THE BIKE IS A USEFUL DISTRACTION

My consciousness remains intact and is sharper and wiser than when I was much younger.  My `mind'  is another way of referring to my consciousness.  

My mind / consciousness is not my body.  It is along for the ride but it is fundamentally distinct and separate from the body in which it resides/housed/trapped.  Writers have for centuries pondered the mind body phenomenon.  I'm mildly interested in their musings and exceptionally incapable of maintaining interest in their musings.  My body's eyes roll.  Or it falls into sleep.    

My body is in it's eighth decade, i.e., it is almost 73.  For the most part the body is healthy and well-functioning.  My mind could have neglected the needs of the body by overworking, feeding it poor or toxic ingredients.  Though I could have actively abused and neglected the body I've not done so.  I use it to support the mind, especially to escape boredom.  

Many in my age cohort admit no fear of death but a real fear of the physical pain of the process of dying.  Long awareness of a pain of cancer (poisons, cutting, burning). Although many elect to not locate the mind in a a part of the body there is agreement that when the brain stops also stops the mind.  

I am not religious.  Nor spiritual.  The issue is not important enough for me to claim to be an atheist, an agnostic or a visiting alien.  I live.  I die.  Over.  

I don't like consciousness.  Too much work.  I have no awareness of that which preceded my birth and I prefer no awareness when the body dies.  

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I refer to the past calendar year as the `year of replacement parts.'  Dental implants.  Intraocular lenses (no more glasses).  Surgical replacement of the right knee comprised of bone and tissue with a prosthetic made of metal and plastic.  The body has regained significant functionality permitting greater unimpeded use.  

The body has experienced pain in the process of identifying worn out parts and it has required time to heal and recuperate.  My mind/consciousness suffered during the time the body did it's thing.  Boredom, a sense of frustration that I couldn't use the body to express things or to exhaust itself of anxiety.  (That is another way the mind and body interact: the mind is influenced (good or bad) by what is going on in the body).

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My mind is calmed when my body is exhausted.  And I have learned that my body can exhaust itself in ways that are painful and harmful or ways that are less painful.  When  my mind comes upon a way to exhaust the body that is not painful it achieves two beneficial things.  First, the anxiety lessens.  Second, I take significant satisfaction in the fact that I can work my body to great effort without long-term harm.  Sort of like taking care of a machine to make it functional beyond most it's 'use by date.'  

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I have no worship of the bicycle.  It's a useful tool.  The bikes I have are equipped with parts that support the physical expression of my body.  The mind /  consciousness experiences pleasure in getting the most performance with the least expenditure of mechanical and physical resources.  

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Until the brain dies or the parts of the body fail to function the mind / consciousness will experience the bicycle as a functional distraction.