The bike came home yesterday like a long remembered dream materializing directly in front of my eyes.  The excitement I felt manifested itself in a vibration in the joints of my fingers and a hand reaching through my belly button to squeeze and release my stomach like an Olympian’s grip strength exercise.

The mixture of elation and anxiety swirled in my head with each one threatening to overtake the other moment to moment.  My first ride began with a slow, deliberate dressing process as I donned more gear than would seem necessary for someone scared to go beyond 20mph.  I threw my leg over the bike the way every hero does in the cool biker movies and just like I had practiced in my mind a thousand times.  Once I was on the bike, I tried thinking about all the steps I need to get started and on the road.  It didn’t take long for me to familiarize myself with the bike.  Maybe it had something to do with the hundreds of videos detailing every inch of the bike I watched over the last two weeks.

My first ride felt like I was flying.  Moving, even at that speed, it is easy to lose the front wheel and the handlebars altogether and imagine, like Superman, you are driven by your own power.  It was exhilarating.