Not Lubbock on a Bike: Scotland Vacation on a Trials Bicycle

I've not ridden in a little while. Busy life, blah, blah, etc. I've missed the bike. I have to admit, I am a rather pedestrian biker. I don't ride fast. I don't ride daring. I don't ride to new places. I am getting from one place to another and trying to make sure that I have enough energy to reach my destination.

Even so, I love riding. Time on a bike is something more than the sum of its parts: an overweight middle-aged guy on an old bike in a flat town that lost its lustre (for me) 25 years ago. (No one ever heads to Lubbock to feed their aesthetic soul.) But the bike adds an element of motion and minute discovery. The painfully mundane occasionally sparkles in a way I seldom see through a windshield.

Mostly I ride to and from work - about 25 minutes each way. The hardest part of the day lies between those two rides. Eight hours staring at two wide-screen monitors in a little room with no windows. Some days I need a vacation, but there's little time and less money for that sort of thing, so I sneak off to Scotland for 8 minutes of trials biking.

Danny Macaskill "Way Back Home"

 

Yes, I know it's not a real vacation. I know I am not a fat, middle-aged guy on a skinny bike hopping about the mythically beautiful highlands, but I often forget that I am a fat, middle-aged guy sitting in a chair in an office building. I enjoy the music, I enjoy the scenery, I enjoy the camera angles, and I enjoy seeing what a man with a bicycle can accomplish under the right circumstances.

 

 

My perspective shifts a bit. My heart rate slows a bit. I am ready to face a few more hours in this chair. And some little spot in the back of my brain is planning a trip to Scotland. Another little spot is wanting to study filmmaking. Yet another is planning a leap over something monstrous (like a curb or a pallet or a beer can). A fourth part is modifying an old mountain bike frame into a trials bike. A fifth tiny little spot goes back to work, stops staring at the beige and lifeless wall like those lone and level sands that stretch far and away, or something like that.

 

May you occasionally get away!

3-Minute Vacation: San Fran, Plug-in Fords, Trials Bicycles

Keep in mind, I am an old, fat guy who struggles to chew gum and walk at the same time, but I do have an unrealistic dream or two. One of those is to be able to plop down the cash for a plug-in car, but anybody with cash can do that. I'd also love to spend a few hours at the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. That cash thing again. My third dream (at least in the context of this post) is to ride a bicycle like Danny MacAskill, a guy who makes the impossible look easy, fluid, and lyrical. No amount of money in the world...

 a still shot from the video vacation

I have a new mentor lately, a gentleman much wiser than I, who offers very good advice. He was recommending recently that I needed to get away, to get out and do something that I love without the pressures or expectations of other people, a time when I could experience joy, exhiliration, and peace. I mentioned canoeing on running water, and he said something dangerous. He told me that even if I could not get out on a river, it would be good to find a photo or a short video to let my brain experience a tiny vacation from the day. The 3-Minute Vacation idea was born!

I popped over to youtube this weekend and ran across a video where guys who can ride a lot like Danny Mac cruise about the Bay Area in plug-in Fords to reach places to ride their bikes. Living the dream!

Bike Parkour - Streets of San Francisco

May you enjoy your Spring Break, no matter how short, and may you get there using green transportation!