Milk Runs and Other Excuses to Ride

Do You Need a Reason to Ride?

Life often is chaotic. Full of the administrative tasks and duties that can run a person ragged. From going to the grocery store, the Post Office, on any of the other tedious errands that can consume a day, approached with the wrong frame of mind they become toxic little acts of life. Endeavoring to see them as excuses to ride has quietly changed the quality of my days. I’ve reaped dividends in miles, smiles, and a psychic draining of the emotional weight of duty and requirement.

How many excuses to ride do you have?

A Little Quiet Time

Sometimes I just need some space. To think. Let my imagination run wild. Or recharge my batteries. Going for a ride does that. And when there is no time for an “official” ride, taking my Vespa ET4 scooter out to handle an errand does double duty — utility in handling the tasks at hand, and providing that meaningful space where I return home a changed man.

Another of the important excuses to ride.

All That’s Required is to Get Up and Go

I tell myself I’m really busy. Wonder to others how I ever had time for full-time employment now that I’m retired. It’s pleasant to discover that the tedious and often boring tasks and errands can be transformed into lovely little rides. When I release my grip on the belief that the only time it’s worth rolling a scooter or motorcycle out of the garage is to engage a day-long 350 mile adventure I can begin to lead a calmer, more serene existence through frequent interactions with the two-wheeled magicians in my garage.

With so many excuses to ride in my life I am hurdling towards nirvana. One ride at a time.

The Actual Destination

The endgame of this ride was the acquisition of a half-gallon, glass bottle of fresh locally produced milk. Meyer Dairy is exactly 2.3 miles from my house. A five minute ride on a rather non-descript traffic artery. But that milk run is easily transformed into a more visually and psychologically stimulating eight-mile ride that satisfied both the need for milk and the need for a little wind therapy.

The better I become at accepting the limitations of time in my life, and the ability to let go of my predisposed ideas of what a good ride is, the happier I become. I see no limits in either the excuses to ride or the extent of happiness in my life.

I’m a slow, stubborn learner. In part because I hold tight to my beliefs regardless of how irrational they might be. The desire to ride more often has softened how tightly I cling to things. Especially in regard to riding.

It’s great to have excuses to ride. How many do you have?