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I wanted to get back to that feeling on the bike. Where the commute isn't done on auto-pilot, and where it's fun and exhilarating again. All of the benefits of utility, the creature comforts of panniers, racks, gears, etc... they to some extent diminish part of the act of experiencing.
I had something like this recently. I stopped commuting on the utilitarian cx/tourer/commuter, starting riding brakeless again and learnt to do wheelies on my track bike, all smiles again when I ride these days even though I am sure plenty of people think I am an idiot. Doesn't stop me enjoying having a functional bike when doing audaxes or road rides etc.
Tababa
I've been trying meditation to help fight the depression and gloom that set in post-Microcosm. One of the books I read spoke a lot about how to view the world, how to experience life... it spoke of the beginners' mind.
This quality that children have that everything is new. It doesn't mean that you should cease to be an adult, cease to recall your experiences, but that a child experiences even the things that have been experienced before and soaks up the experience. It's not done out of habit... the moment is lived.
I wanted to get back to that feeling on the bike. Where the commute isn't done on auto-pilot, and where it's fun and exhilarating again. All of the benefits of utility, the creature comforts of panniers, racks, gears, etc... they to some extent diminish part of the act of experiencing.
And yes, it feels like 2007 again... the heavy messenger bag leaving aches across the chest now that I've started wearing it again. A subtly different set of muscles being used a fraction more. And the fun is there again too... cruising through Hyde Park this morning was lovely. The silence of the moment, watching the movement on the water and just riding with a grin rather than the default concentration face that comes from fighting with traffic out in Kensington.
The ride is fun, the bike is fun. I'm glad I remembered it could be and had this bike made. And yes, it's silly... it's supposed to be. It reminds me it's supposed to be fun, and it is.