{"id":485,"date":"2007-09-17T22:33:02","date_gmt":"2007-09-18T02:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2007\/09\/17\/why-i-ride-reason-127\/"},"modified":"2007-09-17T22:38:32","modified_gmt":"2007-09-18T02:38:32","slug":"why-i-ride-reason-127","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2007\/09\/17\/why-i-ride-reason-127\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Ride: Reason #127"},"content":{"rendered":"

Browsing around my usual cycling sites this evening, I came across a link to this<\/a> old Nike commercial. Watching it – especially the part where the kids rush to the window to wave to the rider as he goes by – reminded me of the highlights of this weekend’s ride<\/a> out in Berryville. Or of any ride, really.<\/p>\n

As much as I enjoy the self-reflection that hours of solo cycling can bring on, or the sheer physical pleasure of a good hard ride, I have to say that many of my best moments on a bike come from those fleeting moments of connection that you get when you wave to a perfect stranger who waves back as you pass by.<\/p>\n

On this Sunday’s metric century there were, of course, the kids. Three little girls on a porch who jumped up and down waving as I waved that hand-cupping wave that you use for little kids. Then there was the Duane Allman<\/a> lookalike who returned the slight extension of my hand as I flew past his trailer. But my favorite one, the one I just happened to catch, was the fellow sitting in a chair near his house a bit off the road through the hollow. Most of us were concentrating on the upcoming climb, and looking straight ahead at the road. I just happened to look over, and noticed this gruff looking (much) older man in a Stetson who looked just as likely to be annoyed with us invaders as anything else. I raised my arm in a speculative wave and much to my surprise, he raised his, too. Even with a bit of a grin, as best I could tell through the trees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Browsing around my usual cycling sites this evening, I came across a link to this old Nike commercial. Watching it – especially the part where the kids rush to the window to wave to the rider as he goes by – reminded me of the highlights of this weekend’s ride out in Berryville. Or of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,2,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cycling","category-personal","category-virginia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}