July 4 Hammerfest Norway

 FAQ number two:

2. What do you think about while you ride?

I think a lot about nothing. Dramatic scenery -mountains and fjords, flowers and trees, rocks and rivers — surround me and still my mind. Or focus it? But maybe that’s a cop out.

Let me try again.

I think about what I want to say in these posts. I tell the story to myself, reorder it, wordsmith it, play with the phrasing until the cadence and rhythm roll easily.

A lot of the time I’m just breathing. Of course we are always breathing, but when you’re working hard on a bike, you’re really breathing! Sometimes I am completely engaged with the in and out of my breath. Sometimes I add in looking at the white line that is painted on the road’s shoulder. I just look at the line and listen to my breath, and settle deep into a place of full-on effort. Hours go by.

Sometimes I think about my body mechanics. Am I pulling up with my hamstrings and not just pushing down with my quads, are my shoulders down and back, is my weight off of my wrists, are my ankles loose and rotating, are my knees in, my hips tilted properly and so on.

The scenery also leads me to think about similar trips I’ve been on - similar in either scenery or style.

Many teenage summers cycling in Maine, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, with Ruth Roemer, Dana, Barry Martin Sean, Robin, Robert and Libby (her t-shirt said: “I get 25 miles to the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”)

Coast to Coast with Bobbi and Paul Puretz (I still do the 2-minute bike check), France and Italy with the Amy crew, Alaska, Switzerland.

I definitely pass a lot of miles thinking about my sister, our parents, my family, and my friends. I live a rather solitary lifestyle, but I’m also very relationship based.

I think about my lovers. Old lovers, young lovers, past lovers, future lovers, potential lovers. Potential lovers might want to take note of the following:

I’ll confess that I pass many miles thinking about pancakes. Large stacks of steaming hot, blueberry pancakes with fresh maple syrup pouring over the sides. I’ve also passed many miles contemplating if crêpes would suffice, since I’m in Norway, and I think they would, but they have to be fresh, and hot and filled with blueberries. (As you can see, diner breakfasts played a formative role in my early bike touring experiences. Cycling is inexorably connected with packcakes, pie and milkshakes.)

I do set my mind onto larger topics. I would say those fall into two categories:

1. The passage of time

2. Priorities

We should give those another post.