It had rained earlier in the day yesterday — the ground and the grass still retained the dampness. As I cycle into the park, the evening air is cool against my arms and legs, with the touch of moisture that recent rain leaves behind…makes me wish that I was wearing a bit more than a t-shirt and shorts; even as I relish the feel of the chill at the end of a warm summer day. The park is redolent with the scent of wet earth and of green…an incredibly heady smell. The sky ablaze with color… the pink and gold flames of the setting sun dancing off the waters of the Hudson on one side of the road, the grass stretching green into the distance on the other. Music plays in my ear…favorite songs from my cycling playlist. I can feel the flex of my muscles as I pedal faster…my hair whipped by the wind, the feel of sweat from a good workout… miles behind me, miles waiting ahead – wings on my feet.

The beauty of it all surrounds me – it’s as if every sense is alert; I am enveloped by feeling…. and yet my mind feels clear and focused, even as it drifts from subject to subject… I am deeply happy. Alive. Charged. Peaceful. I feel like me.

… That’s the magic of the humble cycle… the magic of cycling. It’s why I cycle.

“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.” – Arthur Conan Doyle

“I thought of that while riding my bike.”- Albert Einstein , On the Theory of Relativity.