The alluvial cast

Of gravel beneath tyre

Skittish and dusty

Rubber above

Metallic stone beneath

Two surfaces colliding

One soft and resilient

The other sharp and stone

Sounds like a puncture

About to occur

Or worse

A combination of the crunch

Shoulder to earth

Perhaps

A shattered collarbone

Humans bones are extremely fragile

Tense muscles draw taut in imagined protection

Of preventing a fall to the ground

I regain attention

Loosen hand grip to throttle

Ride through the pegs

Keep the wheels going round

And the eyes of the mind

Narrowed to a ten foot stare in front of me

At least my focus for a moment

Is on the sensation in my skin

The interior of my glove

Sweat pools

Trickles down the back of my neck

A crease digs in

And then I’m gone again

Meditation rising

On a hot thermal drifting through my spine

Awareness trickles upwards

And driftts

Like a hawk flying

There is nothing down here to hold me

I release attachment to the moment

Feel a wild cry arising

Freedom within

Swallow

Refocus

Continue

Reset

I’m riding the Warry Gate Road

In one more moment

I’ll never forget

*the Warry Gate Road runs from Noccundra in Qld through the NSW border into Tibooburra. We arrived to greet it day 4 of our trip and the morning briefing by our leader was ominous.

Rightly so, it took out two riders – one who fell, the other travelling too close ran over him.

Our little crew, a composite of four, travelled through with no injury and were all charged with adrenaline and wide grins by the time we made it to the large span grid which demarcated the border between NSW and Qld.

There is a focus to riding on unstable surfaces. The attention doesn’t drift off as much. I missed the intensity when our bike tyres once again found bitumen.