigate. Look. Listen. Ride your bike like you love it. Ride your bike like you love the roads you ride on. Read the world around you like a book. Go slow, or go fast. Ride the bike you rescued from a slow rusting death tied to a pole. Teach it how to be loved again and it will take you anywhere you want. Or ride your fresh young thing, unencumbered by mud, rust, filth, and, for now, memories.



I am a young man who lives in Seattle. Almost every Friday I go on a bike ride. Some are long, some are short. Some are planned, others follow no guide other than whim. This blog will be a public journal of those rides. It will have photographs and provide a map for your reference. One purpose is to encourage myself to love my rides more and take more of each home with me. Another is to share with others the love I have for riding my bike through the lonely-but-full countryside. Maybe you would like to take the same route? I would suggest finding your own paths, of course, but I understand it takes a little time to learn how. I will try to teach you how. Some tips: Ride the bike you love. Pack a lunch. Go as slow or as fast as you want. Pick your destination based not on fitness goals but on what you want to see. Treat your bike like a blessing that grants a richer, better lived life, not a piece of recreation equipment. Stop frequently. Go on a short hike halfway through your ride. Bring a buddy. Leave the matching kit at home. Get rid of your drop bars. Make sure your bicycle weighs more than twenty five pounds.

These are just tips, though. All you really need to do is to get outside and start turning the cranks.

This Friday, my ride is called "Two Lakes." See you then.



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