My entire life has been centered around structure...Catholic school, altar boy, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, high school football....yep, structure. I've always been early to rise and ready to get on with my day. Even as an adult I plan my workouts before my work day (or day off) starts. I'm at my worst when there is no structure. My brain tends to go into either panic or shut down mode. I know this about myself. Don't get me wrong...I work on this...but sometimes it's hard. God bless my wife because she has so much patience with me.
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| Stone wall on Lewisberry Road looking north -- September 27, 2015 |
I say all this because I went to bed last night already with today structured in my head. Get up...have breakfast with my wife...take Alex to his baseball games...and then, like last Saturday, go for a ride while I wait for his games to start. I even had my route planned out. I was going to take some back roads that I had never ridden into Red Lion and then swing back past Lake Redman just in time for the games to start.
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| Lewisberry Road in York County -- September 27, 2015 |
Great plan...except it didn't happen. Here comes "shut down" mode. Robin had to go away and wasn't back in time for breakfast. Our breakfast date turned into a lunch date. There's absolutely no way I'm missing a date with my wife. The solution was easy...just go for a ride this morning before she got back. I know this sounds simple but it was not how I planned my day. Twenty years ago I would have let his shut me down. Thing is, I know that even though I felt thrown "out of my groove," going for a ride is exactly what would solve my problem.
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| Looking northwest from Bear Road -- September 27, 2015 |
Off I went...but now with a new dilemma. In my mind I had already formulated what I was going to write about this afternoon: new roads and the lakes. Scrap that. As I headed out and began to turn my pedals down Board Road I even began to question if I needed to write about anything. I mean, is it necessary every ride? Then the most amazing thing began to happen. I just rode and everything came into focus. I finally got my groove. My mood changed and, as I began to see the beauty around me, thoughts of my original plans faded away. My mind stopped thinking about a ride lost and began to appreciate the ride I was on. Amen to that.
David A. Raymond -- September 27, 2015
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