"Every day on my bike is Independence Day"

[O]n his prescription pad, my doctor wrote, "Ed Chasteen may resume bicycle riding."

Oh, glorious day!

Inactivity was expanding my waistline, elevating my blood pressure and demanding sleep. Pain pills made it all bearable. But nothing was fun. Not even pleasant.

No wonder drug he might have injected could have jolted me to that blissful state brought on by those six words he wrote. My bicycle has become over the last 19 years a combination gymnasium, church, school and therapist's couch. Deprived for a month by broken ribs from these good places, I was rapidly losing strength of mind, body and soul. . . .

Every day on my bike is Independence Day. The fireworks I see and hear in my mind, my family and friends see in my eyes and smile and hear in my dumb jokes. An old man and a child's toy make an odd couple. But a divorce is out of the question.