Another shakedown cruise for the Pseudobecane path-racer today, my usual 25-miler to the beach and back--specifically to the bridge at Playa del Rey, where I meet my friend Bill and we lounge about on the parapet talking about nothing under a brilliant sun and clear sky. The Bridge is closed to cars, so it's quiet: nothing to hear but the hush of wind, the clapping of water on rocks, the whirr of bicycle chains. I call it my "church," mostly from my predilection for going there Sunday mornings, either directly or as a stop on a longer ride.
My life feels burdened right now, and I was weary. I take care of an aged and quite nuts mother, paying her bills, buying her groceries, arranging for caregivers, and of course visiting almost every day; I run my little clothing business, which as a one-man gig is pretty busy; I do website design on the side, which is something I'd never intended to do for anyone but myself but in which I now have some long-term obligations; and I have to fit some of my own life, and my wife's and my grown son's, in the spaces that are left.
So I cleared out my schedule and rode the Cheap Bike Project to the Bridge, slouched against the parapet between the blue sky and the bluer sea, and let the earth refresh me.
A good ride, a good talk, and good world: just what the doctor ordered.
