Today is unique. I had a miserable ride that I thought I'd comment on a little bit, AND, I happen to have time to open up blogger. What a surprise!!!
It rained like mad on my commute this morning. I wore full rain gear and almost immediately began questioning why I bother to wear full rain gear. It really does nothing except become an extra layer of sodden clothing you have to deal with when you get to work. The rain was warm - I could have just ridden naked and it'd have been less hassle!
Oh - and that phenomenon, which I've potentially written about before in the long history of this blog - where the rain washes through the cushions in your helmet, and sweeps all the old sweat out of the pads, and the old sweat washes down your face, into your eyes, into your mouth... and you've enjoying a salt bath as you ride.... priceless...
Anyway - in the spirit of Rilke writing letters of advice to a young poet, here is one piece of advice from a seasoned bike commuter to a young bike commuter - carry bungee cords with you.
Bungee cords are good for lots of things, like securing a 12-case of beer to your bike-rack. But they're also good for wet clothing situations.
Your pile of wet gear on the floor of the showers can become something like this:
Plus - does everyone know the newspapers in your shoes trick?
If your shoes are soaked, stuff them with newspapers, and through the course of the morning or afternoon, the newspapers absorb the moisture from the shoes. Often your shoes are totally dry by the end of the day - if you replace the newspapers once or twice.
By the way, this passage (see below) from Rilke is quite intimidating:
if you feel like you could live without writing, then you shouldn't write at all.
I assume he would extend that to the arts generally (painting / dance etc), but how much further would he extend that? If a person is a hobbyist painter, who gets pleasure from it in the few spare moments he/she can do it, but is also a busy parent and can live without painting, do you really never paint at all?
Seems harsh. Only practice your art if you can commit 100% of yourself to it. Otherwise you're a fraud. That's too harsh Rainer.
"But after this descent into yourself and into your solitude, perhaps you will have to renounce becoming a poet (if, as I have said, one feels one could live without writing, then one shouldn't write at all). Nevertheless, even then, this self searching that I ask of you will not have been for nothing. Your life will still find its own paths from there, and that they may be good, rich, and wide is what I wish for you, more than I can say."
Rilke. Letters to a Young Poet. Letter #1
