Basics

A Starting Place

The core ideas behind Liturgy for a Bike Ride revolve around tapping into the depths of character formation available to those who humbly choose the bicycle as a unique means of spiritual discipline. The goal is for bicycles to be a catalyst to love and service for others.

Basics

The following six concepts form the foundation of Liturgy for a Bike Ride.

Identity

Cyclists often talk, think, and act as if life is primarily about legs, yet we all know that life is much richer, fuller. As Christians we know everyone is made in the image of God - heart, soul, mind, and strength - and we're made to love him, ourselves, and others.

Formation

What we do shapes who we become, especially the small habits we engage with regularly. Riding a bike and being a part of cycling culture is no different - it can be a catalyst of transformation for us for good or un-good.

Grace

Everything we do is grounded in God's perfect love that preceeds even our knowledge of him. We're motivated and inspired by a desire to love God, others, and ourselves - to grow into a version of ourselves that is only made possible by the transforming love of Jesus through his Holy Spirit.

Growth

While wrapped in God's grace, we seek to become more like Jesus in all that we do, including when we're riding a bike. Growth doesn't just happen and change doesn't occur in comfort, but through challenge - through embracing challenge as a unique opportunity to be shaped in ways only God can shape us.

Unity of LIfe

All of life is connected in some way. The things we do and way we behave in one arena of life affects how who we are and how we live in another. The bike allows us a unique instrument of character formation that can have affects in our life as a whole.

For Others

Riding a bike can be a unique way that we personally connect with God and the world. Formation, at its best, is for the sake of others. We ride to become better mothers, husbands, friends, employees, partners. The bike is also an excuse to connect and grow bonds of friendship, and learn from one another.

The Catalyst

The catalyst for Liturgy for a Bike Ride was the question, “Why do I bike?” This question naturally brings about deeper questions.

  • What type of person am I becoming because of my involvement in cycling culture?
  • Does it matter what I do with these finite resources I have been gifted - time, body, money, energy?
  • And if what I do with these resources matters, is it worth questioning the things I enjoy like riding a bike?
  • Is the world a better place because of bikes, or because I bike? If so, why? If not, how come?
  • Can cycling culture change me, others, and even parts of our world for the better?

The Things We Do

The things we do, do something to us. 1 Most convicting are the things we do with little thought preceeding why we do them. Cycliss have a large collection of “things we do” that are often just thought of as “the norm.” These default modes, when inspected, will often highlight what we worship. “There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships.” 2

A focus on watts per kg. Looking at food strictly as fuel. The n+1 bike rule. Shaving our legs. Having bikes that are worth more than some people’s cars. Structuring our lives around bikes and cursing anything that leads to us riding less. “The rules” 3

There is no separation between our “spiritual life” and the rest of life. All of our life is intertwined. Why and how we ride a bike can change us.

Cycling As Spiritual Discipline

For those of us who ride bikes, does riding a bike affect our person?

Riding a bike can obviously change one’s body. Enough riding can change your mind. Can it change your heart? Your soul? Can cycling be a unique spiritual discipline?

For some who ride a bike, there’s something deep at play - deeper than just transporting from point A to point B, deeper than just getting a workout. There’s a connection to something larger.

A bike can be a great excuse to forge deeper relationships with others. Although the idea is foreign to most who have not gotten into bike racing, Cycling is a team sport.

Many have learned much about themselves riding a bike, whether they began racing, took on some challenging route. Cycling can be a way to learn about your body and your self.

Cycling is a unique sport in the way that the natural world - hills, valleys, weather, and geography - make cycling what it is. A cyclist can connect with the created world in a special way climbing a hill, riding through the forest, cruising along a river.

Cycling can also be a unique way to connect with God. Some have found the act of contemplative prayer made more approachable listening to cranks going round, big breaths of fresh air, out in the world.

A Garden

A quick note about the writings on this site…

The best way to think about the writings on Liturgy for a Bike Ride is like a garden. Even a “finished” garden requires care. Plants can be tended and cultivated. Plants can also sprout. Visitors to a garden can choose a path and what to focus on, whether that is a single flower or a collection of trees.

Not every note and piece of writing on here has been cultivated for long. In order to share writing more frequently and to shun perfectionism, writings are shared well before they are fully baked or fully grown.4 An observer will notice, as they engage with this website, that many pieces are noticeably unfinished.

Footnotes

Footnotes

  1. Thank you, James K.A. Smith for this language. Go read You Are What You Love to dig into this topic more. ↩

  2. You’ve almost definitely heard this David Foster Wallace commencement speech, “This Is Water” by now. If you haven’t, you should find it. If you have, you should revisit it. ↩

  3. Velominati. There are actually a lot of truths here. I might be wrong in assuming “the rules” are entirely tongue in cheeck, but these rules were a piece of cycling culture before they were canonized in the Velominati. ↩

  4. I am indebted to a friend who shared the idea of digital gardens and some cultivators like Andy Matuschak and Maggie Appleton ↩