Finding the Fire Within

[LegoSkier]

I added the last reagent and a white precipitate appeared as a ghostly apparition in the clear liquid of the test tube. Yes, that can only mean the last unknown ion is calcium! Done with lab for the year! See ya Chuck. I won’t let the door hit me on the ass on the way out! I stepped out of the chem. building into a world in motion. Wind gusts blew loose flower blossoms through the air and newly sprouted leaves struggled to keep their bright green selves attached suckling to their mother trees. As I walked across campus, I knew I had to release some stress somehow but as I neared the athletics building where I would usually go to lift weights after class I just kept walking right on to my car. As I drove up into the mountains, I swerved constantly from the potent mix of cross wind and distraction as I stared at the clouds spilling over the Carson range playing catch with the late afternoon light. As I pulled into Truckee, clouds and mist shrouded the landscape and the snow level seemed to be just above town (but below the ski areas, more fresh for tomorrow). Inside, I almost subconsciously started putting on my cold weather biking clothes. A couple of hours of light left. Perfect for a little jaunt on the Emigrant trail. Threw my ride into the back of the pickup and was off to the trailhead.
At the trailhead, a cold light rain fell. Occasionally, I’d notice a drop or two had some bounce to it betraying the death of a once proud snowflake a few hundred feet above. The ground was damp in that sort of smooth tacky way that makes for a perfect ride. The smell of wet pine filled the air. Clorox could spend a billion dollars of R&D and they could never make PineSol smell like this. I set off. As I hit the first small up hill out of the stream course, I felt a certain sluggishness. I’ve ridden this section at least fifty times and it seemed a little tougher today. Perhaps it was the Carne Asada combo lunch rearing its ugly head but as I rounded off to the flats and set off through the scattered trees and sage something changed. I found something, like a circuit directly connected the pleasure centers of my brain to my legs and I started to pedal. And from then on I just rode. I rode like the wind. I pushed it without meaning too, without planning to, or even caring to. I pushed it and pedaled hard with the icy drops stinging my face because that is all there was to do. On down hills I took every corner faster, hit every straightaway harder, and found new things to jump off of with a blinding frantic frequency. At the mid point of the ride I stopped and just listened to the wind and felt the rain and watched my breath mix and vanish in the cold. This forest knows more than me or you or any of us ever could. A wisdom only achieved by age and patience we as yet don’t possess.
On the way back I raced a herd of deer for fifty yards. A rainbow appeared and then just as quickly went to hide behind a clump of trees. At the last open spot before the trail head I stopped for a number of minutes and just stared and the evening light reminded me of why I am here. To ride.

[Innominatus]

[Telenater]

Well said.

[onehotchili]

nice post. drop me a line the next time you ride emigrants. i live right near there (Prosser) and would love to hook up for a ride...

[InspectorGadget]

I've never ridden the Emigrant trail; thank you for taking me with you.

When can we go again?

[snow_slider]

Well said!

[bagtagley]

Nice, Lego. Felt like I was there.

I'm finally getting my legs back under me. I love when you can start to enjoy the ride without the out-of-shape agony holding you back.

[Big E]

Nice words, Lego.

[ak_powder_monkey]

Thanks for reminding me about my Chem homework I almost forgot

[truth]

Damn I miss Durango singletrack....well said.

[GT40]

Man, if you can write like that. What are you doing in a chem lab?? You have the heart of a poet.