Biking Towards Psalms 133:1

Crossing the Eastern Continental Divide and the Mason Dixon Line

There’s a metaphor
I’m sure 
for climbing on bikes
with your brother
and embarking
on a three-day ride 
through the Allegheny Mountains 
and along the rivers 
of the Laurel Highlands.

Rich and Jack Moore, Day #3 on The Great Allegheny Passage, June 2022.

But I don’t know
what it is.

I do know:

There are long periods 
of silence and solitude
when your mind drifts
and rummages through
old memories triggered
by something new 
or something he says
or his laugh
or a gesture he makes 
that reminds you 
of the endless days 
when time nearly 
stood still and your plans
were little more than questions 
of whether you had enough
energy to wrestle one more time
before going to bed.

Then there are those serious 
moments of sharing aspirations
and anxieties, laying bare
questions you’d share 
with few others, 
if anyone else.

It’s been so long
since we last settled in
to this kind of time
together 
with so few
distractions and immediate
responsibilities.

The miles melt by
with each pedal stroke,
with every inch of gravel
crunching beneath 
the bikes’ tires, and every
click signaling a shifting gear
that eases and ensures 
the next ascent.

View from Eastern Continential Divide near Meyersdale, PA.

The first few minutes
of the ride disappear
into the grind of 150 miles
and three days of pedaling
through Pittsburgh, Connellsville,
Ohiopyle, and Meyersdale,
before concluding 
in Cumberland.

Day 2 ends in exhaustion, 
rolling down into Meyersdale
just past dusk, after
a steady 30-mile climb
that tested our resolve
and drained our tanks.

But we knew Day 3 
would start with crossing
the Eastern Continental Divide
and then the Mason Dixon Line
before gently meandering
steadily downward
and eventually delivering 
us to mile marker zero
and the end of our journey.

If either of us were religious
we would have likely looked
at each other at the end
and quoted Psalms 133:1:
‘How good and pleasant 
it is when brothers 
live together in unity.’