Visit Utah released this promotional video of a family touring the US Bicycle Route System across Utah. Loving the concept of experiencing the Southwest in this way. Cycling gets people that authentic experience we are craving, and is central for developing sustainable tourism.
The thing you learn from being a cyclist is you don’t give up, you keep fighting and it’s funny how that transitions over into other things in life. John Tomac, rancher and mountain biker
From the simple form of the bicycle springs a variety of culture. Cycling, like music, fosters vital expression of the human spirit. It allows us to move abreast with our days, creates meaning and helps us make sense of our lives. The experience of cycling brings us together with place through the application of our skills with an elegant, purposeful, and artful technology. We can trace all the variety in cycling back to this original experience, the exquisite freedom and sensations of cycling reverberating contagiously deep in the inner oceans of our unconscious.
A bike ride always feels worthwhile. Somehow it unlocks our perceptions and gives wings to the art of becoming. It’s a creative act, bringing us into a powerful state of joyful relations.
The preamble of thought, the transition through which it passes from the unconscious to the conscious, is action. —Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar”
Cycling puts our ambitions in check with our practical abilities. There is no shame in living cycling. It’s a way of reading the land, celebrating with nature. In a world of pop culture and groupthink, cycling is a way of living directly. An unmediated way of caring for yourself.
All things real are so by so much virtue as they contain…I see the same law working in nature for conservation and growth. Power is in nature the essential measure of right Nature suffers nothing to remain in her kingdoms which cannot help itself. –Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self Reliance”
Cycling is really something wonderful to celebrate! It’s a discipline that is dictated by our nature and follows truth. The truth is our body’s health is integral to our mind and wellbeing, and we must take care of it. By developing cycling skills, we are enacting an understanding of the value of our health, and practicing responsibility to all life. Cycling is a beautiful gift, a part of our heritage. Cycling extends our powers and lives in a joyful way. The variety cycling is generating is amazing. John Tomac’s example in the video below shows how cycling is part of the fabric of a larger American culture, something that is fixing itself in the soil for good. We are seeing the love of cycling connecting vital elements of sustainable culture around the globe. Cycling runs deep, through our legs, hearts, and lungs, through our hard work, through generations across time. It’s simple really, oxygenated blood pumping through our bodies is good for us. And rolling on wheels with our family, friends and whole communities is unabashed fun!
American mountain biking is fun-based and grassroots, and it’s always been that way. —J. Tomac
I ride because it makes me happy. –Stephen, from USA Cycling, on why he rides I ride because it’s awesome. –Emmett, who started riding at age 2 1/2 with his mom I’ve built so many relationships on the bike…that’s a really sacred thing for me. –Kristin on cycling
USA Cycling has traditionally been a competition-focused organization, but now they’re expanding their membership inviting everyone to come “ride with us”. With a USA Cycling Ride Membership, you get networked with an active and passionate cycling community, a “nation of cyclists at your side”. I’m super stoked to see this, because my cycling life weaves together so many reasons to ride–affordable & healthy transport, making social connections, exploring nature, the love of cycling–and racing is a part of that larger whole. I started cycling in 1997, but I didn’t join USA Cycling until 2003, when the Reno Wheelmen turned me on to cycle sport.
Now USA Cycling is embracing this convergence of the everyday part of cycling with the sporting aspect, recognizing that out of many cycling loves we are all one. It’s a brilliant move because there are so many people who have the desire to bicycle for so many good reasons (health, wellness, independence, environment, community, social connections, accessibility). Uniting the community of aspirational cyclists with experienced ones will quicken the acquisition of knowledge and skills, making cycling a habit in more people’s lives, and a growing part of our toolkit for making our communities 21st century successes. The spirit of cycling is good for us, one that keeps growing in our lives the more we keep sharing it and enjoying it together.
Check out USA Cycling’s welcoming video, come ride with us–
“We ride for adventure. We ride for stories. We ride for fitness. For relationships and community. For rhythm. For competition and for our country. Whatever your reasons for riding, joining the USA Cycling community will help you to get the most from your riding and support the sport you love.”
—Join USA Cycling
Go USA Cycling! Keep on developing excellence! And embracing everyone!
Bike Yogi 