Between the Spokes (A Cycling Experience): Back into Gear

Hello to my two faithful followers!

Today marks the first day of my return to cycling. It's been a while but well... it was like riding a bike. Literally. (Thanks for humoring me with the laugh.) Today I rode a whopping 23.6mi through route 8 in northern Kentucky. It's a great road to ride, not much traffic, decent amount of shade, and enough hills to keep things interesting. There are plenty of other riders out there but not enough to interfere with your ride.

I am not going to lie, I almost didn't go on the ride today. There were more times than I can count this year when I said to myself "Naomi, it is time to get back on that bike and start cycling regularly again!" and every time, there was some excuse. I have to clean my apartment. I woke up too late. I had a big dinner. I'm tired. I'll do it tomorrow. The truth of the matter is, excuses are easy. But you don't get anywhere by doing what's easy. In life, in relationships, or in cycling. If you can push yourself through that first mile, you'll start to settle into the flow of the ride. That's when it starts to become fun and you'll realize why you pushed yourself out of bed in the first place.

Life is never going to be easy. Every time you think it is, there comes the next climb. Most of the time you will consider, at least for a second, getting off and walking it. But then you're on the climb and you start to push and your legs start to scream back but you keep pushing and you finally reach the crest panting and feeling completely empty and 100% satisfied and accomplished. We have all decided to walk a climb before, whether at your job, in your personal life, or on your bike. It's easy, like deciding to skip the ride to begin with. Each time you stay on the bike though, it makes you a little bit stronger and a little bit more persistent. Then at the end of the ride you can slide off your bike onto the pavement and know the ride was worth the effort you made to not make excuses and get out there in the first place. Nothing is quite as satisfying as succeeding by sheer will power and perseverance.

It's like Will Smith says. Running (and cycling) teach you to push past the little man in your head who says you can't do it. There will always be people in your life who don't believe in you and tell you you can't achieve something. If you can defeat the person inside you telling you you can't, you can defeat all the people around you saying the same thing.

So I guess today's lesson is don't make excuses. Don't take the easy route. Face the climbs head on because when you get to the top, it is always worth it.