Month: January 2019

When I ride each day, at least a couple of times, often early on, I think to myself…

Well, here I go again. Routine.

On the surface that might seem like an acknowledgment of drudgery, but it’s not. It’s an acknowledgment to prepare for ritual. And that’s the thing about routine — it can often seem like drudgery until it’s converted to ritual. That takes place in the noggin.

Lighting a candle and saying a prayer we think of as ritual.

Setting up the coffee pot before bed, cleaning the toilet or even exercise, we consider routine.

The older I get, the more Confucian I become.

Ritual and routine are the glue and the mortar that have held societies together for millennia.   They also serve to keep individuals centered.

There is a blurry line between the ideals of ritual and routine. One might argue that ritual is more rooted in reverence, while routine is rooted in obligation. To me, the words are intertwined —synonymous, though I prefer the term ritual and I use it most often when it comes to doing things on a regular basis.

When one hour bleeds into the next, when the lines that separate the days blur and when I’m not so sure what month I am in  due to my immersion in the mundane, I attempt to triangulate my position by whatever ritual I might be engaged in at the time.   Pretty soon, I know where I am and why.

If I am fortunate, and I most always am, my days are constructed from one ritual extending right into the next, all day long. And whatever might seem like drudgery — routine to me; housework, bookkeeping, even personal hygiene, I try to embrace those tasks as ritual, thus keeping them more reverent.

And if whatever ritual I might be involved in at a given time is executed with a little bit of intelligence, discretion and care, a positive outcome will most often be the result, as well as a sense of higher purpose.

There’s a fine line between ritual and routine, and I’ve eliminated the guesswork by considering all of it ritual.

This is what I think about when I ride… Jhciacb

Today’s Ride…

Bike: Bomer The Kreeps
29 miles
1,325’ climbing
16.6 mph avg
2,000 calories
Today’s earworm: The End Is Not In Sight (Amazing Rhythm Aces)

Whether you ride a bike or not, thank you for taking the time to ride along with me this week. If you haven’t already, please scroll up and subscribe. Oh, and there is this from The Amazing Rhythm Aces… Enjoy…!

I like my rides like I like my coffee — cold, dark, and rich. Cold was the air. Dark was the sky. And rich were my thoughts.

Was very fixated on the childish behavior of people tonight.

When Siddhartha leaves the city, and when he meets up once again with Govinda, he refers to those he left behind as “the child people”.

The child people, in this case, were those who pursued money, lust, material things, power and position. The city was full of them. 

Siddhartha, having succeeded in playing their game, and having done so better than most, walked away from the child people and the city empty handed and completely unfulfilled despite his perceived success there. He then willingly stepped into a life of nothing.

On my bike, alone with my thoughts in the dark, cold air, and drawn deep into my rhythm as my breath matched the strides of my legs in equal portion, and as I look around at the cars, the well-lit homes, and the scurrying of those about me, I realized I am surrounded by the child people. Notwithstanding, all of those child people on social media.

Born into this world, with no say in the ZIP Code in which I landed, I have seldom felt at home here.  Little desire have I, for all the things which the child people pursue each day, and even less of an appetite do I have for the manner in which those things are pursued. 

Perhaps this daily ride — this rolling meditation, is best way to escape from the ZIP Code in my head, even if I can’t leave the ZIP Code in which I live. 

This is what I think about when I ride…

Tonight’s Ride…

Bike: Bomer The Kreeps

24 miles

1,100’ climbing

16.8 mph avg

1,600 calories

Tonight’s earworm: Yonder, by Donna The Buffalo

Whether you ride a bike or not, thank you for taking the time to ride along with me this week. If you haven’t already, please scroll up and subscribe. Oh, and there is this from Donna The Buffalo. Enjoy…!

A song isn’t who wrote it or who sings it. A song, simply put, is what it does for you and how it might change you.

It won’t be popular to say this, but the death of Glenn Frey a couple of years back impacted me more than any other celebrity death. The reason why is simple. In his passing, and with the deep sadness I felt that day, I had to admit I am both a Glenn Frey and an Eagles fan.

In a strange way, that’s almost like it admitting I’m Jewish.

And when I think about all the deep, all the complicated, and all the intricate and well orchestrated music that I’ve been exposed to in my life from the masters — Wagner, Chopin, Souza, Guthrie, Zappa, Newman and so many more, I feel a hint of shame to suggest that Glenn Frey co-wrote one of the most formative songs I’ve ever heard.

A simple pop song.

By formative, I mean a song that changed the way I think, act and look at others, ongoing.

Glenn Frey and his band The Eagles are easy to criticize and easier to dismiss. People who claim to have more sophisticated taste in music keep The Eagles near the top of their list of bands to mock and belittle.

That song that Frey co-wrote and that has influenced me so much is not important. What is important, and why I write this, is that if a song moves you — moves you to the point of opening your eyes and softening your heart, and if it stays with you for decades and truly changes you, it shouldn’t matter who wrote it. It shouldn’t matter how poppy it is.

What should matter most is that the gift of art did exactly what it is supposed to do — impact another soul and in a positive way.

So on this first day of 2019, I sit watching the sunrise through my shaded windows, with my mammal on my lap, my family asleep in the next room, and I admit proudly that I am an Eagles fan and that I consider Glenn Frey one of those masters…. Jhciacb

Whether you ride a bike or not, thank you for taking the time to ride along with me this week. If you haven’t already, please scroll up and subscribe. Oh, and there is this from Glenn Frey. Enjoy…!

2018 By The Numbers…

Bikes ridden: 7
7,544 miles
497,000 calories
395,000’ climbing
15.4 mph avg
Most Reoccurring Earworm: Here Comes The Sun

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and a safe New Year…