Ride This Road

The road I take to school is flat. You stand on one end and look at the other end and it is as flat as Kansas is supposed to be. It's an easy walk. Flat going towards the center. Flat coming back. Until you get on your bicycle. Going towards the center, you won't need to peddle at all. Just let the gravity you didn't know existed pull you to school. But in the afternoon, you're going to have to work to get home. You're going to feel the burn in your calves and will find yourself huffing and puffing more than you expected. Even though you've done this 187 times.

I have a tendency to stand on other people's streets - and look down them thinking how flat they are... how easy they must be. "Hey," I yell, "go faster!" Maybe I just can't see the incline they are traveling.