Tryin' to keep myself away from myself and me

Last time I rode, I found my shifter in disrepair upon returning to the car. Between this, and my inability to make/find the time to ride, I haven't been out on my bike in two weeks other than a few short commuting trips around town. While these rides are interesting at times - like when drivers pull out in front of you causing near misses and choice words - they are not the rejuvenating experiences I find on single track or even long road rides. I've recently been reading more about riding and came across this:

"Simply put, we ride because we love to ride. The act of riding is at once an elegantly simple and tremendously complex sensation: It is the culmination of hundreds of thoughts and emotions - escape, love of nature, exercise - and at times, the complete absence of thought and emotion, a singular focus that allows for no distraction and spares no mental or physical faculty."

This description by Mark Riedy and Joe Lindsey in The Noblest Invention sums up pretty well what riding means to me.

It is certainly my escape - from work, from my mind, from having to confront fears, from being social, from my life.

It is the place where I go to figure stuff out, even if it only makes sense for those few moments.

It is my time, when nothing else matters, the one place where I can go and not worry, and if I do, it is left behind, and only catches up when I choose to stop and let it.

It is my place of living on my edge, what ever that is at the moment, and however I choose to define it.

It is where I go to hit the reset button, to keep things in mental check.

This last bit is what is currently lacking in my state of affairs. I know this because I've recently been listening to Counting Crows' August and Everything After, a staple when I'm venturing to less than acceptable places. I know this also because one of my coworkers told me to make time for a bike ride this weekend. The closest I got was helping a friend evaluate what he needed to do to get his bike back on the trails. Good news is, not much appeared to be amiss other than some rim tape and clean chain. For now, I'll venture forward, trying to keep myself away from me.