In the splendid animation movie « Les Triplettes de Belleville » (2003), a bunch of cyclists are forced to pedal in front of a movie screen. Their feet slowly make the landscape move on.
Imagine a dreadful Friday afternoon at work. Minutes are taking hours and you’re itching for the weekend to begin. But you can’t just press a button and make time run faster. Life doesn’t work like that…
When you think about it, there are only a few moments in life where you can completely decide how fast things around you evolve. You can’t speed up people’s answers to your questions. You can’t slow down the pace of your kid’s growing process. I can only come up with three situations that allow you to slow down or accelerate time:
- fictional works (books and videos even allow you to go back in time)
- shock situations (remember that very second before your smash on the ground?)
- individual transportation (hiking, cycling, paragliding, car when no traffic jams)
To me, a cycling trip feels exactly like pressing the « time » button and choosing my own pace for two weeks. Typically, that goes with the rhythm of a song that plays in my head. As such, the world around me acts like a theatre scenery that I’m pushing forward with my legs.
- North of France? « Boring with all those fields. Let’s accelerate things a little. »
- Croatian coastline? « Slow dowwwn ! I definitely wanna hang around here ! »
On my trip to Dubrovnik, after one week of harsh pedaling across southern Germany and the Austrian Alps, I had my Mom on the phone. She probably didn’t expect me to answer this:
Mom: « You’re in Italy now and it’s sunny! We are still stuck here in the rain. Lucky you! »
Sebi: « I just pushed the scenery forward with my legs. It’s up to you to do the same. »
Sebi Cicleta 