Double Whammy!!

The week ended badly. On Thursday an acquaintance, brother biker, purchased a new bike, rode it out of the shop and only minutes later put it into a guard rail at high speed. No helmet and currently hospitalized with serious head trauma. (Of course, I rode all day today without a helmet, but I'm different.)

This was followed by the news that one of my students hanged himself on Thursday night. Eighteen years old and a young man I thought was going to make it. I had talked and joked with him the day before. I work with troubled teens and John carried a large bag of problems, his family not the least of these, but this was out of the blue. Today's ride was needed to clear my head. As were the several beers and the companionship I shared with friends last night.

Riding can be cathartic. The wind, the sounds, the smells, the feel of the road and the immediate need to focus on the ride, all work together to clear the mind and center the thoughts. So I ride.

and I keep on keepin' on

On the road again

I've been going through withdrawal while the bike was in the shop. Symptoms? Irritability, headache, general malaise, a real "dilligaf" attitude. Picked Blue up after work tonight and all is well. Of course today we never got out of the forties and that makes for damn chilly riding, but riding is riding and riding is good.

As the song says, "You don't know what you've got til its gone." Although Blue was only down for four days, I missed the ride. I love riding. I love the vibration, the sound, the feel of the handlebars as I accelerate, the smell of gasoline when I fill up, all of these things and more. Riding for me is very zen. I'm living in the moment, more aware of what is happening to me physically and mentally than at any other time. Riding alone, riding with friends; just riding, riding, riding. Sometimes I feel like I could, like I should, ride forever.

Four wheels move the body, but two wheels move the spirit.