What I Found

So far.
I mean the journey is far from over.
Just getting started.
Sort of.
See the thing is, I've only been riding around on my bicycle for like three and a half years or so.
A neophyte compared to some of you, the readers, out there in Bloggerland.
If you you've been following along at home, you know that it's taken me a while, a lot of trial and error, to get to where I am today.
I mean I haven't bought any bicycle crap in a while; my eVilness watch list is pretty short.
At the moment.
I am for the most part, satisfied with the bicycles I have.
For the most part.
If you know what I mean.
Anyways, I began to think (which at times may or may not be a good thing) about all things bicycle related and how or what it meant to me.
Okay, it's not just about going out for a ride anymore.
To be honest, I didn't/haven't embraced it as a lifestyle, despite all my poseur attempts to do so.
I mean you can ride a bicycle and not be a bicyclist.
Sort of like how you can drive a car, and not be a driver.
Let me put it another way.
Bicycling is like surfing.
It is a lifestyle.
A cult even.
A sort of temple where others may worship, but only you know for sure how devoted you are.
Some may surf, but they aren't about to go out and hit up Pipeline when the outer reef is breaking:



Okay, that may not be the best analogy.
Folks ride bicycles, but not many go out riding around for twenty miles just for fun.
If you can call it fun.
What I'm getting as is that it takes a certain amount of dedication, or maybe it's an understanding or appreciation for what bicycling is all about.
Some folks get it.
Some folks don't.
Well, I was thinking(this might be a good thing) that perhaps I standing on the cusp of this understanding.
On the threshold if you will.
I had the gear, I had the motivation(sort of) and I had the right attitude.
Or so I thought.
In this case it was all image.
In this case, image is not everything.
Oh boy, I can't believe I just said that.
So anyways, I found myself walking this line, this grey area where either you are or you aren't.
Do I just ride a bicycle or am I a bicyclist?
I was sort of stuck on that line, undecided or uncommitted about which side to stay on.
So I started to think long and hard about what bicycling means to me.
Why I do it and all that good stuff.
Let me just say right here that there are no bad reasons for riding a bicycle, at least none that come to mind at the moment.
I started to think about where I was going, where this bicycling thing was taking me and if I was just following along or blazing my own trail.
Cutting my own path.
Following my own lead.
Or something.
Anyways, it came down to what bicycling has done for me(besides lightening my wallet) and what I could to for bicycling.
I like doing ceramics so much, to tell you the truth, I would teach that stuff for free.
Okay, don't tell anyone I said that.
I need to make a living don't you know.
So it was like I dig riding my bicycle so much, I'd like to others folks to enjoy it as much as I do.
Okay, maybe not as much as I do, I mean it would help the economy and all, but really, not everyone needs like four bicycles in their living room.
I just thought that I'd try and share my enthusiasm.
Well, I'm not exactly a feely goody kind of dude.
I mean I don't have like rainbows shooting out of my, well let's just say I'm not a feely goody kind of guy.
So what I decided I did have was some time, and some resources to share.
A certain skill set if you will.
While riding my bicycle was a part of me, I wasn't part of bicycling.
Sort of the part that was missing.
Time to give bicycling a kiss on the lips and see where it goes.
Sort of.
I think.
Anyways, it's time to start a relationship with bicycling.
As we all know, a relationship is give and take.
Mostly give.
If you know what I mean.