Why Ride?

Thoughts on Bikes by Sasha LeBaron

To exercise ones rights? To show off your bling? To hang with friends? Or to renew the soul?
One could say all of the above and they would be right however, when you wake up one morning and
realize that you have been hitting the saddle for well over 25 years and you still do it there must be
more to the equation. The more for me comes from the synergy. Funny word synergy when the sum of
the parts ends up being more than the individual pieces. Sounds kind of new agey, sounds almost…
religious!
To a beginner mountain biking can be an incredibly daunting task. So many rituals to be
observed. So many specific types of clothing to buy. So roots, rocks and drop offs to deal with. So
many ways to feel dejected by the skills of the group. And yes, so many ways to impact the unyielding
earth.
To others including myself it is a social thing. A chance to share a culture and to chat as you do
something that feels good but with hint of escapism too. (You remember riding down your street at top
speed with your allowance carefully stowed with all the other treasures of youth in your hip pocket,
heading to the corner store at top speed? That was escape!)
For other people it is a solo meditation. They go to the mountain not to find a guru sitting on a
flat rock but to find fog droplets on spider webs, a deer who simply watches you go by or a cloudscape
that no one would believe if you painted it. Mp3 player in rear pocket. Muscles firing obediently the
trail unrolling under your wheels, that is when time seems to stand still, the worries of life retreat and
you are simply one with the universe.
When one enters a medieval chapel there is a certain feeling in the air. When one closes eyes
and lays a hand on the Wailing Wall only to receive an almost palpable shock or views Stonehenge by
moonlight something stirs inside. What is it? No one yet knows. It defies description. Though we have
tried since the beginning of time. It thrives in a an open heart and is lost in the translation. However
when you arrive, heart pounding, slightly out of breath to the crest of the ridge, drop your bike, recline
against a tree and there unfolded before you is the reality of your world; you are liable to get that
feeling once again.
Riding and more specifically arriving at the top of your local “mountain” and seeing the world
laid our before you is good for the soul. It delivers something that for many people is missing in our
iPod™, Just do it!®, If you want it, you need it.© world. Something that the novice gets even thought
may they struggle with weight transfer, power stroke and feathering the breaks. Its something the bling
rider gets when they can’t think of anything more to say about all the cool carbon fiber gear they just
bought. And for those like myself who now seem only to ride for transportation, to initiate a new rider
or with friends; getting to the cliff at sunset after a leg burning climb is as one friend put it “…our
church”.
You may ride already. You may be considering a bike. You may have a bike that you don’t much
ride anymore. No matter what your situation let me be the voice from the wilderness, the burning bush,
the angel from on high that says, “Get on your bike and ride! (You won’t regret it.)