A Bike Ride

Thursday after I got off work and before I did...whatever I did that evening (hey, it was a long time ago) I went for a bike ride on some paths I discovered earlier this summer, when I was walking.

It was a fabulous ride. To start it off, I found a new way to get to that part of the canal which involved going through the Indianapolis Museum of Art and under this picturesque stone bridge on the IMA's property. I'm sure I must have seen it sometime before, but I never noticed how gorgeous and peaceful it is. As I was flying under it on my trusty old bike (that has lately decided to have a loose seat that refuses to stay tight...but that is not part of this story) I had two thoughts pop into my mind. Firstly, I thought, "I gotta draw this!" Perhaps I really am an artist at heart after all, even though I haven't drawn in months and months. My second thought was, "Life is beautiful!" And as Mrs. Ragsdale's funeral reminded me on Wednesday, for a Christian, death is also beautiful, even though it's very hard for those left behind to see this truth at times. Please keep Jeremiah and his family in your prayers, by the way.

Then I reached the trail and the joy of the bike ride was in no way diminished. I discovered several things, among them a) there are more trails than I thought (way cool), b) I'm out of shape (wow you don't say...) and c) I am still afraid to go over logs (another huge surprise). Also that, even though I felt like I was miles from anywhere because I had to listen intently to hear cars, I am not alone, seeing as I nearly ran over a jogger on a particularly steep and narrow segment of the trail. Poor guy. I probably scared him nearly as much as I scared myself.

I returned dirty, sweaty and happy, as is how all bike rides should end, and not a bad ending to a blog entry about bike riding, either.