Dear Siu Blue,

There are a number of levels of interpretation to my post. On the simplest level, it is an absurd anecdote, even though it is not fiction. I didn't know at the time what the hell those people were doing stopping in such a dramatic fashion and lining up that way. I did, however, know that placing what I am calling a legend is a way of calling attention to oneself in public and is not done lightly because you can be called a lunatic just for doing it. My reason was that I assumed the other cyclist was possibly on a very long trip and from my own experience he could use another cyclist's giving him something to focus on of a human nature to give some orientation to his trip, not to distract him, definitely, but simply to serve as a land-version of a beacon requiring no particular input from himself, telling him "I've been there myself, friend, and I wish you well on your journey" without saying something verbal that would require him to take his mind off what he was doing to make some verbal response. His look back to me told me he took it exactly in that way. He smiled happily. Neither of us needed to say anything else.

I would have been glad to forget about the whole thing as simply a greeting between cyclists on the road but then the car swirved into the oncoming lane of traffic suddenly. This was an open area of road--no buildings in sight and no people in sight. The only event the car's behavior could have been linked to was my "legend," especially because they got out of the car and simply stood at attention by the side of the road. Ever since I started to plant legends I had not any idea what they might mean to others. But I always knew what they meant to myself. They are, just as I said, "beacons." They serve the purpose of marking off experience when you have reached a point in life when you are not sure what you are doing but you have a keen sense that you are still pursuing the right path. I think the man at the wheel knew that because I think some human behavior is well grounded in history, even if it isn't common knowledge.

Greg and Lance come in as far as I am concerned because I take my place in cycling history very seriously and I don't wish to either over or understate it. As my trips were long and lonely, so the explanation of why I think they are significant will be long and lonely too. Still, the details should be interesting most of all to other cyclists because many of them have had similar experiences. The family by the side of the road may not have been cyclists, but they certainly believed I was not your average roadside wayfarer. Would you have stopped to talk to them, or just said hello? Not if you had just placed a legend and wanted to remain under its protective umbrella for the long term in your life and theirs. I believe it should be evident to the experienced cyclist that I am not trying to brag about my life. There are countless ways to do that and instead I am saying things that cause some degree of perplexity, at risk of my own good name at least here on this site. I do this because I believe in legends--legends of men and women throughout history whether they left legends of stance or not--and in the power of solitude as we find it on the road, the freedom to travel and get so totally into our own private journey that it takes on a greater significance in the whole scheme of things, not for egotism or pride, but for celebration of free will and our right to free passage along any of our roads or highways. I think if you talk to anyone who has cycled a long distance you will find a boundless joy for the enterprise of cycling, and joy is often mistaken for insanity.