Wildflower Express Drip

the mysticism of bike rides & good tunes

biking into the new year

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 13:06:00 CST

the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning will set the stage for how the rest of your day will go. it's the choice between doom-scrolling on my tablet, or going downstairs to meditate in front of my altar. whichever i decide will paint the day in its own color.

on new year's eve in 2023, i attended a kirtan concert being held at a unitarian church in mequon, wi. kirtan is the chanting of the many names of god; an ecstatic musical style that comes to us from the great spiritual traditions of south asia (hinduism, sikhism, etc). we were chanting together as to usher in 2024 with good vibes & good intentions... and good music, holy heck. this was the first time i'd ever heard supersonic soul circle, and it was a real treat!

fast-forward to NYE 2024, & there wasn't a kirtan being held in my area, and that's ok. i went to my parents' house for much of the evening, with great food & some jackbox to pass the time. by 10pm, i was ready to wind down, and i went back to my apartment for the night. i figured i'd likely still stay up till midnight, but my social battery for the day had run dry.

around 10:30pm, i start getting this nagging thought: "i wanna start the new year off right, maybe i'll go take a bike ride". it was as tempting as it was foolish. sure, i take night-time bike rides all the time, but tonight it was only 32 degrees Fahrenheit outside, with wind that made it feel even colder. i'd have to really bundle up, and even then, it still felt like a stupid idea.

and yet, the thrill of the ride beckoned to me. at 11:30pm, i put on some extra layers, & headed out.

i know sheboygan like the back of my hand, and i take my usual route. our bike infrastructure is far from perfect, but there are enough safe paths that tie the city together in a satisfying way. as i enter the heart of downtown, illumined by streetlights & christmas decorations, the fireworks in the background start to sound off more frequently. my phone's in my bag, so i don't actually know the time, but i suspect that the new year has just begun.

as obnoxious as the fireworks may be, the streets are very peaceful. cars will pass me infrequently, but there aren't a whole lot of them out and about. as the ride goes on, temperature is no longer a concern. i'm quite warm by virtue of the energy i'm exerting (as well as my warm clothing), but the frigid air keeps me from being too hot. the windchill had almost talked me out of this ride hours earlier, but now it was refreshing.

cycling has always been a very therapeutic, perhaps even spiritual, hobby of mine. it's hard to really put that into words, but it just... feels right. when the temperature started dropping as fall became winter, i decided that for the first time in my life, i was gonna go a little in-the-weeds with winter cycling per say, letting the bicycle become another tool in my arsenal to fight against the seasonal depression that afflicts me around this time.

to some, this sounds like a fool's errand, and i'm almost inclined to agree. wisconsin winters can be brutal, after all, and there are certainly some days when the bike will stay in the garage. but maybe i have the opportunity to not look at winter in such an adversarial way. if embracing the cold a little bit gives me more opportunities to pursue this hobby that i enjoy, i'm more than ok with getting a little chilly.

anyhoo, i hope you enjoyed my ramblings here. i took a long break from updating this website coz i wasn't feeling motivated to write anything, but now i'm bursting at the seams with ideas, so there *should* be more articles here in the future. in any case, have a happy new year... and maybe go take a bike ride too!