Perfect Day For The First Ride

Today might be the perfect day for a ride. Sure, Temperature at 10 am in Chicago hovered just this much above zero.

But I'd already decided that today was the day I would start living the life I want. The life in which I do things I've imagined myself doing, the life in which ideas fuel actions, the life in which every day is an expectation of and a quest for adventure. Driving to work on a bright, snowy, frigid day did not make the cut.

Would it have been easier to drive? No doubt. But once I determined to live an interesting life, I'd have to accept that it would not always be the life of ease.

Would It have been more comfortable? Perhaps. I had to nudge myself out of my comfort zone. But with several warm layers over my body, excellent boots and gloves over my extremities, and 4.7 inches of low-pressure tires under me, I have to say that I was not terribly uncomfortable. Yes, work has to go into propelling the fatbike over snow-covered trail. No, the fat tires are not super-efficient. But it's good to feel my muscles work and warm from the effort. It's good to find my pace, and hear my breath settle into a steady rhythm. And it feels great to to cut my own path over fresh, crunching snow.

Would I have been happier in the car? In the car, I would have been neutral. I don't know if the question of my own happiness would have even surfaced during a customary car ride. I feel happiest when I am immediately and keenly aware of being in and interacting with my environment. Riding a bike through the frozen urban woods this morning put me in intimate conversation with my surroundings and with myself. I cannot imagine anything that -- on an ordinary winter day -- would make me happier.