Life On Two Wheels

Along the river and toward the mountains a morning shadow shimmers across the road. The rays of the first light jet through the trees and across a figure gliding upon the road. His breath trails in short spurts, petrified as it hits the icy air. All is quiet except the slight sound of the athlete as he summons himself for yet another days work. Soon the rest of the world will bustle with life as well and the brief simplicity of cyclist and nature will disappear into the everyday struggle of life in full motion; the errands and intervals, the appointments and intersections, and the deadlines and finish lines OutPaceTheRace

Monday, October 16, 2006

Under the umbrella again

North Bend, WA
Monday, October 16, 2006

It’s crazy to think how similar US and Europe life is & yet how the smallest differences become such an upset to daily life. The most obvious of these small differences I found was that of privacy. There is literally a microscopic difference, yet it is so common everywhere you go that it unconsciously begins to build on you. It’s always in the back of your head, so little that you never notice it, yet so much that it drives you crazy. I’m sure that makes no sense, but in Europe sense isn’t that which first comes to mind…
In the meantime I’m back in the US… to make up for lost privacy in Europe I’ve decided to spend most of my time locked in my house… in the basement… in the bomb shelter… on the trainer…
I think the best thing about being back in the US is that I can drive around in my SUV making my little contribution to the US dependence on foreign oil. Besides, what good does it do to commute when you can drive? Bikes are for trainers.
Saturday was my first ride since Franco-Belge, so that’s about the first in 2 weeks. I had originally planned to do a short 45 minute commute to the gym for a 2.5 hour “gym” workout. Unfortunately the gym was doing this expo thing that they hadn’t informed me about the day before when I signed up and it was closed. Since I was all ready to ride my bike I rode the rest of the way to Seattle for a group ride. When all was said and done the ride was somewhere in the range of 100 miles. Let’s just say that that's an interesting way to ease back into it after 2 weeks of relatively low physical activity. I guess that marks the end of nothing my nothing phase though. Now I’ll be starting on the easy-riding/yoga/gym/flakey-personal-trainer/off-season/last-dose-of-antibiotics phase of the year.