Stay with me on this one. 

I just got home from a ride. 

One of the hardest rides I have ever done. 

An accomplishment. 

Every ride I have done this summer has prepared me for this ride. 

FIVE F’EN HOURS. 

That is how long it was. 

A personal achievement. 

I have had it on my agenda all summer. 

I knew the day was coming. 

I had many false starts. 

I kept at it. 

I knew I had it in me. 

I had to get it in. 

I had to prove to myself that I was capable of it. 

I have been working towards it, consciously and unconsciously, all summer. 

I did not plan it. 

I let the day tell me. 

It told me today. 

It was hard. 

Really hard. 

It took lots of mental preparation. 

Do you want to know what I did? 

I went on a ‘Serene Ride.’ 

Yes, a ‘Serene Ride.’ 

Taking it easy. 

Relaxed. 

Peaceful. 

Tranquil. 

There was not a cloud in the sky. 

It was twenty-five degrees. 

Little, if any, wind. 

The first few kilometres were tough. 

Really tough. 

I was fast off the light. 

I killed the first hill. 

But I really worked on it. 

Dialed it back. 

Before long, I was into it. 

Haha, really into it. 

It became easy. 

Really easy. 

Too easy. 

People passed me. 

I coasted. 

I looked around. 

I pulled over countless times. 

I sat against a tree. 

I sat on a rock and hung my feet in the river. 

I stopped at the observation deck on the bridge and watched a ship pass underneath. 

I talked with a few strangers. 

I watched the church bells clang four o’clock. 

I stopped once for ice cream and another time for a Ginger Ale with lots of ice. 

I don’t know why this is so hard for me. 

It shouldn’t be. 

I can do it easily with other ‘things.’ 

I have to work on slowing down my rides now and then. 

It really is nice. 

Like nice, nice. 

A nice, long, leisurely, carefree, no direction kind of ride. 

Letting my bike just be a bike. 

Something I get on that takes me places. 

Something I get on that shows me places. 

I don’t know when the next one will be. 

But I do know that it is good for me. 

I enjoyed it. 

Like, really enjoyed. 

So much so, that I am writing about it. 

I think, like most things in life, you just have to do it once. 

And once you have done it, you realize, well, you realize that you should have done it long ago. 

…And more often. 

I am. 

‘Serene’ 

Insert Park Bench emoji here. 

‘There is another way to ride.’