My Husband's Gonna Love This Post

Which means it is about one of two things... and sorry to disappoint you, but it's about cycling.

Lately, in my rebellion against running, and my desire to keep up the metabolism, I have taken to riding my bike. It's a lot easier on my body than running, so I can stay at it longer (keeping the benefits of the run). And it just so happens that I married a man who knows a lot about cycling. (For example, those who ride the 2-wheeled machines without motors are "cyclists," not bikers.)

I call him "Coach" because he can be a different guy when he talks about riding. But I'm starting to get it. He laughs at me when I complain about motorists not following the laws. 

He's been trying to teach me other things too, about how to get the most out of a ride. The outcome of your ride can depend greatly on the gear in which you ride. Until recently, I never switched gears. (Shh. Don't tell Jeremy.)

Another factor, though, that affects your ride is the weather. This one is interesting, because you have no control over it. You can only react to it. The biggest factor when riding? 

The wind.

When you ride your bike, your 1** lb. body is suspended on a machine that probably weighs less than one-tenth your own body weight. And the only parts of that machine that are touching the ground are on either side of you, not directly under you. There's a lot of room for the wind to play around in.

Switching gears back to gear switching. (he he!) I have noticed there are two kinds of riders. I call them the pushers and the spinners: 

1. Pushers ride with a smaller gear. It requires more effort - you need to add more work to go, but you get a stronger output, and therefore, go faster.  I like that. I'm a pusher.

2. Spinners use a bigger gear and let the bike do most of the work. You don't have to do much, and the bike will still go. But since the bike doesn't have the muscles you do, you don't go as fast. My husband encourages me to "spin" more, because it's a better aerobic workout. But I don't like doing work that gets me nowhere.

Now, combine what we just talked about - gears and wind. Although I try to avoid riding on windy days, one day the other week, I had no choice. I picked the LEAST windy day of the week, but still had to deal with about 11 mph wind and gusts. Pushing into the wind is hard, and there are times that it feels like the wind might push you backwards. And since it is already hard to push on a small gear, you might be tempted to switch to a bigger, easier gear to make  it easier to pedal.

But, if you try to go up to an easier gear, you are more susceptible to the forces around you. The bike isn't heavy enough to fight the wind for you. The more reliance you put on your bike (in that easy gear), the more the bike will decide to go with the wind, the less control you have. You are really going to wind up being tossed in the direction the wind puts you.

Your life is the bike. The wind is the forces around you. Like it or not, it's a windy day. You have thrown yourself into the forces around you, which are other people. You have a choice. You can put yourself in an easy gear and go with the flow of the people around you, letting them decide where you should go and what your path will be, or you can fight it in a smaller gear. You can take control and go where you choose to go. It's hard. But the more you do it, the more muscle you build and the easier it will come.

We have no control over the wind or the windbags. But when we put the effort into it, we can choose what's right for us.

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