And so it begins

In the days of my youth, the bicycle was the symbol of freedom, in my mind, holding a first place tie for one of mankinds greater acheivements along with the aircraft which wandered their way through the sky above my house. While it may have appeared to others as a pretty simplistic machine, that gleaming red frame with the white banana seat and pieces of plastic which made noise as they slid up and down the spokes may well have been the space shuttle to the four year old me who, before that time had only legs on which to get around. It was always with a certain degree of amazement that I found I could clumsily outsmart gravity in keeping both the bike and me on it, upright. The bike opened up places which, up to that point in my life were too far for my four year old legs to carry me. Like any good tool, that red velocycle was multipurpose, and fit well into many childhood applications. It served as a pickup truck, hauling acquired wood and bales of hay to construct houses in the woods, as a tug, towing makeshift aircraft designed and built jointly by the neighbours and myself to a speed we were sure was just below what would be required to attain flight, and much to my mothers dismay, as an efficient means to get water and mud from the ground, and onto my clothes without the bother of having crawling around in the dirt.
In more recent times, living in the city, my bike has become a place to think that is free of the numerous distractions often found in an urban environment. Pedaling my way through the river valley this morning my thoughts were consumed with the prospect of starting a blog. A month ago I came across the blog of a former student and friend that inspired me to put into writing some of the lessons I had acquired since beginning to learn to fly years ago. After e-mailing the first few pages that I had come up with to the above-mentioned friend, he suggested that I start a blog of my own so that my experiences would be available to anyone who cared to take the time to read. Being a fairly reserved guy, the thought of creating a collection of my musings which would be available to a good number of people was a daunting idea. While I guessed many people wouldn't garner much beyond mild amusement from my posts, the possibility that someone may take something from it that could help in some facet of their life provided enough incentive to try. At this stage of the game, I suppose even mild amusement is reason enough.
And so it begins,..