Tweaking

(The TrySports team compound at 24 Hours of Booty)

It is 2:00am and I am riding in a fundraiser called 24 Hours of Booty. It is a fundraiser dedicated to cancer research and support http://www.24hoursofbooty.org/. We have been riding, more or less since 7pm so going on 7 hours. For the past 7 hours I have been listening to a suspicious 'creak' that occurs with every revolution of my pedals. I'm not sure what it is but I have moved from being concerned about the noise to being embarrassed at the obnoxious sound to my current state, a perturbed annoyance bordering on anger. I cannot help but notice that my teammates riding next to me on their carbon framed, carbon wheeled wonder-bikes are not experiencing the joys of the 'creak' as I am. Their machines are silent, smooth, and sexy. It goes without saying that had I a bike like that I wouldn't be in the mental state of mind that currently vexes me. It is dark, so humid it feels like I have been riding through a sprinkler, my rear hurts, my back hurts and this 'creak-creak-creak-creak' is now threatening to make this bike-riding pastor misrepresent his religion to those within earshot (as if our religion needs one more example of this). Time to turn in and get a few hours of sleep.

I went on vacation this week, spontaneous and oh so necessary. I didn't take my bike or my guitar; only one book and my family. What I rediscovered was that simplicity breeds a quietness of spirit. In the quiet, the 'creak-creak-creaking' of the broken machine is discernable from the roar of the white noise that usually drowns it out. And so I was on vacation and in posession of that rare commodity called stillness of spirit and what I heard was the noise of my heart clamoring for the smooth, sexy bike that I don't need. Ultimately the noise begs for a moment of gratification and trancendent joy in the vacuum that is our common experience. When this 'creaking' is satisfied, something else will start to make noise, only because the greater need for trancendent joy and meaning remains unfulfilled.

I'd love a new bike. I love the one I have. The exchange of one machine for another is pretty insignificant. The reason behind is everything.