The Faster I Ride, The Quieter It Gets | I Wasn't Made For It
- Alexei Bautin
- Jun 5
- 3 min read
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I Wasn't Made For It was created.
This is a different story.
This is what the song actually means to me.
Why I Ride
People often ask why I ride.
Most assume it’s about adrenaline, speed, or the challenge. Those things are part of it, but they are not the reason.
The truth is much harder to explain.
Someone could look at a trail like Flow and say it’s easy. On paper, maybe it is. A blue trail. Nothing special.
But at the speed I ride it, it becomes something else.
A place where I can do things I couldn’t do before.
A place where I can find something that is difficult to find anywhere else.
It didn’t happen overnight.
My first rides there were probably not much different from how many people ride it today.
Sometimes I went there without any goal at all.
I just felt something pulling me back.
And honestly, it’s almost impossible to explain with words.
When I ride, I give everything I have.
Every corner.
Every line.
Every decision.
Complete focus.
The same commitment you see from riders dropping into a Red Bull downhill course.
The difference is that I’m not racing anyone else.
I’m always riding against the version of myself from yesterday.
For those few minutes, everything else disappears.
Work.
Stress.
Expectations.
Problems.
The endless noise of everyday life.
There is only the trail.
The line ahead.
And the next decision.
People often think mountain biking is about speed.
For me, speed is only the tool.
What I’m really searching for is clarity.
Because when the trail demands everything from you, there is no room left for distraction.
No room for doubt.
No room for noise.
Only presence.
And strangely enough, that is where I find peace.
Some people find it in meditation.
Some find it sitting quietly by themselves.
I find it while moving.
I find it while fully committing to something that demands everything I have.
"I Wasn't Made For It"
That feeling eventually became a song.
At first, I thought I was writing about mountain biking.
About drops.
About speed.
About fear.
About those moments when everything depends on a single decision.
And yes, all of that is in the song.
Every rider knows that feeling.
The trail is never really on your side.
Rocks, roots, trees, loose dirt, and gravity are all waiting for a mistake.
The moment you lose focus, the trail reminds you of it immediately.
But while writing I Wasn't Made For It, I realized the song was becoming something else.
The trail was only the language.
The real story was happening underneath.
The song is about searching for clarity in a world full of noise.
About finding a place where doubt disappears.
A place where distractions fall away.
A place where, for a few precious moments, everything suddenly becomes simple.
For some people, that place might be a mountain trail.
For others, it might be music.
The ocean.
A camera.
A quiet road.
Something entirely different.
The place itself doesn't matter.
The feeling does.
The faster I ride, the quieter it gets inside.
That line became the heart of the song.
Because I was never really searching for speed.
I was searching for that moment when everything becomes quiet.
For that brief moment when life stops pulling in every direction.
For that feeling of complete presence.
Maybe that is what "I Wasn't Made For It" is really about.
Not mountain biking.
Not speed.
Not danger.
But the search for a place where everything unnecessary falls away, and for a moment, you can hear yourself again.
And that is why I ride.
Alexei Bautin
Filmmaker. Photographer. Music Creator.
Exploring movement, emotion, and what stays with us.
Different mediums. One story.
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