The cleats on my shoe enter the pedals with a click, my fingers curl around the thick newly applied bar tape and my arse kisses the saddle. I'm man and machine as one as I roll down the road.
I check what I'm carrying - £10 note, spare tube, multi-tool, tyre levers, pump and CO2 inflator. The main decision is where do I ride today? How strong do I feel today? How long before the wife misses me? - then my mind has wandered.
The thoughts that usually occupy my mind are slowly stripped away. The distracting usual thoughts first - did I lock the door? Should I get fuel tonight or in the morning? What's for tea? I then progress to the more important thoughts - what is my Grandson doing? Should I change jobs? Should I buy another house? - then suddenly my mind has switched off.
The pain comes now and again of course, but the pros do say suffering is optional, but brains own pain killers, endorphins, are more powerful than Prozac and suppress pain and induce a feeling of wellbeing. I think it was Diane Ackerman the American port who wrote "When I go cycling...the world is breaking someone else's heart."
I ride a bike for few reasons - to keep fit, to enjoy the countryside and to travel but mostly I ride to escape I ride for the silence, I ride to empty my brain, I ride for the void. Random thoughts do enter this void - lines from songs, lines of poetry, an old girlfriend - but mostly they are like snowflakes falling on water.
Sometimes I get home and I'm not even sure where I have been until I download the data from my Garmin.
On the bike my brain switches off and recharges - its the Great Escape.
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