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--> --> The bottom line is in the mind David Morrill Let me tell you about a couple of things that happened to me recently. I take my 10-year-old bicycle to the bicycle shop to be fixed. There's a sign on the front window that says they service all makes and models. There are also a lot of logos on the window for racing bikes and the accouterments of the sport. When I roll my bike through the front door I stop to admire the new models. Prices start at just under $1,000. The serious models, $3,000 and up, are segregated at the back of the store. "A Sears and Roebuck special, eh?" the fellow behind the back counter offers, reconnoitering that I'm not a serious shopper. Although he figures he can fix my gear problem for $25, he allows that mine is what folks in the trade refer to as a disposable bike. As he writes up the job ticket I explain that I ride the bike with my kids three, maybe four times a month in the subdivision down the street from my house. It's perfectly fine for that, I tell him, despite the rust on the chain and fenders. And besides, why spend a thousand bucks to feel the wind in your hair and relive the joys of childhood. The shopkeep arches an eyebrow, looks up from his paperwork, and views me as one might an unwashed lunatic describing an encounter with God. Here's another thing that happened to me. I invite my wife for a walk in the same subdivision where I ride my cheap bike. It's a pleasant early spring morning, the air filled with birdsong and the scent of wisteria. As soon as we make the turn out of the driveway, my wife strides powerfully ahead. I'm left to witness a paroxysm of elbows and buttocks. I say, Hey, wait up. What's the big rush? She stops, turns and appraises me with a combination of amazement and contempt. "I thought you wanted to walk. I didn't come out here to amble. Actually, I did come out here to amble, I tell her. I love to amble. I try to reason with her. Can you imagine, I ask, Wordsworth and Coleridge powerwalking through the Lake District? Can you picture them stopping off, say, for some carb loading over a protein shake at the village pub? Think how different literature, even history, might have been had they not ambled. We would have never heard of the storm brewing over yonder ridge, or of the bees attending to a flowering vine in the roadside bower. The entire romantic era could have been short-circuited, I tell her, if those guys hadn't seen fit to amble. She is not convinced. "Look," she says, overcoming her exasperation to try to teach me a thing or two. "You get no aerobic benefit from walking slowly. You have to pump up your heart-rate if you want to get anything out of this." I relate these incidents not to knock the aficionados of high-end cycling or the industry that supplies them. Nor do I question the value of serious exercise. A friend of mine cycled across Colorado last summer. For him, $5,000 for a bicycle is money well spent, as is the expenditure for the collateral equipment that he needs. Even a serious weekend cycler, if he can afford it, is well served with high quality gear. I can truthfully report that that I've done some serious dabbling in the gym and have come to appreciate the no pain no gain ethic. I also admit to being uplifted by those early morning cable TV exercise programs that feature healthy young women in spandex. What bothers me, though, is the intolerance often shown those who would do a thing simply and inexpensively. The ethos of our culture is that a thing not taken to the extreme, either in terms of physical exertion or financial commitment, is a thing not worth doing. We cannot escape the questions: What is the bottom line? How does this thing provide me an advantage? Is this a good use of my time? I maintain that the slow walk on a quiet day, the calm, drawn-out conversation, the relaxed consideration of passing scenery, the wind in the face on a downhill bike run, are things of true value. They are exercise for the mind and spirit. And no, they are things you can't take to the bank. David Morrill, a Baby Boomer, is a Florida journalist and a native of Northern California. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing