Wednesday 10 April 2013

Advertisement feature. 02.04.13

 

Advertisement feature.

Today was a Grand Day. The sort of day which you are not expecting, which to a casual observer would have no obvious, special qualities; on the face of it just another day. Let me explain.

We left our gaucho bothy and continued our ride across the flat pampas. The sunlight was thinly veiled, the temperature in single digits, the views expansive. The day started calm, but the tail wind blessed us off and on as the day rolled by. The riding seemed effortless, the experience quite trance-like. The occasional bus, tourist and local, passed by, and it occurred to me that in a vehicle this road would be boring. In a vehicle, for me or anybody, boring. But on this bike, on this day, it held a magical quality which transformed it into a Grand Day.

The pampas, although fairly flat, was far from featureless. We saw lots of rheas, the ostrich-like flightless bird; a lone gaucho on his horse, apparently in the middle of nowhere, waving to us in temporal friendship; sheep, cattle and carefree horses dotted the land, and very occasionally a smoke trail led the eye to an isolated hacienda or bothy, betraying the presence of man. When the tailwind blew, or we had a downhill, we were cruising at 40k+, always great fun on a loaded touring bike. You don't get any of that in a vehicle. Unless maybe its a go-cart.

I got to thinking (Editor; careful now). Retail has the concept of 'add-on sales', where they suggest you have a coke with that sandwich, etc. Or a farmer may take his milk and make ice-cream, thereby adding value to his original produce. Maybe that is how experience works as well, one adding value to the next one? They have a cumulative effect. If you can work out which ones work for you, you can help make your own Grand Day. For me being on a bike is the most obvious way I can build my own Grand Day.

I hope you get to work out your own. If you don't know where to start, may I suggest you try going for a bike ride?

End of advertisement feature.

 

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