Cyclist

I pump the tires.
Place the bottles where they belong.
Hear the click of my right shoe. Half a pedal stroke, a second click. I'm off.
The cool air flows over my arms. I am moving.
The first minutes offer a snapshot of what my ride will be. The first gear chosen tells me how my legs will feel.

I find my spot on the saddle and fix my gaze forward.
My mind clears and I settle into a rhythm. In the same moment a flash of confusion tells me I've just begun, I've ridden for hours, it is time to stop, I want more. This is experience talking.
I've ridden a bike a lot. My body remembers ever mile as one.

It is a knowing comfort on a bike, a place to feel at home.
The notion of a new mile covered, a new corner turned, has me longing for more.
I turn the Pedals. I am a road cyclist. 
With a long way to go. 

    ~ poem by Karen Eileen (Pedal Dancer) ©

north on Hwy 131, Colorado.  Image by PedalDancer.com

One day after the Labor Day holiday, and Fall has come to the Rocky Mountains, our weather has changed. I want to hold onto Summer.

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