I stopped several times to take in various aspects of gorgeous scenery and to sip warm brew. The summer gloves I have on are barely keeping my fingers warm enough to ride, but I tolerate the cold bite of an early fall to keep riding through this pictoral landscape.
Around noon I take another ride around, staying within the valley confines this time and avoiding the roaring interstate that cuts this place in half. Even so, I quickly tire of the constant smell of diesel and gas washing into my helmet off the four-lane buzzing above me, and descend down a gravel road and into a local camping spot by the river.
As I leave the Bandit and my gear parked on the gravel and work my way up an invitingly-obvious bouldering route, I consider the difference between 'being' and 'doing'.
Everybody runs around this place doing everything they possibly can and treating the mountains like their own personal playground, a thought I've heard from many locals, many times now. But really, for all that running around, people just don't seem a lot happier here than in any of the other city or rural places I ride back home.
I don't think happiness is a by-product of doing - it can't be. Doing something you love can make you happy while you're doing it, but that just doesn't stick. Happiness is a state of being, not doing. It's the who-you-are-when-nobody-is-looking that makes you happy (or not) and keeps you happy (or not).
As humans, we all get so focussed on doing. We forget that we are not our work, our hobbies, nor any other 'activity'. If you don't do the inside work needed to be happy - really happy... well, then all the running around you do isn't going to mean a damn thing, and you'll still be a miserable cuss of a human.
Putting the 'being' back in human being takes a lot more guts than jumping off a cliff or climbing any mountain or riding any trail, but it's worth it.
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