Mike Conklin's Diaries - Part 11 - Nirvana
Not to get spiritual on you, but hopefully at some point this will occur on RAGBRAI: You achieve a physical rhythm in which your legs, butt, and upper body have reached harmony with each other and you can actually feel yourself getting stronger, leaner. Furthermore your mind is in sync, too. Anxieties and worries---the kids at home, job, Cubs’ playoff chances, White Sox World Series chance, Trucks for Hire Scandal, school, bills, Supreme Court nominations---bugging you at the ride’s start now are difficult to recall. They have become gradually purged from your brain. You’re smiling more. You’re not looking at the odometer every 2 minutes and calculating how far it is to the next town in tenth-of-a-mile increments.
Time and distance seem to be passing very quickly. You’re also paying more attention to scenery that---“good Lord, am I going nuts?”---is beginning to convey a certain beauty. It’s Norman Rockwell and Grant Wood having Starbucks together and inviting you to join them at their outdoor table. If you’re really lucky, it will be sunny, in the 70s with low humidity, and a few big, billowing, white clouds in the sky. For once, there is a breeze pushing you along, laughter can be heard from bikers in front and behind, and music on some guy’s bike is in the background. Lennon Sisters singing “America The Beautiful,” which I once experienced in this moment, is always good. The Eagles work, too.
You will be in the middle of the countryside and, aside from other bicyclists there are no real signs of civilization outside of a few farm implements. You’ve met challenges, shared some experiences, and you’re going to make it. You are one in a living, breathing sea of bikers. Then, you have an epiphany:
This is perfect. I do not want this to end. The veterans know the feeling. It’s why we keep coming back. I hope every rookie experiences this moment, too. Good luck!
