Touring America in a Red, White, and Blue Body Stocking
I sit erect with my feet in front of me. Pedaling is easy, my seat is comfortable, and I have full view of everything around me in my upright position. Motorists always slow down and gawk when they see my tight red, white, and blue body stocking. I wave and smile.
If you’ve never traveled by recumbent bike, you’ve never traveled in style. These are the strange looking, low-to-the-ground contraptions you may have seen touring back roads around your area. My body stocking isn’t the revealing piece of lingerie you usually think of when you hear the word body stocking.
My body stocking consists of two pieces of stretchy fabric that extend from my fairing (windshield) to the back of my recumbent bike. It improves the aerodynamics of my bike, making an amazing difference at the end of a 200 mile trip. I have a bright red, white and blue body stocking for better visibility. It not only shows my patriotism, it makes me feel a lot safer when cars are whizzing by me at 60 mph.
I used to tour on conventional bikes. They’re a fine way to see the country, but by the time I finished I was shredded. After days of sitting on that tiny sliver of a seat and leaning on my handlebars my wrists hurt, my back hurt, my legs hurt, and by butt was hashed. Recumbent biking allowed me to sit in a more natural position in a seat designed for comfort with my head upright. I began to see the scenery I had been missing. Riding a crazy-looking contraption with a colorful body stocking also gave me a reason to talk to people I would have passed by without a thought before. Touring America is a new experience for me now.
There is no freedom like seeing this beautiful country, meeting it’s sons and daughters from all different walks of life, and doing it under your own power. Talking to people wondering about my body stocking soon became the highlight of my travel.
Fellow travelers almost without are fascinated at the sight of my recumbent bike. My red, white and, blue body stocking is like a flag waving to them. It gives me a chance to talk about the freedom I feel on the open road and how badly our country needs us all to act together as one nation. There’s no better way to make a political statement than on a recumbent bike with a patriotic body stocking. I found I could draw a crowd at the oldest gas station on the quietest stretch of highway in America.
I love listening to the stories of people I meet on the road. And I love retelling them in every next town. With each conversation I try to spread the feeling that we are all one family. With each conversation that feeling grows in me.
Each place I stop, I find people with troubles. They’re out of work, their marriages are failing, they haven’t seen their sons for months, they feel letdown by the people in Washington who are supposed to be representing them. Generally, the stories are the same with minor details changed.
I always finish my visits by pointing to my recumbent bike with red, white, and blue body stocking. No matter who I talk to, the conversation almost always begins with that. Why a recumbent bike? What is the body stocking for? Everyone acts the same in the same circumstance. Fears are the same; hopes are the same. Priorities may be stacked up differently, but deep down they’re always there. The solution to this country’s problems isn’t defeating the “others.” It’s realizing we’re all in this together. When we improve the life of someone else in this nation, we do the same for ourselves.
Usually this leaves people thoughtful. Hopefully, they go about after that will a better understanding of the people they once thought of as keeping them from what they want. Hopefully, the ideas of black and white, or republican and democrat are a little less binding on them than before they saw my red, white and blue body stocking.
This is my hope, but whether it happens for them or not, I will keep riding my crazy-looking recumbent bike with my colorful body stocking waving like a flag. At least I have been changed by my tours.
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About the Author: About the Author: Mat Moniker is a writer for Innuity and a brother of all.
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