(e) motion

One of the four principles of muscle function that we guitarist live by is the principle of freedom through movement. It is easier to avoid the build up of tension while a muscle is moving because although it requires energy to move, it is constantly releasing energy that is not needed. This is no doubt why many people find a leisurely walk at the end of the day quite relaxing. When a muscle is not being used, or is intentionally kept in a constant position, it tends to build up tension and becomes tight and confined.

It has seemed unnaturally cold here for quite some time. So I've not been on the windhorse for a good long while. One of the many side-effects of cowboy - windhorse separation is brain atrophy. Now I don't mean atrophy of the entire brain, I have certainly been using a lot of it. I still have to go to work and form coherent sentences, and play guitar and such. But there are sections of the brain that are accessible only when riding. I am sure that if they were to hook up one of those imaging machines to the brain of a windhorse cowboy while he is riding, they would find their screens lighting up in places on the brain that they thought evolution had not yet given us the ability to use.
Somehow the windhorse inspires thought beyond the immediate, the apparent, even the intended. The physical proximity of the road, the speed at which it passes without ending, causes the brain to chase thoughts as twisting, rising, falling and unending as the center line. The surreal experiences of engine roar and rural silence, exhaust and fresh air, vibration and smooth fields, hot pipes and cold wind, cause the mind to find subtle, unexpected connections and turn opposites to counterparts that play together to create something impossible one without the other. The speed at which the road signs fly by while the trees and houses in the distance slowly fall behind exposes the layers of perception and faulty reality all around us.
Tonight on the way home, in the truck, I tried to pretend I was riding. It gets easier every day as various things break or fall off my truck. Soon I'll probably just be driving a chasis down the interstate. Anyway, I was fairly successful in re-creating the windhorse experience in the Explorer this evening, and many thoughts were chased. I got all these great ideas for thought unpacking and couldn't wait to get home to sit down and write. I came in the house, grabbed a glass of water, and sat down at the computer to spew the thoughts forth. Nada. The thoughts and concepts were still there, but they just sat in that hidden unknown portion of the brain that won't light up without the bike. No noise, no wind, no thoughts, no words, no motion, only emotion.