The trip to and from work today was slow and deliberate. Random patches of ice in the morning and patches of gravel this afternoon required careful attention. And adequate attention translates in speeds below normal.
E.B. White’s quote used in the title of this post reaches beyond the obvious. It means more that the resultant slow speeds at which I rode to safely manage hazards on the road surface. White suggests a necessity of deliberation for anyone engaged in a search. Moving, acting, and living slower is not the default mode of popular culture or the majority of the riding community. Traveling from point A to point B as fast or packed with as many mini-experiences as possible often is the travel mode of choice. Motorcycles and scooters capable of triple digit speeds are not conducive for 25 MPH meandering. Each of us makes our own choices and riding is no exception.
My ride today reminded me of how much I am looking for — inside and out. I stopped on the way home to look at the snow covered corn stubble reaching across the valley I call home. I’m looking for something I can’t describe or explain. While there a bicyclist stopped to ask if I saw a bear. Each of us was obviously looking for something different.
I’m fortunate to have open roads so near to home in spite of growing development pressure. The road above is typical of many of the secondary roads that loop through the countryside.
I wasn’t sure this morning if I would ride to work. Temperatures hovered near freezing insuring there would be some icy patches would remain. I’m glad I did ride because it provided a chance to look at the morning sky. I’m still not sure why but I never look carefully while driving or riding the bus. I just get plugged into the fast lane.
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Great post Steve. I think its inherant in some riders to know that while we ride we’re always looking for something. The latent thought we understand is that we don’t know what we’re looking for. Yet at the same time our creative nature is open enough to discover something worth finding on any given ride. When asked why I love riding as much as I do, its partly in the deveopement of the memories. Instances that flashcube and burn images in my thoughts. In a sense I know what I’m looking for, just as you do. In another sense, they are images and moments unlike the same road this time last year. I think it was Hericlitus who said You can’t step in the same river twice.
Don’t ever stop Steve.
Harv aka The Roadbum
Harv: I agree with all your observations. The road does always change and when my eyes are open I am always seeing things new.
The Hericlitus comments is exactly right. Intellectually it makes sense but in practice hard to accept because it takes work. I know other riders who just won’t ride on short trips because they have “been there before”.
Steve,
Interesting you should mention E.B. White. In particular using the quote you did. I just read an article in the December issue of Smithsonian by novelist Paul Theroux on living with geese. He claimed that E.B. White’s “gushing anthropomorphism” of geese and his characters in Charlotte’s Web show a distinct lack of observation. In other words, rather than observing what actually happens, White makes stuff up about the animals.
Some people just never get it. What’s worse, they can’t accept other points of view. It’s as if admitting that there are alternate ways of seeing the same thing somehow lessens their own worth. Insulting the other viewpoints falsely shores up their own fragile foundation.
Interesting that riding, despite being a special thing, is still made up of people who are a smaller picture of the larger world around us, isn’t it?
Gotta go, now. My head hurts!
Dan
Every ride is a story for me. If I’m heading out to the Smokey Mountains for a few days of touring or just saddling up for a spin around the county there is a new experience or a deepening of the story I’ve already ridden through on past trips.
Corny sounding, but many of you know just what I am saying.
Steve I forgot to ask….
Would you mind if I put you on my blog roll?
When I ride in the mountains or countryside I do exactly the speed limit. Most of my fellow riders here want to speed and eat up the ground. I love the outdoors and love to soak up what I see and smell, unless just passing a cattle round up area *pee yew,* lol. Of course I am still somewhat of a rookie in the turns, but I can do just fine at 10 pmh over the speed limit in the turns. Who really wants to go faster? I personally don’t want a ticket and the cops are plentiful, even on the mountain roads.
Since most of my co-horts want to speed, I’m finding that more and more I like to get out on my own. I like enjoying the scenery and not having it go by in a blur.
Love your pictures. Thanks for stopping by and have fun riding,
Betty 🙂
Dan: People can go to great lengths to rationalize their points of view. the older I get the more I see that there is little reason to argue so strenuously. Plenty of room for opinions even in the face of those who disagree.
sarch: I don’t often ride with others but when I do I feel as if I spend more time watching them than the road or the landscape.
I like your comment about the deepening of a story. That is exactly right. Feel free to add me to your blogroll. Thanks!
Betty: I stop in at your blog frequently to see how the riding weather out west is and check out the picture hunts!
Steve, I wish I had so many beautiful country roads on my way to work. But I’m trapped inside one of those abominable interstate loops, and all of my roads are in an urban landscape. That second photograph is really a beauty.
I know exactly what you mean about being caught up in the pace of modern life. Slowing down, and especially stopping just to gaze at the scenery, usually results in “motorists” honking their horns at you, assuming that you must have broken down there at the side of the road. There’s nothing to see here… move along!
I’ve got to break out of the “loop” for some of my Rambles this year, and get out past the suburban sprawl to places where life is less frantic. Reading your blog helps strengthen my resolve to do that. Thanks again…
Ride well,
=gc=
steve:
I first visited your website eight months ago when I was considering a scooter, but ended up with something a bit bigger. But I always find myself coming back to your posts, which are always thoughtful and well written. Happy and safe riding, Steve.
richard
My mentor, Oliver Gagliani, once told everyone during a workshop that if you drive faster than 35 mph you wan’t see any pictures. How true, how true. No other experience like driving the back roads across our country and finding images.
Pitchertaker
gary: I’m not sure what I would do in your situation. I certainly would be looking for opportunities to break out of the urban loop but for all those times I had to remain inside I would be trying to figure out a way to harvest something from those rides. Not being an urban dweller and commuter though I am clueless.
Glad my posts provide some fuel to strengthen your resolve to break out.
Richard: Thanks for your kind words. I like to think that the kind of riding I do is really blind to the kind of scooter or motorcycle a person rides.
pitchertaker: Absolutely true. When I read of people taking trips out west at triple digit speeds across deserts I wonder if they see anything.
Heading out this morning with a friend to take pictures (in my Ford Ranger) and we will be traveling at blistering speeds all under 35mph!