A Ride to Remember

Ben looked over the handlebars of his bike down the steep trail leading to the lake. He checked the tightness of the bungee cords that fastened his fishing rods and tackle box to the metal rack behind the saddle. He adjusted the webbed nylon straps of his backpack, their rough texture rubbing against his palms. All good, he confirmed. 

A glance at his watch showed 1:03 pm. He took a deep breath, feeling the brisk, cool air fill his lungs. “Here goes…” he kicked off with his feet, guiding the bike down the hill. The bike moved slowly at first, but gradually gained speed as gravity firmly gripped the bike.

“Ooh too fast!” Ben gasped, clutching the handlebars tightly as the bike careened at breakneck speed, faster and faster still. The wind whipped past his face, the trees blurring into garish streaks of green, brown and yellow. 

The front tire thumped and wobbled, and he fought with all his might to control the handlebars. Fear prickled his chest, and he knew he was going to crash. Time slowed to a standstill, and for a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, flashes of life — laughter, failures, hopes, and dreams — passed before him.  

A sharp bump in a pothole jolted him back into time. “I’m going to die!” he tried to shout, but the wind choked the words in his throat. As he whizzed down the path like a rocket, his heart pounded, and his vision blurred into a chaotic splash of colors and indeterminate shapes. He closed his eyes, tensed his muscles, and braced for the inevitable crash.

Ben felt the bike level out, and he instinctively squeezed the brakes, the tires biting into the gravel with a satisfying crunch. He slowly opened his eyes as the world returned to clarity, and he saw he had made it down the hill in one piece, mere feet from the lake. 

He gazed at the clear blue water calmly lapping the shore near his feet, belying the terror he‌ felt moments before. The hazy disc of the sun warmed his face and the rustle of the trees sang a soothing counterpoint to the erratic thump of bicycle tires echoing in his ears. His heartbeat slowed, and adrenaline ebbed as the fear gave way to relief. 

He remained seated on his bike and reflected on his downhill trip, and realized that sometimes, life’s scariest moments reveal how much we are alive and how brave we can be when we need to be. 

A glance at his watch showed 1:04 pm. Only one minute had passed from the top of the trail to the bottom. It seemed so much longer. He chuckled at the thought of his little adventure. “That was the longest, most terrifying 60 seconds of my life.”