This turned up on social media. I’m afraid I don’t know to whom it should be attributed.
It feels like the right description of why I get on my bike, often when I don’t really feel like doing so. I know that it will make me feel better to have been out, to have turned the pedals, to have stirred the circulation and aerated the lungs.
Today, after a very frustrating week, with the weather chill and still and bright, there was no excuse not to ride. I did my usual circuit that takes me to the very end of the beach where a small memorial bench half buried in sand awaits me. As I sit there, the panorama of sky and sea is vast and I can relax my tingling frame and let my mind drift. It is, obviously, downhill most of the way to the coast, which means that the ride home is where the fury can really be released. I’m warmed up by then, so ready to take on the long miles home, enjoying the physical effort while the mind drifts further into a useful reverie.
Looking more closely at the quote, I was never in the frame to win races, but I have done a few sportives over the years, that make you feel a whiff of competition with others, which is fun. I have certainly ridden to go places, far away places sometimes, where the landscape is novel and the destination only a small part of the endeavour. However, it is the benefits to the spirit that last longest and that is why we ride.