I’m sitting by the edge of the Grand River.
When you go for really long bike rides, gravity is against you. One water bottle for every hour of the ride… but water is heavy. A bike lock. Layers of clothes because it was cold early, and as it gets warmer, you strip on the side of the trail. Listen… it’s not that kind of stripping.
I popped a tire. Third time in three rides. It’s the back one, harder to change out. I have a spare tube but why bother? It will pop again. I could just sit here and look at the water instead.
And I wonder: what’s wrong with this tire?
My best writing ideas come to me in the shower. No kidding. They do. Second best, the long bike rides. Once you hit 40 km, your heart is thumping. Your body is aching. And you still have 40 km to go. When you only care about surviving the road, the distractions of life fade. You’re single-minded. You’re focused.
It’s in those moments that the ideas pile on. The random thoughts, so silly, so pointless, but why do they come? Where do they come from? I pay attention. And stuff happens. Most of the ideas fall away. But the few that stay, they really stay.
I should bike naked. There’s no law against it, is there? Our ancestors, the cave people, would have ridden naked if they had bikes. You can’t deny it. There, that’s exactly one of the silly things that should never be written about.
My wife just picked me up. Came all the way to save me. I’ve tried writing about her. So many ideas. But I don’t really write about my personal life and some people transcend any words that I can put together. I’m the luckiest of people… even with a flat tire.
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5 Responses
What a great story! I’ve always thought that physical struggle opens the mind. Kind of like your body ‘all hands on deck.’ Your own being is running at 100%…
Maybe offer something to the tire gods… not like your first born or anything like that but a little something….
Who are you, Someone?
I long to get a bike and go riding. When I had a bicycle last, my friend mocked me for wearing a bike helmet because it was supposedly uncool. But I thought the protective gear was very cool. It made me seem like a real cyclist, in my mind. And the mind precedes the body, if you have hope you can make it in any endeavor.
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A year or two, I had an experience similar to yours … my tube kept popping. Several rides in a row. I eventually figured out what the problem was on the inside of the wheel, there is a tape that protects the tube from the rim. That tape had come lose and was pinching the tube. Had to replace the tape and it’s been fine since.
Don’t bike naked. Please.
Good one, will check that out. It’s so frustrating, especially with weather cooling and me wanting to get out there. Have the bike in the shop just now.