George Orwell once wrote an essay entitled “Why I Write”. And while it’s maybe a little obscure to discuss on a mountain bike website, after reading it the other day, I was struck by some similarities between riding my bike and writing. For those of us that write, it’s always a struggle. Finding your voice in the written word is a never-ending battle and one that you can only win in snippets. I can spend hours writing absolute garbage and then suddenly something comes out onto the page that actually flows and works and gives my voice a chance to shine. Is writing fun? Yep. Especially when it’s easy. And the same is true of riding bikes.
From the first time I rode a banana seat bike with training wheels to the modern full suspension bike, riding has always been fun. How can it not be? Zipping around on two wheels, be it on asphalt, buff single track, techy roots or just cruising down the road on my way to work; all of it brings me back to the freedom I experienced the first time my dad let my bike go and I just pedaled off into the world. Because that’s what riding represents – a little taste of freedom.
Catch me in the middle of a long climb, when my lungs are screaming and I feel like throwing my bike into the forest and maybe I’ll disagree. But no matter how long or hard the climb, when it’s time to start going down, I always perk up. My little fun reserve kicks in and I start to smile. Because at that point, just as I’m starting to let my bike roll, I am doing what I did when I was a kid; I’m leaving my cares and worries, all my stresses behind me. The bike takes over. The sound of my hub clicking away, the rubber biting into the loam, the singing brakes, the suspension in action…all of it tells me that I am free to enjoy the moment. It is one of the few things that truly loses me to my own existence.
And it doesn’t matter what the trail is. The other day I was on a short ride and because of a fairly angry momma bear who bluff charged me and forced me back the way I had come, I had no choice but to ride out from where I was on the gravel track. I was a little miffed. My plan had been to cruise down some mellow, but still slightly technical singletrack but instead I was forced to ride down something more fit for a stroller. But to my surprise as I started to roll downhill, picking up speed and drifting the gravelly corners, a huge smile spread across my face. There were no roots, bumps or rocks. It was buttery smooth, loose and fast. And it was awesome. I could set up the corners and really get into what I was doing without fear of a crash or negotiating anything tricky. I could have been on a fully rigid Klein and it would have been magic. And as I rode, I felt like a kid again just enjoying the moment. The feeling of my bike rolling under me allowed me to let go of everything and get lost in the flow of the moment. Fantastic.
So why do we ride? Something about being on two wheels, in any environment, gives us power and security. It gives us the ability to move, at speed, through our lives and into the world. We can ride into the unknown without a moment’s hesitation and know that as long as we are on two wheels, nothing can touch us.
I will never forget the day I saw my son ride his first pedal bike. It was like giving a kid the secret to existence. He pedaled away down the street and had I not stopped him, he would have pedaled all day and into the night. Watching him motor off into his own world showed me what riding gave him: the ability to be his own person. On his bike, he made all the decisions. There was no cleaning his room or picking up his toys or listening to his teacher at school. There was just going faster and faster and doing the longest skids possible; here was only discovery and joy all rolled into one. Riding gives us the freedom to be who we are.
So why do WE ride? In its simplest and truest form, I think we do it because it’s fun. It’s pure pleasure that happens to offer some freedom from our daily lives and a break from the insecurity many of us feel on a daily basis. It’s the reward for the struggle we all have to find our voice, be it on paper, or drifting into a corner we might not make. That is why we ride.
