sunday rides go like....

     yesterday when we got home my wife and the boys laid down to take much needed naps and i decided to for-go a siesta and instead throw a leg over crazy alice.  that's what i 'm naming my bike.  in the movie "Cowboys" a bunch of young kids want to go with John Wayne on his last cattle drive.  his original ranch hands got cases of gold fever and took off on him so the young boys were the only "help" in the area.  anyway, when they get to the ranch house John Wayne (who is not to keen on taking the boys) says "anyone who can stay on crazy alice for 10 seconds can come on to work."  his thought is that most won't try and those who do will leave crying after taking a little fall.  crazy alice is a wild ass mustang that John Wayne has not been able to break.  some ride and succeed, some ride and fall, but they all damn sure tried like hell.  i guess that is what touched me and something that i want to remember.  as long as i have the balls to try i guess that means i am still in the game.

     so back to the ride.  it was a nice little cruise threw the hill country just west of town on a over cast moderate temperatured kind of day that had the bikers out in packs.  at one point i crested this hill and to my left was this beautiful view of Medina lake.  the water reflecting the low hanging clouds and the rolling hills blending into both the sky and the lake.  it was hard to tell which way was which because of the way it all meshed together. and in that very moment i felt as though i was all meshed and blended into it all as well.  i was more a part of the earth, part of the wild openness.  if you take a road trip in a car it's nice, you listen to music, maybe read a book, talk about what color you should paint the living room and what kind of floors would go with it.  when you take a ride there is no glass keeping from "feeling" what you are seeing, nothing (or at least not much) between you and the pavement so you shut the f**k up and listen to the hum of the bike while the noisy, curt wind literally blows all the thoughts out of your mind.  you can feel all the things you were thinking about being whipped out of your head, almost like they are leaving threw the ends of your hair as it smashes around on top of your head like waves on a beach.  it's impossible to keep any kind of rubbish in your head.  all i think about is the next turn, the next hill, the next cool little nook that i 'm going to find that has been lost since people stop using horses to get around and instead trapped themselves behind glass and metal.  my only concern is weather or not i 'm going to need to down shift in order to get up that next hill.

     two hours later i was pulling back into the garage.  my head clear, ears ringing and my face that weird sort of numb that goes along with being beaten by head winds for some time.  not a long ride.  just enough time with just enough going on to remind you why you do it all in the first place.  guess i got my siesta after all.