Day 209 The Lehigh Rail Trail

My journey this morning was the regular bike route from my home to the Lehigh Rail Trail to Route 1 in Bunnell. Round trip it was 22.5 miles, and I completed it in one hour and fifty-three minutes, an excellent time for me. My companions on this trip were beautiful waterfowl that were all around. In particular, a white heron lifted from a stream in front of me and soared parallel to my ride for a few hundred feet. Its wings were stretched out, and it went from low to high and back to level as if guiding the trip for me. Truly beautiful.

Located in Flagler County, Florida, the Lehigh Trail is a former railroad corridor comprising 195 acres.  It once carried trains of cement and other materials to and from the Lehigh Portland Cement Plant in Flagler Beach to points west. The  bike trail connects US 1 north of Bunnell with Colbert Lane, running through the center of Palm Coast, through Graham Swamp and ending just west of the old Lehigh Portland Cement Company.  In many way, most bike and hike trails are made from the remnants of old train corridors. There are many around Florida and they have been nurtured to protect the environment and promote interaction with the world we live in.

It was a comfortably beautiful ride this morning and I enjoyed riding in high gears. The sun broke through the horizon an hour into my ride enlightening the morning in a wondrous fashion.

Why cycling?

As I mentioned yesterday, cycling has become a new routine for me. I found going to a gym to be pretentious, noisy, and distracting. That's just me. Others, I am sure find a gym to be rewarding, and I will not disparage their choice of exercise. 

Cycling adds a dimension to my exercise routine that is unique, refreshing, and focused on what I can achieve, not in a competition. Still, how I can better myself each and every day I am on the trails and roads of my community. But, there is always something special about the experience. For that, I take the advice from one of my favorite authors, Robert Pirsing. He wrote an inspiring book a few years back that describes his experience with motorcycling. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. 

To paraphrase a section from his story:

     "You see things on a cycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you're

       always in a sealed compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that 

       through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it

       is all moving by you boringly in a frame.

       On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not 

       just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming."

What an apt description of cycling. Last week while biking, I saw a Florida panther running along a creek in all its strength and glory. Another day I saw rabbits, a woodchuck, a variety of birds of different colors, shapes, and sizes, all sorts of green vegetation such as elm trees, scrub oak trees, palm trees, and grass. When the wind blows against you or with you, the experience is live and penetrating. As the sun shines, or if it rains, you are still in the middle of the experience. 

As Pirsing reminds me, "the sense of presence is overwhelming."

Pirsig, Robert. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: an Inquiry into Values. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc, 1984.

Day 207 Cycling With Abandon

Since April 1, 2019 I have taken up the mantle of riding a bike, three to four times a week. If for nothing more than the hope I can shed some weight and live a bit more healthfully. And since that intrepid date I have indeed lost over twenty pounds and have gained a new interest and love for cycling at the age of 65 years old, soon to be 66 on Monday, October 28. Over twenty pounds lighter and having cycled to just about 1,000 miles this new journey or interest has impassioned me to write a blog about the experience; my thoughts, my encounters, the connections with others on the trail, and the hope I will be able to keep this trip moving forward.  We shall see.

I purchased a Cannondale Adventure Hybrid Road Bike about six years ago. My wife and I enjoyed bike outings and short trips around Palm Coast, but an avid cyclist I was not. After knee replacement surgery and the lecture about dropping weight to ease the stress on my joints, I attempted all sorts of diets and even enrolled in a gym, all to no avail. The diets were temporary, and the gyms were noisy.

The motivation to begin this new effort came about when my youngest daughter challenged our family to participate in a Lose It contest to drop weight for her wedding in September. I figured that exercise was probably going to be keen, so with careful eating choices I took up the road cycling effort to participate in her challenge. It was actually interesting to compete with my wife and daughters in this project and riding the bike three to four times a week was becoming a habit I looked forward to. When my riding went from five to ten to twenty miles, the joy and cycling reached a new climax for me. To think I could make a twenty mile ride four times a week was overwhelming to say the least.

I eventually lost twenty pounds for the wedding and proudly walked my daughter down the aisle a bit more svelte than I ever thought would have been possible. The sheer enjoyment of cycling did that for me, and without the punishing, depriving and painful dieting plans that were expensive, and in the long-term were ineffective.

In Florida, where I live, there are beautiful trails that are maintained, and quite safe. My trail of choice is to cycle five miles to the Lehigh Rail Trail which is a six mile path to Route 1 in Bunnell, Florida. I return on the same path for a trip that is just over twenty miles. When we stay in Albany, NY, I picked up an inexpensive road bike and continue my cycling on wonderful trails throughout the Capital Region of New York. Specifically, the Hudson-Mohawk Trail from Watervliet to the City of Albany which is about ten miles round trip so riding it twice keep me at my twenty and on task.

I am hoping to continue a blog about this experience and inform others of the joys and sorrows of riding, and the thoughts and contemplations that accompany me on my journey.

Until tomorrow.