Two kinds of bikers

The Blue Skunk has been quiet lately. I am on a week-long bicycle trip in Belgium and the Netherlands. It’s one of those boat and bike adventures where one stays on a river cruise ship each evening and bikes during the day. My ship, the MS Fluvius (not, as one friend noted, Flu-virus) has a capacity for 40 guests, but there are only 13 of us on this tour. Nice - a lot of space and personal attention. The bike trips are guided so I don’t have to navigate the extensive paths, alley ways, and sudden turns. I can simply enjoy the scenery and the commentary offered by the guide

We are a fairly pokey group with our speed, rarely, if ever over 10mph. Although we are a small bunch, there are always a couple folks who run late, have issues, or dawdle. (I delayed the group a couple times when I forgot to unlock my bike.) We stop for extended coffee and lunch breaks.  There is never a rush, really. We get back to the boat when we get back to the boat.

But we are not the only recreational bikers on the paths. Several times each day, a single or group of hard core bikers speed by us. Heads down, legs pumping, aerodynamic in their tight little outfits, you quickly realize these folks are biking for a whole different reason that we are. Maximum exercise, meeting fitness goals, adrenaline rushes. I got an adrenaline rush a couple times when these fanatics nearly collided with each other on blind corners. But the groups themselves are interesting to watch, resembling a tight flock of birds, sharing a common direction and turning as a group. We turtles must drive them crazy.

Who gets the most pleasure from their type of biking? Personally, I am a “smell the roses (or poppies)” biker, enjoying moderate exercise, the interesting sights, the strange sounds (did you know real cuckoo birds sound just like cuckoo clocks?), and the short stops to hear mini-lectures about the significance of a building, a local legend, or the geology of the region. 

There is probably a metaphor in there somewhere about “two types of people” and how they lead their lives. I was something of a striver during my career (fast pedaler) and I still cannot stand to just ride escalators - I have to walk up them. But at the same time, I always carved out time to slow down, enjoy family and experiences, read books, and take a few deep breaths. 

Maybe I am just to old and lazy to be a hardcore cyclist anymore.