Are you afraid? Why? Start living. Pursue dreams. Don’t make excuses. If you fail, get up. Try again. Do better. Be smarter next time. Anything rewarding and real requires effort. No one said it would be easy or 100-percent safe.
Riding a bike has its risks. You might crash. Or suffer hurt feelings after being dropped by faster riders. You could be one of those struck unexpectedly. God forbid, killed. But that same fate could happen in a car. Aboard an airplane. On foot in a crosswalk. Yes, it takes faith to throw a leg over the top tube and “share the road” as the minority mode of bicycle transportation that weighs a fraction of four- and two-wheeled vehicles powered by combustion engines. But sitting on the sofa (if you’re healthy) poses no serious challenge. That’s just a choice. The sofa is no the place to conquer fear, to push your body, to test physical and mental limits. What’s your biggest fear? Don’t let it scare you unnecessarily. Understand it. Address it. Work to solve it.
Last year, I found myself “in difficulty” on the most difficult section of this ride. A ride I first did in 1984 with youthful legs and mind. A ride I didn’t return to again for another 20 years later to re-awaken part of my soul, the part that needs to be taken to the edge. For me, the edge is high atop a mountain that doesn’t care who I am or why I’m there. It’s a place you’ve been, even if you haven’t climbed Alpe d’Huez or Ventoux. If you ride a bike, you’ve experienced your own version of the edge. The edge makes you strong and resilient. More alive than before. Acutely in tune with surroundings and limitations, both perceived and irrelevant. People you may know fear getting to that place. But you’re not one of them. Neither am I. Fear is a funny thing. Be sure to laugh at it (respectfully) if you ever start to doubt what you can achieve on the bike — and in life.
Training ride under blues skies friendly clouds
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