Thrilling.  I gave away my bike six years after moving to the country.  Busy highway thoroughfares and dirt roads and small towns with steep hills don’t make for good leisure driving.  This time last year we were checking on pregnant does and watching our chickens taking dust baths on such a  beautiful day as this.  I find myself whirring down the old bike trail I use to traverse.  Ghosts of my children and their friends playing by the creek greet me and a familiarity welcomes me.

We lived in Parker a long time before moving to the country.  We rode our bikes with our young children down the Cherry Creek Trail more times than I can remember and it all comes rushing back as the wind blows through my hair.  I greet the mullein stalks, dormant, and the prairie dogs that chirp in the warm air.  The blackbirds have returned and even though winter still holds court, the river flows free and clear and the vast blue sky sings of spring.

It feels good to be pedaling this contraption.  I feel youth and vibrancy.  A break before our dinner party.  I roll past tall reeds and rushing water and breathe.  My new ride.  This is just too fun.