Carusoswi

I meditate about something on every single ride. Generally, I only think good thoughts. Then, sometimes, I think about this forum (is that sick or what?) - what the consensus would be about my riding thus and so, do I take the lane, is my cadence steady, would anyone believe me if I wrote about the guy I almost ran into at 10:30 PM riding the opposite way on my shoulder with no lights, would anyone really believe that I can maintain "this" speed (or, given the same terrain and conditions, would most of the forum riders make toast of what I consider to be really swift riding), and on and on.

I'm a musician, and sometimes, whatever lick I've been working on most recently gets into my head and I pedal to that tempo (or that tempo fluctuates to my pedaling - this is especially true on long uphill climbs - I start singing a song in my head, and, up we go!).

Sometimes I concentrate on myself - my breathing (not to control it, just to make a mental note about it - how fast I huff and puff during a hard uphill climb, how quickly my respiration returns to "normal" afterward - how I had better enjoy what seems like an uninhibited ability to breathe as fast or slowly as I need without any hindrances - how I can take deep or shallow breaths as it pleases me, never any pain, gurgling, or wheezing (I have never smoked). At those times, I say a little prayer of thanks for being blessed with good health, and for His hedge of protection during those times when, an inch one way or the other, an added bit of speed, a reduced bit of stopping, and my good health might have been wiped out forever.

I don't consider cycling any more dangerous than anything else I do, but, cycling events, both personal and those about which I read on this board, remind us, perhaps more vividly than anything else, how fragile is our health and how short is our time (our good time) here on earth.

I apologize if I've gone overboard - but those thoughts really do go through my mind during and immediately following a nice ride.

Caruso