I'm Nate Marshall and this is The Slowdown.

One of the only forms of exercise that I love, I mean really love, is riding a bicycle.

As a child, I loved riding on my training wheels, but took two tries, six months apart

to muster the courage for two wheels.

By middle school, my friends and I would ride miles across our far south side neighborhoods,

adventuring and misadventuring with our mountain bikes ridden in the mostly flat midwestern

city.

In one graduate school summer, I rediscovered my love of riding and bought a bike using

a friend's employee discounted sports authority.

After that, it was not uncommon for me to ride the 20 plus miles from my mother's house

to where I was working across town, just for fun.

The thing I think I love about bike riding is the meditative nature of it.

It's repetitive, but not so much that you can zone out completely.

You can really see a place at a pace that your mind can process, which is not always

the case in cars.

It feels strenuous, but usually not so much that you must succumb to the discomfort,

but the pain is lovely information.

You are alive.

You are alive.

You are present and you have muscles and limbs that work and tire and recover.

Days palm similarly delights in the fact of our existence, even where it is strenuous,

even where it is painful.

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