Celebration Ride!

"From this hour, I hereby ordain myself loos'd of all limits and imaginary lines"
-Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"

We did it!
I never knew how many bones there are alongside the roads I drove. I never realized how hilly the city is in which I live. I never realized how steep the drop off is along Cherokee Rd. Pushing the bike up the steepest length of Riverside Dr, hauling the Burley packed with two grumpy kids, sweat dripping in my eyes, dry mouth, shaking legs, seeing the James River burst into view from the crest of the hill was like paradise. It suddenly seemed as if I had burst through my own skin and discovered Life on the other side. I had this feeling often yesterday, of pushing through a membrane surrounding my body and discovering the world, a raw, edible, life essence just outside.
The sounds of biking are different than the sounds of driving. Mostly it is birdsong and wind. Gravel and gears. The things you see are different, too. Everything goes by so slowly; I saw the ripple of a squirrel's muscles as he froze at the edge of the road. I smelled cigarette smoke from inside a car as it passed me going the opposite direction. I don't know how to say this other than this ride was like pulling myself from the Matrix. There are all sorts of things out here that I never knew.
I was completely inspired (as well as thoroughly jacked up on endorphins) after our trip to the playground yesterday. We pulled into the driveway, the girls both asleep in the bike cart, and I collapsed under a tree. I was ecstatic and exhausted. 11lbs of CO2 and an enormous sense of self-satisfaction.
We left home about 11am, and I estimated that the 5.5 mile trip would take us about 30 minutes. HA! This is the first great lesson: there will be no more "quick trips" on bicycle. It was a solid hour before we arrived, but the welcome we received was incredible. To be greeted so joyously by a playground full of my favorite mamas was a delicious reward. This trip is probably the longest I will attempt for now, but one really positive aspect is that it makes everything else seem really close! Passing through a friend's neighborhood 3 miles from our home, knowing that we were barely halfway to the playground gave me a real sense that more is within our reach than I had thought possible. I feel confident now in saying that, starting today, I will be limiting my drive time to just two "car days" per week, Monday through Friday. Eventually, I am hoping to achieve just one car day per seven-day week. This is a formidable goal for this city, but one I feel excited to undertake.
I am so curious what I will discover through this adventure. Already, my mind is bending around what I took for granted about getting places. How hard will it really be? Will the exhaustion eventually take the place of this novelty? Will the ecstasy be replaced by drudgery? In all probability, yes. This is not the solution. I cannot simply throw away my car and choose to bike everywhere we would usually go. But this how I will begin to free myself from the limits of my imagination. Each moment, each choice I make, the challenge is to stay awake and remember things are not always what they seem.