Veho Ergo Sum

Today was an almost perfect day for riding...and it is the reason I have titled my little bit of literary nonsense with the Latin phrase above. One of the more obscure facts of my life is that I took 6 years of latin, amazing but true. And secondly, I majored in Philosophy in college (logically, of course, that led to a career in re-insurance...go figure). And so that three-word Latin phrase is the last line on my rider ID band that I wear whenever I go out. So, in an attempt to make a long story short, I was thinking about the meaning of that sentence while I was out riding the roads and hills of the Sourlands and the Delaware River this afternoon. It was indeed a beautiful day - we finally are rid of the heat and humidity and today was a day with sun and clouds and temperatures that I would guess were in the high seventies, eighty at most. I did 70 miles through some of my favorite country...the Sourlands, the Delaware river, the Lower Creek road and the Sergeantsville covered bridge, and lots of corn and soy bean fields: a lovely, lovely day. And, of course, I am still basking in the completion of the cross country ride and the beaty of the last 880 miles that I did a couple weeks ago. I know that so much has been written about cycling by so many people but at the same time...I never feel so much alive, so in touch with everything that makes this life so precious as when I'm on a bike and exerting maximum energy to climb a 20% grade or flying down the other side of the same hill and seeing the mph hit 40 as I go into the last sweeping curve. A young deer jumped out from the bush today and just stood in the road and looked at me as I approached - I actually had to yell out to make sure he moved. How often do you have that kind of moment sitting on a couch watching a baseball game?
I stopped at the deli in Sergeantsville today, a favorite spot for cyclists, and because I was wearing my cross country jersey I got into a conversation with another cyclist, a guy maybe 60 - 65, who said right away "I don't think I could ever do that...". Of course I immediately said sure you can do it: you have a beautiful bike, you are running around these hills - why not? But then I thought later...the beauty of cycling is that you can do whatever you set your mind to. For years the idea of a cross-country was a dream and while I'm not sure I really thought I would do it, I never really doubted that I could do it. If you think you can or think you can't you are right (with all due respect to one of my XC colleagues).

And by the way, I would be happy to provide a translation of the Latin statement but I suspect that you can figure it out...think Descartes.