Heightened Appreciation of the Joys of Being Able to Ride

Clouds and coolness in the morning, a few rainlet bouts during the midday, gave way to some pleasant sunny skies for the afternoon's ride home. There must be something about the sun as I felt energized, thrilled to be out on the bike and so I rode quite well, spinning a higher gear than my normal "cruiser" gear combination.

As I thought and composed this entry, I was watching the program, "Take a Seat." The 10 episodes documented Dominic Gill's journey from Los Angeles to New York. What makes this more amazing is that the purpose of the ride was to enable someone with cancer to do something he had always wanted, see America by bike. What made this touching is that Ernie's cancer ended his adventure early and soon after, took his life, but Dominic continued by having 9 other special needs people join him to finish the ride that Ernie had started.

Each adventurer's story is unique, their challenges, how they have coped and managed. The thrill and gratitude they express is so, so heart warming. Their rides were not flat and easy, many hills, awful weather, mechanical issues, special fitment issues. And in the end, they smiled, they laughed, they cried with appreciation and they cheered their successes.

I suppose timing is everything, heh? As I have rekindled my joys of cycling the program was come to heighten my appreciation of being able to just ride. Few things reward me, fill me with the level of joy as cycling. I wonder if there are similar opportunities locally to provide others with a chance to experience cycling who would otherwise not be able to. I think that would be cool.