St. Elizabeth of Cayce: Kings Mountain Ride: Riding as Metaphor

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Kings Mountain Ride: Riding as Metaphor

Last Saturday, we arose many, many hours earlier than my usual awakening time, and met some other bikers at a nearby truckstop. We rode from there to another truck stop, where we picked up some more guys, and headed up towards Kings Mountain.

From the time we left the 2nd truck stop, until we got home, we got next to no direction from the ostensible "Ride Leader," who relied on people keeping up.

There was beautiful scenery on then trip, and we had a good time touring the National Military Park's museum and hiking around the battlefield.

What I found most interesting from the day was the Darwinism of some of the guys. "Oh, we lost someone? There were how many people in the group? Hmmmm..." I guess the idea is that if you get separated, you're still out in the middle of nowhere riding on a Saturday, and that can't be a bad thing.

Then there was the 40+ mile stretch going the wrong way, and realizing that the leaders really didn't know where they were going. There was another stretch, back & forth over the NC/SC border, looking for an exit that didn't exit, for a road that didn't cross the interstate, to find a restaurant someone had heard about at a gas stop. Izzy's understatement was great: "It could have been better planned."

In the interests of full disclosure, I should admit that aimless meandering is one of my favorite ways to drive. I just never try it when someone is following me to somewhere.

In the demi-quiet that comes from loud wind noises in the helmet and iffy radio reception, I had lots of time to think and reflect during our 240 mile ride. I was stressed for the lost guys, even though I was never personally at risk for being lost. I finally realized that I wasn't in the driver's seat, that I had no control over where we were going, that people with cell phones can take care of themselves, and that I could work on relaxing. I prefer far more order than I was being offered; and I was reminded of Jesus' words to Peter:

Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.

I'm certainly NOT comparing following someone without a map to martyrdom. But for someone who really, really likes to be in control of things, or at least to know everything that is going to happen, it reminded me that sometimes you are called just to sit back and observe the ride.

Even more metaphor:

When I'm on the bike excursions, I can only ever see about 1/3rd of what is up ahead at any one time. It's a function of the giant helmets on the giant heads, and placement of the bike seats. I've learned in 20+ years to accept the limited vision and to plan to work around it to get semi-decent pix. I'm a lot less sanguine when it comes to accepting decreased vision/understanding of my life and circumstances.

Sometimes I blog to tell a story. Sometimes it's to write mini-sermons to myself so I won't forget what I learned in those rare moments of quiet, when God is able to get my attention.

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Pics from the ride (mine, Izzy's pics of the hike follow/precede?). More at the Flickr site. I set the camera on "vivid" - I think that's what I got.