Long bicycle rides offer the opportunity to meditate. The steady rhythm of pedals, pavement and breathing focus the mind on essential things.
While riding, I have discovered that the bicycle itself is a symbol of the marriage of goodness and truth. The front wheel steers and therefore represents wisdom. The back wheel provides the energy to move you forward, represents good works, powered by love.
Neither wheel is more important than the other, or sufficient alone. It is true that the back wheel alone (i.e. a unicycle) provide transport, but with more difficulty and more chance of a fall.
Since this is such powerful symbolism, might the lack of bicycles in the Bible indicate a flaw in my argument? No.
The stories in the Word generally reflect an agricultural culture of permanent relevance. These references were appropriate to the time, and are still powerful. We may no longer be farmers, but agricultural references like “The sower went out to sow the seed. (Luke 8) and “The Lord is my shepherd” (Psalm 23) are still clear.
Technological references are often time bound and can be hard to understand once the technology changes. But there are some technology bound references in the Word, indicating they are not inappropriate in themselves. The analogy of the disciples to salt in (Matthew 5) is hard to understand now since our understanding of “salt” is so different: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its strength, what shall it be salted with? It of no more use than to be trodden underfoot by men.“ How can salt lose strength? Why put it underfoot in a country without ice?
Even though the largely agricultural language of the Word is more appropriate for a book that will be read forever, technologically-specific references do occur in the Word, indicating the symbolic value of technology can be useful while that technology is familiar. A bicycle is technology that is familiar to most of us since we were children.
So, we should take advantage of bicycle rides to contemplate how, propelled by love and guided by wisdom, the rider progresses forward.
