If I have to explain....

Strange things can go through your head in the shower and you can sometimes have some deep thoughts. I had one of these thoughts today.

"If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand......"

This is a strange and tricky phrase if you think about it. To the person who doesn't ride it comes across as a cliche t-shirt slogan. To the person who rides or has ridden, it's meaning is as clear as a blue sky day.

But have you ever stopped to think....why?

Let's start from the non-riders point of view. What is there to explain that someone wouldn't understand? Why wouldn't they understand it? Can you understand what it is to understand something you can't explain? Last but not least, have you ever given any thought to what it is you really love about this adventure that is riding?

I myself think its easy to explain to someone why I love to ride. It's simple. Riding clears my head and calms my nerves. All my anger. All my frustration. All my confusion gets shaken out of my head and gets sucked right through the bike to the road below or gets blown away by the wind. It all comes clear when you come over that hill and the first site of the mountain appears in the distance, when you catch that first deep breath of the pine tree forest, when it quits raining and you finally dry out, when you hit that spot in the road where the sun happens to creep out and warm you up on that winter ride, when you get where you're going with your friends and see a group of future friends. I could go on and on.

This is where the rider mentality is needed. I could explain till your eyes pop out of your head from reading but I won't. It won't do any good. I'll explain why.

Did you ever have anyone try to explain love to you before you met your first girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband...whatever the case may be? Did you ever have someone explain what death was and what it meant before your first pet died? Did you think you had a good grip on what it meant to have your first kid before you had it? Sure you did. You had all the information...or so you thought.

I thought I knew what it was....what it meant to be on 2 wheels. Understanding what it means and understanding how it feels are different things.

So keep this in mind. "If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand" isn't some half-cocked way of saying "if you don't have a bike YOU SUCK". It's a way of letting you know how great it is and throwing you an invitation to discover it for yourself.

It's worth it.