Blown Clean

Coming home from work, it was time to pay for the northwest tailwind of the morning.  With interest, as the wind was pushing 17mph with gusts up to 25, still from the northwest.

The sun was shining, though, and the legs felt fresh, finding a rhythm.  I watched my shadow dancing on the side of the road as I stood on a climb on Prier Rd. 

Halfway to Petersburg, my mind blown clean of the day’s anxiety, the stress streaming out in cold rivulets on my back, image snippets float in memory.  The Harley rider putting chapstick on in front of the Detour Tap in Petersburg.  He smiles and signals to the passenger seat on his ‘bike’.  I smile and point down the road.

Into the wind.