Some things I’ve (re)learned from a year of riding.
The climb is its own reward:
That hubs are spaces of tension. (The graffiti on this one reads “Hike, not bike.” What does that make those of us who do both?)
That property-owning humans may think they’re the most important beings in the trail:
…but they’re wrong:
That there’s no shame in dismounting if you unsure of the terrain:
But sometimes, you just trust that your body knows what to do:
That when the trail keeps getting steeper, it can actually be a good thing:
***
And after a year of thinking about it, I decided that on my bike, I’m a cyborg.
Neither our personal bodies nor our social bodies may be seen as natural, in the sense of existing outside the self-creating process called human labor. What we experience and theorize as nature and as culture are transformed by our work. All we touch and therefore know, including our organic and social bodies, is made possible for us through our labor.
–Donna Haraway, Simians, Cyborgs, and Women
this is SO amazing! Do you mind if I cross post it??
I don’t mind at all, kasama. Thanks for asking. The cyborg discussion was of course inspired by your own questions. And I’m still thinking about the hubs as sites of tension too. About how these tensions could be really productive. But they’re often not.
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