ch3.org.uk

Finally, I'm back on the road, My bike, re-forked and re-braked, is again roadworthy and active. The freedom of being able to move fast under my own power, to match the traffic, draws me back to what I wrote a couple of years ago:

I ride because of its elegant efficiency; travelling under my own power, smoothly, radidly. Pacing, sometimes passing, the traffic, man and machine are one, a vehicle of surpassing efficiency; in the simple purpose, the regular smooth rythmn, the mind, directed in the single concentration of running with the traffic, reaches a state that is almost zen; absent thought is gone, just the simple honesty of propelling yourself to your goal, a constant observation causing you to be totally here in the present; your anticipation of the flow placing you almost in the future. You wonder why others need their cumbersome, decaying tin boxes to match you; and even then they are shut away from the world, trying to control the vast inhuman behemoths, caged, enslaved, dinosaurs to your wolf, wearing themselves down as you build yourself up.

Maybe I'm more panther than wolf now, but I feel far better for the ride; even something of a positive attitude towards work. The bike still needs some fine-tuning; its new forks have a somewhat greater rake than the old, making the handling different, but at least it's runnin again.