Get Up On Your Bike! -- Stage 2

...with thanks to Luka Bloom for providing the title and lyrical source of inspiration herein, his words encapsulate the theme and mood intended for this Blog; one which I hope will convey the soul of Man and Machine as they mesh in pursuit of a great ride.

"You see whenever I'm alone
I tend to brood
But when I'm out on my bike
It's a different mood
I leave my brain at home
Get up on the saddle
No hanging around
I don't diddle-daddle

I work my legs
I pump my thighs
Take in the scenery passing me by..."

I've been riding, like most of us, since I was little; and it wasn't until I first shed my training wheels, that I ever really ventured out past a block or so from home. But that's the beauty of being in command of your own two-wheeled Steed, you're never so far away from home that you can't make it back; because your will is the fuel to power your legs as they turn the wheels which roll true.

I've always felt that way, since childhood, secure and self-assured in the boundless freedom afforded by a machine which needs no Pump or electrical current to rely upon; driven by only the spirit within, and the desire which never quits. All of which was almost snatched away from me as a careless motorist, in seeming command of his petrol guzzling Toyota Tundra blindly trundled into and over me and my reliable 1987 Specialized Rockhopper on August 11th; just 5 days shy of my 51st Birthday!

No real warning, I was half walking and half riding my Bike, as I waited for an opportunity to cross the "Northwest Highway" just South of Chicago's Edison Park neighborhood. The Tundra's driver said he never saw me because he never even looked in the direction I was coming from; preferring, instead to ignore the late day Sun, which he would have had to have looked directly into, in order to see whether any hazards, or other potential mishaps (like running over a Bicyclist) were looming ahead...