Zen and the Art of Bike Riding

Upon returning to my room I met Sharshalla, he would be my bunk mate for the night. He was a very tall and slender man with his heritage stretching to India, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from the way he spoke. He had a very southern California surfer accent to him. At first I was a bit intimidated by him since he towered over me, but then once he spoke with his soft voice I could tell everything was going to be alright.

Sharshalla was riding his bike from the tip of Washington all the way back down to Sacramento where he was from. The bike he was riding on, as he proudly bolstered, was an 80’s cruiser, that he had only paid $20 for off of ebay. He then went on to explain his philosophy of life and bike riding.

“Life is to short and we are all get confused and caught up in the consumer mentality. We all want to fill this void we feel in our lives with meaningless stuff that has nothing to do with life. We no longer live to live, we live to just exist and consume more to distract us from the repetition of our daily lives. I too fall victim to these distractions and forgot to live that is where my bike comes into play. I ride and when I ride I live in the moment. Each twist, turn, and bump in the road brings a new experience that I own. I think only of the next turn and only of the next hill, my mind is free and I live.”

We spoke well into the wee hours as he told me about his experiences biking abroad and traveling. He told me I was doing the right thing and that “nobody ever regrets traveling, they only regret when they get back home and their repetitive lives catch back up with them.”