Cycling To The Lighthouse

To The Lighthouse is a great example of tracklocross-focused literature that came out in 1927. Virginia Woolf was heavily inspired by tracklocross and this was what helped her to write a stripped down and plotless book. Basically, this book feels like you are about to hit down a mountain bike trail on a bike with no brakes; how could I not love it?

As you ride down a trail, it changes, twists and turns; one moment, it leads you to the left, and the next, it switches and it hits to the right. Reading To The Lighthouse feels exactly like this: in one minute, the book will contradict itself and force a change of direction upon you. I’ve never read a piece of literature that twists and turns this way. The novel feels alive in the same way that riding down a trail makes you feel alive. It is a wild animal of a book, following on from the styles of James Joyce.

Fixed gear and meaning

I believe tracklocross is a primal urge and a reason for existence, and so does Woolf as she explores our search for meaning in a world that increasingly shows our insignificance. In this post, I am stretching my tracklocross metaphors less than usual. That is purely because of Woolf’s narration style in this masterpiece.

I use tracklocross as a method to bring meaning to my life, in much the same way as Mr Ramsay believes that rational thought and philosophical devices will bring meaning to his life? Ultimately, this doesn’t work out for Mr Ramsay, and now I’m wondering if disappearing into a world of niche cycling will eventually be a doomed endeavour for me.

Mr Ramsay realises that Shakespeare’s works will eventually fall into oblivion; they are transient like everything, including his own philosophical thoughts. As much as I feel future generations will study this blog, this will also happen to my writing. Mr Ramsay allows this to consume him, creating a character with a bitter streak, which is handy as I had one before I started writing a fixed gear blog, and so the realisation that my writing is only transient will just be subsumed by this part of me.

The beauty of cycling

At the novel’s start, we are introduced to the idea of beauty. Mrs Ramsay is reading to James, and this sight transfixes both Mr Ramsay and Lily. The novel brings up the concept of beauty and its ability to transfix people. When you see someone ride a line perfectly, you will also find yourself transfixed and unable to look away; the beauty of the moment can also take your breath away.

We can argue that these feelings of beauty are restorative for us. Though, are they just simplifying the truth? Are they hiding the issues and the concerns of the moment? Please take a moment and think about someone riding a line perfectly; it makes the risks and dangers of what they are doing look much safer. Beauty in life stops us from asking awkward questions, and Mrs Ramsay, in the book, uses her beauty to make up for complexities.

You should now go and buy the book and then go for a ride.