Recently I got a new bicycle. It is shiny red and black with a little flame near the handlebars. Though I have been an avid cycler since I was a child, for various reasons I have not ridden in several years.

Now I am back in the saddle.

On my first day I head into the vast network of trails near my house. Tingly joy courses through me as I follow a familiar dirt road up a hill.

My next time out I intend to do the same, but I see a single-track veer to the left and I take it. Suddenly my heart beats fast and my palms grow moist as I head into the unknown.

I immediately call on my Beloved to accompany me on this adventure. 

I am completely awake. My concentration zeroes in on the winding path before me that leads ever upward.

The track turns left and squeezes between two massive piñon trees and then climbs a small hill. I downshift to make it to the top.

Because I am awake I negotiate each obstacle with ease. I upshift before an arroyo and keep pedaling so I don’t sink in the sand.

When I come to a steep descent, I brake fast with both the front and the back, keeping my bike in balance.

A snake crosses the path, brown diamonds on its back.

A rattler?!

My throat constricts, but I see no rattle. It’s only a bull snake. To avoid hitting it, I veer onto the grass.

A cool breeze blows across my neck, while the sun warms my cheeks.

A jackrabbit races alongside me, and though I relish the beauty as it bounds, I do not let it steal my concentration.

I climb and climb.

I yell, “whoop” over whoop-de-doos (little hills in a series) and I scream around banked curves.

Occasionally my mind darts away. It thinks of work or friendship or family. Under me, my bike wavers, it bumps on a rock, and I recognize I must hold my concentration or I will go down.

Everything depends on this moment.

I trust the Divine to take care of my finances, my relationships, my home, my whole life. All that matters is what is before my face.

It is enough for me to negotiate what is in this moment.

It is everything for me to be right here, right now.

I work, I play, I love on God’s great single-track.

I arrive at the summit. Piñon forest stretches below me, with sapphire mountains in the distance. All obstacles are gone.

I breathe the radiant joy that I am.