the surreal ride - Page 5 - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

06-09-2004, 06:39 AM

"loki" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:CqSwc.92657$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].net.ca ble.rogers.com...
>
> Returning after 2 decades was definitely a zen thing - symbolically
> travelling back in time.

I'm not so sure it was a "zen" thing. Typically in Zen one finds
enlightenment while engaged in the ordinary: slicing carrots, taking a bath,
sweeping the floor. This trip sounds like it was outside of your ordinary
routine. Perhaps what made it Zen was the realization of impermanence. When
you return to a place you haven't been to in twenty years, it changes; or if
it hasn't visibly changed, you realize that it is you who has changed.

> Or maybe I'm just being overly melodramatic.

No, I don't think so. By going back to places, you can reconcile them, put
them in their proper perspective, see them through your adult, and not your
kid eyes.

> Anyone else consider cycling as the search for... the zen?
>
> ... the tao?
>
> ... epiphany?
>
> ... self-discovery?

Sometimes cycling just provides a space. Yesterday I spent most of the day
on a business trip, rising at 5:00 AM, going to the airport, flying to a
city just too far to drive to, having meetings, and then flying back. At
5:30 PM I was supposed to be at a workshop to discuss pedestrian and bicycle
facilities for a stretch of roadway near my home that I knew would be very
contentious. I had just enough time to pull in to the driveway, strip off my
suit and silk blouse, put on a t and bike shorts, and hit the road to get to
the meeting. I could have driven straight there, but riding the bike gave me
an interval of separation between being on that trip, and being in that
workshop. When the workshop was over, the ride home made another interval,
this one between the workshop and being at home.

I couldn't drop all the monkey chatter in the brain that the workshop
produced -- I was still chewing on all the things I should have said, my
desire to slap various people in the face, and so on. But it was still
better processed than if I had just driven home.

Perhaps by cycling to the places of your past, you are also creating the
interior space to process your memories of these place, and the feelings
both the memories and the sight of these places today generate.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Please replace earthlink for mouse-potato and .net for .com
Home of the meditative cyclist:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
See the books I've set free at: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

06-09-2004, 08:34 AM

"Zoot Katz" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> Mon, 07 Jun 2004 04:46:26 GMT,
> <CqSwc.92657$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].net.cable. rogers.com>,
> "loki" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>
> > Anyone else consider cycling as the search for... the zen?
> >
> >... the tao?
> >
> >... epiphany?
> >
> >... self-discovery?
>
> No. You'll get there anyway in your own time.
> It's not a goal, it's a process.

Can it not be both?

06-09-2004, 08:34 AM

"Zoot Katz" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> Mon, 07 Jun 2004 04:46:26 GMT,
> <CqSwc.92657$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].net.cable. rogers.com>,
> "loki" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>
> > Anyone else consider cycling as the search for... the zen?
> >
> >... the tao?
> >
> >... epiphany?
> >
> >... self-discovery?
>
> No. You'll get there anyway in your own time.
> It's not a goal, it's a process.

Can it not be both?

06-09-2004, 08:34 AM

"Zoot Katz" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> Mon, 07 Jun 2004 04:46:26 GMT,
> <CqSwc.92657$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].net.cable. rogers.com>,
> "loki" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>
> > Anyone else consider cycling as the search for... the zen?
> >
> >... the tao?
> >
> >... epiphany?
> >
> >... self-discovery?
>
> No. You'll get there anyway in your own time.
> It's not a goal, it's a process.

Can it not be both?

06-09-2004, 08:34 AM

"Zoot Katz" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> Mon, 07 Jun 2004 04:46:26 GMT,
> <CqSwc.92657$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].net.cable. rogers.com>,
> "loki" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>
> > Anyone else consider cycling as the search for... the zen?
> >
> >... the tao?
> >
> >... epiphany?
> >
> >... self-discovery?
>
> No. You'll get there anyway in your own time.
> It's not a goal, it's a process.

Can it not be both?

06-09-2004, 08:34 AM

"Zoot Katz" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> Mon, 07 Jun 2004 04:46:26 GMT,
> <CqSwc.92657$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].net.cable. rogers.com>,
> "loki" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>
> > Anyone else consider cycling as the search for... the zen?
> >
> >... the tao?
> >
> >... epiphany?
> >
> >... self-discovery?
>
> No. You'll get there anyway in your own time.
> It's not a goal, it's a process.

Can it not be both?

06-09-2004, 08:55 AM

"LioNiNoiL_a t_Ne t s c a pE_D 0 T_Ne T" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote
in message news:93txc.2271$K45.1990@fed1read02...
> > I am considering to take the train to Halifax NS
>
> I have taken the train [VIA] to Halifax from Vancouver, in 1992. It was
> a good ride, and an excellent way to see the country. I've also taken a
> couple of extended bike tours out of Halifax [round-trips to Prince
> Edward Island, and to New Brunswick]. Good touring there.

