Why I Ride

The sun shines, and there's a cooling breeze. Spring spatters hedgerows with colour and life. My heart beats in a hustling trio with birdsong And the warm droning wrrrrr of tyres on tarmac. Turning the pedals is natural and easy, Briefly in Bobet's elusive volupté, The shimmering promise of power and grace, Man & machine in perpetual bliss, A caress that carries me forward.

I ride for this. For the profound connectedness of body and mind, With the clean, hard work of the ride, the hills, and the whooping descents. For the power. For the pain of attaining the goal. For life. For a few more years, months, minutes maybe At the end of the road.