Image by Casey David via Flick
“just relax. take it all in. and live life until you burst at the seams.” Casey Taylor
Life’s perspective changes on a bicycle, especially after age 50 as I rediscover the joys of pedaling. It used to be my transportation as a kid, a way to see girlfriends who lived near by, or to the dreaded piano lessons (after a quick stop at the grocery to snatch the Tastykake 3 pack of chocolate cupcakes. They were my favorite and eased the pain of an hour of scales at Mrs. Heston’s house). I also rode my bike to the community pool down the street to see if the cute boy I adored was there that day.
Image via Wikipedia
But all that seemed to stop when I got my license because then I could drive to all those places (except the pool, now the cute boy I adored worked at the gas station a couple miles away).
These days I experience freedom on my bike and I feel youthful and vibrant. The rides are no longer destination oriented, they’re experiential and offer a slice of life in the slower lane. There’s plenty to see by moving more slowly; just like the freedom of the road offered by RV travel (which we also do) pedaling along greenways and through parks is like entering a world on the other side of a key hole. Just step through the door, out of the to-do list mode and into the to-be-here mode instead.
There are wildflowers growing, creatures scurrying and children playing, each to their individual rhythms.
It’s a world that exists whether I ride by or not. And that’s what’s so magical about discovering it by bike. Pedaling through the keyhole and landing here makes me realize there are hosts of other worlds just waiting to be explored. They’re invisible to cars and to planes. But when life slows down they pop into view.
I started riding a bike, regularly, a little more than a year ago when I borrowed my sister-in-law’s up in Boston last summer. It’s the perfect town; all thruways accommodate cyclists. There are bike lanes on all the roads and a pathway that stretches along the Charles River on both the Boston and Cambridge sides. Because the area is flat just about everywhere, it’s a rider’s paradise. Taking my bike out was as easy as going out the back door and down the Mass Ave bridge ramp onto the esplanade. I was hooked.
Image via Wikipedia
In Tennessee I hook the bike to the back of my car and then take off to a number of greenways nearby. And those I discovered because I had to find places to ride, away from the roads and steep hills in my neighborhood. It offers a wonderful form of exercise and opportunities to be with friends. Knoxville looks like a completely different city from the seat of a bicycle.
But the best part of all?
All of it. Riding my bike makes me happy. Seeing people and creatures live life reminds me what living is all about. That we all have a finite number of years in this human form, and one shot at it. I don’t want to “wish I had.” I want to do.
actthreedotnet 
Autumn Is Like Mid-Life
Posted in baby boomer, baby boomers, career, retirement, spirituality, Uncategorized, tagged Autumn, boomer women, commentary, Creative writing, exercise, new life directions, new life experiences, personal growth, reflection, women over 50, writers, writing on October 27, 2011| 9 Comments »
This bold season feels like a metaphor for mid-life. These are the years when many of us leave our professions behind to re-invent new lives. To discover new passions, friends, experiences. And in many ways I feel more alive now than the days I was engrossed in my paid working hours.
Work life was thrilling for me yet was surprisingly predictable in its unpredictability. Make sense? Every day we had a new show to produce or stories to write or projects to continue with the same constraints to face and paradigm to follow. Every morning I knew what my office hours were likely to be.
Now each day offers a blank canvas to paint whatever picture comes to mind (metaphorically speaking since I don’t paint).
And I can invent what my next years may look like. I’ve grown my hair longer, dropped a few pounds and have become quite active through bicycling, horseback riding, hiking and attending more yoga classes. I feel like I’m on the cusp of something new.
Is autumn to winter as mid-life is to old age? Could this time period be our final hurrah?
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