Some lessons learned through fun on the bike
For some reason many metaphors have been playing in my head lately. Most of them have to do with the bike. Sometimes I like long road rides, and the lesson they teach me about getting myself committed to the point where bailing out costs more than completing the ride. We can lose a lot when we don’t follow through.
I don’t like to ride alone on the road because there are far too many angry people driving cars these days, but even when riding with someone else there is a time to be alone - whether it be off the front or back of the pack. I use that time alone to take in the scenery and to think as my fellow cyclists do.
I remember learning about drafting several years ago when I first started riding a road bike in Greensboro, North Carolina. Folks who follow NASCAR know about drafting, as do people who try to increase their gas mileage on the highway; in both of those cases the benefit is focused more on the individual. In cycling it’s more about the group or team; about taking turns pulling and being pulled.
When I first started riding I was usually at or near the back of the pack. I remember riding behind a group and looking down at my speedometer to see that we were doing around 25 miles per hour and I felt like I was coasting. I decided with all this energy I had that I would go around the group to the front and show them how strong I was. As I began to pass, even though I was pedaling harder, I slowed down quickly and dropped off the back. It took a lot of energy for me to simply catch back up to the group and I stayed near the back just to make sure I had enough energy to get home.
Eventually I got strong enough that I could take my turn at the front, and I now know the importance of being the leader and the follower, of helping and taking advantage of help. You know, team work.
Mountain biking is quite a bit different in its dynamic. I’ve told my wife, Ashley, often that I like it because I don’t think the same way I do on a road bike. Mountain biking requires a lot more focus. Daydream over technical terrain and you might find yourself crashing into a tree. Any day-to-day worries I have get left at the trail head and for that reason I love it more than road biking. Also there aren’t any aggressive drivers to worry about, just the occassional squirrell, dog or bear.
For a while I wasn’t riding at the level at which I felt I could be riding. I felt frustrated because I could put long miles in on a road bike, including hills, but once I got off road I couldn’t keep up with friends who were no more physically fit than me. Fear was slowing me down. Afraid of falling, I would lose my momentum in technical sections and then spend an awful amount of energy simply trying to catch up, only to find more technical sections. I thought it must be because they had nicer bikes, then I noticed friends with essentially the same bike were leaving me behind as well. The bike can certainly make a difference, and I have learned that a few little modifications can make a bike seem new, but the bike wasn’t my problem. In addition to practice, I needed to hear words of wisdom from someone who knew his stuff.
I started working with the James River State Park trail maintenance crew volunteers, many members from MORE (Mid Atlantic Off Road Enthusiasts) in Richmond, Virginia because I wanted to help build and maintain the trails I rode. One of the trail’s hardest working, down to earth volunteers is pro racer Jimmy McMillan. Jimmy and I were working on a very rocky section of trail and I commented on how difficult I thought this part would be for me. Jimmy said, “Just look to where you want the bike to go, get your butt off the saddle, lean back and let the bike roll.” Of course it took some practice, but what I had to practice was giving up control when I most wanted to take it. I’m still practicing it, but that advice has made a world of difference in how much I enjoy the ride.
Sometimes we hit rough terrain and we feel like we need to do something. Fear causes us to slow down and to look at where we are rather than where we want to be.
What life lessons have you learned through recreation?
Really introspective Tim. My two main sources of exercise are walking and mountain biking. Biking, however, as become much more than just a source of exercise for me. Unlike walking, which provides more then ample time to mull over life’s problems, for that hour or two that I’m on my bike, thoughts of bills, home projects, problems at work, unresolved arguments and anything else troublesome is put on hold and forgotten about. There have been many times that I’ve started a ride ticked off about something or someone only to return a few hours later with a smile on my face. I’ve also never felt as cleansed, physically and mentally after coming home from a ride caked with sweat, dirt, mud and sometimes a little blood and then have the joy of washing it all off in a nice steamy shower.
At this point in my life, I admire you but feel no compulstion to emulate you. Give my love to my favorite physician! ~dad~
Tim I didn’t know you were bloggin’ to? Right on man. Through recreation namely biking I have learned a lot. Mostly about myself; how to handle myself, how to push myself, how to motivate myself, how to make me happy & sad, etc. Mountain biking has offered me a deep look into my mind, body and soul that I could not have otherwise found. I have also learned a lot about the human nature and the American nature or rather the nature of the average American. You really hit the nail on the head in your post and what Lisa added was spot on as well. To go one step further in a personalized fashion above and beyond what you two have mentioned biking and recreation has shown me the side of life that sadly most Americans do not see. The new American dream seems to be the pursuit and ownership of excessive worldly physical goods. A nicer car, a louder stereo, bigger shinier rims, a bigger flatter HDTV with the premium top shelf cable bill, etc. These are all things of human creation. I’ve spent all day on a mountain bike climbing the tallest bikeable mountain I could find in VA to witness a beautiful sun setting over the top of a valley and two other visible mountain ranges. A whiff of the spring air smells of flowers blooming and summers approach. A cool breeze was blowing as we watched the sun turn it’s watchful eye in the sky over to the moon. We finished off the last of the food we had with us while mentally reflecting upon all of the things that happened and how hard we worked that day to get up to this summit. All of that hard work seemed like such a minute task to bear witness to the beauty that we were watching. After some star gazing we turned on our helmet & handle bar lights and proceeded to bomb down a very sweet, very technical rocky downhill section that had a high risk factor during the day and a slightly insane risk factor in the dark of night. Our lights guided us back to the vehicle and while both of us had witnessed something very cool we were both to bold as men to discuss touchy feely things. When Monday came around and I was buried in the 9 to 5 hassle of deadlines and quality of service calls and my mind was getting picked and brain f#$ked from every angle a quick and small muscle cramp in my leg reminded me of my Sunday mountain adventure. Just as my “Monday at the office” was just another mindless day of the 2nd quarter in business land, my epic and beautiful day in the mountains was just another day in Mother Nature’s book. To me however no 70” HD Plasma TV with even the best 5.1 CH Dolby Surround sound system could ever put a smile on my face quite like earning my way up that mountain to watch the sunset and earn my way back down. 80% of Americans are a part of the overall ever growing and prospering machine that is the American life. We use, and sit and watch and take, take, take then rationalize our self indulgent stance as the good of the Nation. While I don’t recommend we all quit our jobs and become dirty hippies living in the woods, I do recommend that you turn off your cell phone, forget about who will get voted off the island or Idol this week and take your kids, wives, husbands, fathers, mothers and other kids (with the appropriate parents permission of course) out somewhere to experience something that money can’t buy. Something that only Mother Nature can show you, something that gives you a b!tch slap right across the face to remind you of how small your part in this Earth is but yet remind you of how big of an impact that your actions have on this planet. I personally recommend that you absorb 300% of your recommended daily intake of that “something.”
So I guess one of the bigger things that recreation has taught me is to take a look around at what we have on a grand scale and not take it for granted.
Peace,
Metro