Wheels

I grind and claw and dig and shred

My way up and out and away

Away from myself

To the exquisite feeling

Inhabiting the calibrated cadence

Where body and mind are one

Soles and buzzing bottoms of toes hugging the arch

Heels ever so slightly tweaking down

Calves bulging

Hamstrings taut, vibrating, quads and glutes and hips and abs

Finding their sinew transformed with effort

Smooth concrete

Jagged rocks

A wall

Sometimes the forest is in the mind

And sometimes

It is behind and out front and all around

Or is it in the trees?

You are so strong.

A faint point of light fades far into the darkness behind eyelids

Pulsating

I hear blood

Sweat

Behind my ears

Drenching

Warm palms lightly guide the handlebars

Shoulders away from the ears

Those damn shoulders never stay down

Go.

I find the deepest part of the saddle

Launching

Propelling

My spine straightens

And I am here, now

Or I was, then

Everywhere and nowhere

Air entering screaming lungs

That cannot hear

Feet and knees and pedals and wheels

Forward

Chest open

Heart open

Eyes open

Wide

alive.