Wheels Up to Wheel Down

Flying and biking. Two of my most favorite activities. A lot of people would tell you they have nothing in common. One is in the air, the other on the ground. One uses gas to fuel it, the other uses man power.

Today as I rode – against the wind the whole way out and back – I realized they have the same common core items.

It’s why I love them equally.

In either endeavor, you can be as interactive or as non-interactive as you chose to be. You can share the experience with people or withdraw and enjoy the experiences by yourself. Once you leave the ground or make the first stroke of the pedal, you are on your own. Everything falls away – as it must – no life problems, no technology, no phones.

 

They give comfort in only what you want to think about.

Each activity allows you to spend time reflecting on the world, your problems, or examining you next steps in your life’s journey. The best days are those I spend daydreaming. Enjoying what I can craft in my life or working on one of my many short stories or novels or short shorts (my friends call these poems). I rehearse conversations or practice conversations just in case a subject comes up.

Sometimes the rides are therapeutic and I can ride out my anger or exhaust my body in order to get my mind to shut up.

There are other times that the distractions I seek are in communicating with my fellow passengers or riders. I find it freeing and less lonely when I talk to others, about their life or their problems or their dreams. It makes the world feel less lonely while preventing my mind from doing double time around thoughts and ideas I have probably covered five ways to Sunday.

Granted passengers are more effusive and you may get more than you bargain for. After all,you are trapped in a small seat bolted to a cylindrical metal tube for hours on end — at least at the bar you can tab out and relocate. But more times than not, the time melts away and on occasion, you may learn something new or and interesting fact that you can pack away in the back of your mind to impress friends with later.

Flying and biking allows you to ponder life’s questions or not. You can dwell on how to resolve an issue or not. You can daydream about your ideal life or not. How will you spend the next trip or ride? For me,odds are daydreaming.

As one of my friends once said: I have an active internal life.

 

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