Daydream Roads and Lightning Bug Rides

I was recently turned onto FatCyclist.com, a solid bike blog, definitely worth checking out. In particular, I read a story by guest contributor Tim Joe Comstock, entitled "My Proudest Moment: Trailer Park Cyclist vs. Cervelo Guy." Tim Joe tells his bicycle story in a beautiful simplicity that matches the genuine purity of the cycling his words describe. Pedaling a 1981 Schwinn LeTour on the same roads as multi-thousand dollar Cervelos and gear-head roadies in expensive lycra (and as this story relates, sometimes out-pedaling them!), Tim Joe reminded me of why we cycle -- of the unique and unequaled joy and beauty of pedaling a bike.

For me, the real highlights of Tim Joe's story are the following:

"But while I may sound bitter or disillusioned, I am not. Because I ride a bicycle too. The same roads my 'superior' colleagues pedal on are open to me, also. And listen, man, I ride them. After thirty years of hard labor in the construction industry, after two marriages and houses and kids and lawyers, topped off with this never-ending 'recession' and all the loss that results from loss: I ride my bike. A lot."

and:

"I was into mile 30 on my Saturday ride, just cruising along on my 1981 Schwinn LeTour, loving the day and day-dreaming on the empty country road that I like to use for my day-dreaming ride."

These passages really capture the beauty of cycling. We ride because while we love cranking and riding fast, we ultimately love going slow enough to notice flowers, overgrown yards, the Flatirons, and to daydream. Like Tim Joe, I hope we all have our own daydream roads and that we take some daydream rides, even if it is only on that bike ride -- that one moment to breath -- between a stressful day at work or school and an equally challenging night of homework.

After reading Tim Joe's words, I am reminded of some of my favorite cycling memories, and they all seem to be the ones that very clearly remind me that although life can definitely be rough, there are still patches of it worth seeing. Not to be melodramatic or anything, but maybe there's something to the fact that before bombing the descent we have to crank up the hill, and sometimes the best nights on a tour are those immediately following a vicious headwind.

The bike memories from my life that I love are riding the shoulders of empty roads during the early evenings in North Carolina, just as the lightning bugs come out, and the exhilarating rides through busy city streets, leaving cars behind me, turning a frustrating day into a great one.

Regardless of the bike being ridden, the gear being used, or the clothes being worn, there is something pure, simple, beautiful, and even redeeming in being outside and pedaling a bicycle; and I believe, setting everything else aside, this is fundamentally why we cycle.