I got in another ride today. Took the Bonnie out at nightfall for a little ride downtown. It was too chilly for anything lengthy or fast without the heated gear. I wasn’t the only one, either. I passed one other rider and several other bikes parked along the city streets. I know there will be a time when the heat of Summer is so strong it presses itself against me like a lover but right now that is just a memory- and a hope. I’m trying to enjoy the days for what they are but the fact is that this time of year- the time between Winter and Spring is a difficult time of year. The cool stagnant energy of Winter is not yet gone from the air, the ground, my body or my life. I still find myself hibernating; tucked away from friends with brooding foreign films and cheap crime novels for company.
I long for the vibrant colors of Spring and pungent smells of soil. Spring isn’t far off I know, for the tulips and hyacinths are pushing their way out of the earth in my yard, bearing promise of color and life. In the backyard, while taking my kitchen scraps out to the compost pile, I found lily of the valley. This plant has long wide leaves with slim green stalks bearing tiny white flowers shaped like inverted bells. They have an intense floral fragrance that is shocking as it comes from such a quaint petite flower.
A few weeks back I attended a yoga workshop held in the Aquinas College student center. It was a mid-week workshop and happened to be held on a day that was one of the warmest we’d had. Despite the snow on the ground, people were out biking and running, walking dogs - enjoying the warm-weather offering. The man conducting the work-shop is from Arizona and he was marveling at our proclamations of the warmth. He said, “this is hope people! There is snow on the ground and yet you see Spring!” This is what avid motorcyclist do, too. Temperatures hit 50 degrees and we squint our eyes to see ourselves mid-Summer riding winding roads amid Michigan farmland despite the layers we don to enjoy those first early rides of the year.
Those tiny white bells so fragrant in early Spring are like beacons to those of us yearning for the longer and warmer days. Their scent breaks into the reverie of Winter by forecasting the bright blessings of Summer just like these early cycle rides are mere hints at the rides to come.
While riding along today I was surprised to find myself standing on my footpegs for potholes I remembered. Next I swerved around a man-hole cover and took a turn wide due to the gravel in the road. I was surprised because without quite realizing it, I had in fact been memorizing the road conditions over the past several months. Once I recognized this, I realized I had already mentally mapped out the “line” I would take on my route to work. This line has me avoiding all those fatal features that can be deadly on Spring rides when the potholes and gravel feel like an obstacle course for the motorcyclist. Riding is so second nature: that I am “riding” even when in my car.
A few weeks ago when I squeezed in a mid-day cruise over the weekend, I found myself enjoying cornering. I forget how much I miss it until I get a taste of it again. I love twisting my wrist on the throttle and feeling the bike pull me out of the corner tight and fast. I like it so much that the last few weeks in the truck haven’t been quite the same. I’m frustrated with the lack of power it has, with all the metal blocking my view, with how heavy and cumbersome it feels.
I’m ready to give the truck back to its owner and get myself back on that bike for a good long while. I promise I won’t complain about the wet days still ahead as Spring beckons or the cool weather that lingers; I will be on my bike. And I need my bike. I need her more than I want to admit and more than I should. She makes me feel young and strong and alive and free. She makes my body feel agile and alert- like Summer does. I walk a little taller and with a little more spring in my step because of her, the bike and the rides she takes me on. She reminds me that Summer is coming and that Summer is more than a season. It’s a feeling that eases into my body, my days and my way of being. I’m looking forward to Summer, to the riding and to the feelings that await me.
Beauty!
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