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| Shaking off winter's dust London, ON March 2023 This photo originally shared on Instagram |
So yesterday I rolled out the beater bike, topped off the tires, wiped the dust off, and pointed the front wheel away from home.
The mission was identical to other first rides: spin the legs and make sure they still work; shake the bike down and make sure it still works; feel that wondrous feeling of balance you only get by riding a bike.
The data from the Garmin was far from impressive, but I don’t ride for numbers. I ride because once not so long ago I couldn’t walk or speak after my brain had an unplanned reboot.
I ride to prove to myself that I still can. That I can spin my legs and feel the wind on my face and the ripples of the asphalt through my fingertips. That the faster I go, the more balanced I feel. That I’m not just surviving post-stroke, but I’m thriving.
Maybe that’s how I feel about everything I do. Maybe every article I write, interview I do, or talk that I give is a giant middle finger to the universe, another affirmation that I won’t simply let uncontrollable things happen to me without at least trying to control them right back.
Maybe that’s why a Very Bad Thing may not have been Very Bad at all.
Because I used to just ride without giving it much thought. But now it’s an experience to be savored.
Just like every other experience - on a bike or not - since that life-changing moment where it could have all gone away.
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