Ya, my provisional itinerary is to get off the train at Truro. That is at
the tip Bay of Fundy where the highest recorded tides ever occurred [16.27
meters (53.38 feet)]. Average tides are in the neighbourhood of 12 meters
(~42 feet) Think of it; a tidal ebb an flow equal to a 4 or 5 story
building.

Any ways I figure I'll ride along the Fundy coast for 2-3 days before
turning to cross the body of Nova Scotia. From there I'll take in the south
shore between Halifax and Lunenburg - the specific part of NS I'm from.

I'm figuring 50 km a day will be a reasonable pace allowing for stops and
side trips and soaking up local flavour. Hey, maybe I'll even locate my long
lost East cost accent.

--
'I'm a man.
But I can change.
If I have to. -Red Green's
I guess.' The Man's Prayer

06-09-2004, 08:55 AM

"LioNiNoiL_a t_Ne t s c a pE_D 0 T_Ne T" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote
in message news:93txc.2271$K45.1990@fed1read02...
> > I am considering to take the train to Halifax NS
>
> I have taken the train [VIA] to Halifax from Vancouver, in 1992. It was
> a good ride, and an excellent way to see the country. I've also taken a
> couple of extended bike tours out of Halifax [round-trips to Prince
> Edward Island, and to New Brunswick]. Good touring there.

Ya, my provisional itinerary is to get off the train at Truro. That is at
the tip Bay of Fundy where the highest recorded tides ever occurred [16.27
meters (53.38 feet)]. Average tides are in the neighbourhood of 12 meters
(~42 feet) Think of it; a tidal ebb an flow equal to a 4 or 5 story
building.

Any ways I figure I'll ride along the Fundy coast for 2-3 days before
turning to cross the body of Nova Scotia. From there I'll take in the south
shore between Halifax and Lunenburg - the specific part of NS I'm from.

I'm figuring 50 km a day will be a reasonable pace allowing for stops and
side trips and soaking up local flavour. Hey, maybe I'll even locate my long
lost East cost accent.

--
'I'm a man.
But I can change.
If I have to. -Red Green's
I guess.' The Man's Prayer

06-09-2004, 08:55 AM

"LioNiNoiL_a t_Ne t s c a pE_D 0 T_Ne T" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote
in message news:93txc.2271$K45.1990@fed1read02...
> > I am considering to take the train to Halifax NS
>
> I have taken the train [VIA] to Halifax from Vancouver, in 1992. It was
> a good ride, and an excellent way to see the country. I've also taken a
> couple of extended bike tours out of Halifax [round-trips to Prince
> Edward Island, and to New Brunswick]. Good touring there.

Ya, my provisional itinerary is to get off the train at Truro. That is at
the tip Bay of Fundy where the highest recorded tides ever occurred [16.27
meters (53.38 feet)]. Average tides are in the neighbourhood of 12 meters
(~42 feet) Think of it; a tidal ebb an flow equal to a 4 or 5 story
building.

Any ways I figure I'll ride along the Fundy coast for 2-3 days before
turning to cross the body of Nova Scotia. From there I'll take in the south
shore between Halifax and Lunenburg - the specific part of NS I'm from.

I'm figuring 50 km a day will be a reasonable pace allowing for stops and
side trips and soaking up local flavour. Hey, maybe I'll even locate my long
lost East cost accent.

--
'I'm a man.
But I can change.
If I have to. -Red Green's
I guess.' The Man's Prayer

06-09-2004, 08:55 AM

"LioNiNoiL_a t_Ne t s c a pE_D 0 T_Ne T" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote
in message news:93txc.2271$K45.1990@fed1read02...
> > I am considering to take the train to Halifax NS
>
> I have taken the train [VIA] to Halifax from Vancouver, in 1992. It was
> a good ride, and an excellent way to see the country. I've also taken a
> couple of extended bike tours out of Halifax [round-trips to Prince
> Edward Island, and to New Brunswick]. Good touring there.

Ya, my provisional itinerary is to get off the train at Truro. That is at
the tip Bay of Fundy where the highest recorded tides ever occurred [16.27
meters (53.38 feet)]. Average tides are in the neighbourhood of 12 meters
(~42 feet) Think of it; a tidal ebb an flow equal to a 4 or 5 story
building.

Any ways I figure I'll ride along the Fundy coast for 2-3 days before
turning to cross the body of Nova Scotia. From there I'll take in the south
shore between Halifax and Lunenburg - the specific part of NS I'm from.

I'm figuring 50 km a day will be a reasonable pace allowing for stops and
side trips and soaking up local flavour. Hey, maybe I'll even locate my long
lost East cost accent.

--
'I'm a man.
But I can change.
If I have to. -Red Green's
I guess.' The Man's Prayer