Enjoy Your Ride
As the tag line for Loving the Bike, “Enjoy Your Ride” has become an important part of this site. It’s pretty much a self-explanatory slogan, but the meaning of it goes back quite a while and has a nice little story to it.
Back in 1999, before I was married and had kids, I spent some time living and working on the island of St. Kitts. This was the first time around….a few years later, I lived there for a longer period of time with my family. Back then, I stayed with a friend in a rural part of the island. I didn’t have a car (or trans, as they like to say) so my only method of transportation was by mountain bike. Now the terrain of St. Kitts is not as hilly as some islands, but definitely a whole lot more mountainous than what I grew up with on the Prairies of Canada. So my 40 minute bike commute to the beach where I was working often got a little demanding.
One day as I was making my regular trek, the fatigue of the bike ride, the close proximity of the cars racing past me, and the bumpiness of the road was all starting to get to me. It seemed like all I could think of was the negative aspects of what I was experiencing on my ride…..and then all of a sudden that old Nissan slogan popped into my head: Enjoy the ride .
As I looked to the left, I could see incredible mountains, sugar cane fields, and other breathtaking scenery. To the right was the beautiful Caribbean sea with cruise ships and sailboats coming and going, and birds flying overhead. Above me was the amazing sun and the satisfaction that comes with it. That Nissan slogan instantly helped me see the beauty of what I was in the middle of. As soon as I said those words to myself…..Enjoy the Ride…….a smile came to my face and the grueling bike ride all of a sudden became so much easier. As I focused on the positive……on the beauty…..on the amazement of our world, the negativity and frustration disappeared.
Later that day while I was working on the beach I reflected back to the “aha” moment I experienced on my morning commute and thought that the phrase should really be “Enjoy Your Ride”. Saying it this way made it feel more personal to me and something I felt would cross over to all areas of my life. So on that day, over 12 years ago, Enjoy Your Ride became my personal slogan and mission statement. Reminding me to be optimistic, positive, and see the beauty of it all. I’m so happy to have it as part of Loving the Bike.
Enjly your own ride❤
Very nice story. Thanks for sharing it.
You’re welcome, Julie. Keep on Enjoying your Ride.
Sweet. One of the things I love most about bike commuting is that it slows me down and exposes me so that I see, hear, and smell everything along the way. When I was driving the exact same roads, many times going slower due to traffic, I’m concentrating on the traffic, the car ahead, and what’s on the radio. Once I got out of the car, I started seeing things I hadn’t seen in the previous nine years on those same roads.
Thanks for your comments. Yes, going at the speed of bike sure does open up a whole new great world, doesn’t it?
Reading this reminds me of almost everytime I am at #bikeschool or when I email or send a message to anther cyclist. Without really thinking about it, I almost always seem to end with “Ride Safe.” I never really thought about it until now. I guess that must mean that I have my own cycling slogan. Have fun, “Enjoy your Ride” but always remember to Ride safe.
Hey Mark…yes, that is a great tagline as well. Thanks for being a supporter (and now contributor) to Loving the Bike….all the best to you in 2012.