Once you have piloted the plane you are flying in, once you have pulled back the controls at just the right moment, have felt the instant your aircraft left the ground, and have looked out straight ahead as it did so and realised, "hey, I am actually flying this thing!", it is hard to find any thrill that will match that experience.
Especially if those moments of take-off have included the outlook over a body of water, the sunlight dancing and sparkling off the ripples of the big lake or ocean ahead, with nothing blocking your view as you soar off into the skies... life on the ground seems, well, sluggish. Slow... and dull.
If -- like me -- you also happen to be a cyclist, you may be lucky enough to experience a tiny little bit of that thrill as you sail, slightly more smoothly and at a quicker pace than the plodding footsteps or crawling car traffic so many of us city dwellers are bound to, across an elevated platform such as a bridge, for example.
Today I had the good fortune to be cycling across such an one.
The Sunnyside bridge offered me the ability to capture -- for the most fleeting moment -- a fraction of the adrenaline rush that flying generates. Cycling southbound as the sun danced for a moment across the ripples of the water of Lake Ontario creating a glimmering spectacle of luminosity on this otherwise grey, gray day. The panoramic vista that lay open ahead of me, glinting and gleaming as I peddled effortlessly high above the Gardener Expressway with the wind at my back, was as powerful as the most potent anti-depressant available on the market.
Especially if those moments of take-off have included the outlook over a body of water, the sunlight dancing and sparkling off the ripples of the big lake or ocean ahead, with nothing blocking your view as you soar off into the skies... life on the ground seems, well, sluggish. Slow... and dull.
If -- like me -- you also happen to be a cyclist, you may be lucky enough to experience a tiny little bit of that thrill as you sail, slightly more smoothly and at a quicker pace than the plodding footsteps or crawling car traffic so many of us city dwellers are bound to, across an elevated platform such as a bridge, for example.
Today I had the good fortune to be cycling across such an one.
The Sunnyside bridge offered me the ability to capture -- for the most fleeting moment -- a fraction of the adrenaline rush that flying generates. Cycling southbound as the sun danced for a moment across the ripples of the water of Lake Ontario creating a glimmering spectacle of luminosity on this otherwise grey, gray day. The panoramic vista that lay open ahead of me, glinting and gleaming as I peddled effortlessly high above the Gardener Expressway with the wind at my back, was as powerful as the most potent anti-depressant available on the market.
Ahhh, but the moment was too brief, and the other side of the bridge was reached too soon.
In a flash, I was back on earth, the cold biting my face at ground level, and the crosswind creating a nuisance to fight against as I struggled to maintain both my balance and my forward motion with an extremely overloaded and bulky pannier on only one side of my bike.
Without the thrill of the sky opening up ahead of me, the exhilaration of the preceding 3 minutes was gone.
Oh, how I miss flying!
In a flash, I was back on earth, the cold biting my face at ground level, and the crosswind creating a nuisance to fight against as I struggled to maintain both my balance and my forward motion with an extremely overloaded and bulky pannier on only one side of my bike.
Without the thrill of the sky opening up ahead of me, the exhilaration of the preceding 3 minutes was gone.
Oh, how I miss flying!
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