The legs are not the only parts of the body that are active during a long day on the road; the brain is also engaged. You are alone all day, time and limits disappear and thoughts are free to soar and dive like the gulls riding the winds of a storm. I’ve analyzed these thoughts and found that they come in a number of categories; I’ll outline them for you here. 

1. The Zen. Hours go by and, looking back, you cannot name one thing you've thought about all day long. You do not think, you just "are." Yogis strive all their lives trying to reach this enlightened stage, I reach it all the time, without even trying.

2. The Wise. The rarest but, like gems, the most precious.  For example, once, in Cape Breton, riding the roller coaster which is Highway 4 between Sydney and St. Peter's, I was struck, as Paul on the road to Damascus, that it doesn't matter if you're going up the hill or down. Yes! After up comes down and after down comes up! I've adopted this philosophy in all aspects of my life and it makes me a stronger person. Three thousand dollar transmission job? No worries! Cat just got run over? Don’t be upset! Just married the girl of your dreams? Aw, you get it, you get it... 

3. Random Shit. By far the most common. 

3a) I'm the undrafted player, but I burst on the scene averaging three, no, five touchdowns a game!  Sometimes I'm a fullback and I move through the defense like a locomotive, linebackers bouncing off my thunderous thighs . At other times I'm like the ricocheting ball in a pinball machine,  I have special fast-twitch muscles, like a dog, and I'm able to change direction as fast as the weather in Newfoundland.  I'm there, and I'm gone. I'm making 50 million a year but I'm  not satisfied, I feel I need to explore my full potential as a human being. I audition on X Factor. I sing my original song, Stairway to Heaven, and the place goes nuts, the judges fall out of their chairs. Simon asks me what winning means to me. Nothing, I tell him, I'm not here to win a contest, I'm here to stretch my horizons, make myself all I can be. And in this, dear Simon, I am already a winner. Amanda and Aliesha dab the tears from their eyes. 

3b) I'm at work, I've grown my department till I have 300 staff. I'm too big now to do any actual work, I just sit at my desk, cross-legged,  inspiring and dispensing wisdom all day while my adoring disciples (mostly female, with long hair and flowing dresses) sit at my feet in awe and admiration. 

3c) I'm the Prime Minister of Canada and I solve the housing crisis in Vancouver, the shortage of doctors in Nova Scotia, and tell Trump to go fuck himself. I sing kumbaya with indigenous peoples across the land. In my spare time, as a hobby, I solve the secret of muons. 

Some scenarios recur over and over again. One of the most common is this: 

3d) A fellow cyclist is on the lonely road up ahead, the tire flat and with no spare. I arrive and save the day. We talk, we bond, we decide to travel together. As evening approaches so does a frightening storm. There is a motel just ahead and we'll make it there just in time. My new friend though, is downcast - a room is beyond the budget, it's another dreary night in a tent. But no, I say, I'll pay for the room, you stay with me. She accepts gratefully!