Faith….on and off the bike
Sometimes you just have to throw it all out there to the Universe and have faith that everything will work out fine….both on and off the bike.
Have you ever ridden your bike into traffic? You know, riding towards oncoming traffic instead of having it come from behind you. I don’t recommend you doing this, but I’ve had situations where it was necessary. When I lived in Austin, I loved doing a ride that took me out West and into the region of Dripping Springs. The way the route was set out made it necessary for me to ride into traffic for just a few meters. I really didn’t like the idea of doing it, but there was really no other way around it (unless I wanted to cross over a busy highway with no intersection).
Although I was only riding this way for less than a minute, seeing those cars coming at me and how close they actually were was quite intense. It was a great perspective on what’s actually going on behind when riding with traffic.
We’re cyclists on our bikes….what goes on around us is pretty much out of our control. If there’s a person driving down the road distracted with their cell phone, a drunk driver who’s opted to get behind the wheel, or a truck that’s lost control…..they could be on that road behind you.
So what can we do? Well, we can continue fighting like hell and keep pushing for safer roads for everyone. We can encourage every one around us to take the pledge of Dropping the Cell phone while on the road. But above all else, we need to have faith. When you get right down to it, that’s all we can really do.
As cyclists, we put our lives in the hands of everyone else sharing the road….whether we like it or not.
On one of my rides last week, my Wife was out in our vehicle and happened to be driving home on the same road (yeah, so Grenada is a super tiny island so that’s bound to happen a lot). When I got home she told me how close the vehicle in front of her came to me while passing…..she could barely stand watching. This was only one car, but I know for a fact that this sort of thing happens to me all the time over here. But I don’t see it….and all I can do is continue having faith in the drivers and vehicles on the road behind me.
You feeling me? Same thing goes for everyday life as well. We do our thing, we journey down our path, and just keep walking with faith that everything is going to be alright. So keep on living life to the fullest….on and off the bike, and let’s keep on making it happen. Faith.
Glad your safe brother! Sounds frightening.
I find myself dreaming of a ride where I do not have to see any vehicles. I’ve had far too many close calls to count and have grown to dislike vehicles very much. I keep riding and I keep the faith, but still dream.
I get a lot of close calls here in Tampa too. Just this morning I was on a norrow street and the person behind me didn’t care to wait two more seconds for the car in the oncomming lane to pass so he decided to pass me without leaving the lane. I sometime want to move to a place where everyone is not in such a big hurry but I don’t know if there is such a place in the U.S. anyway.
I have only been folliowing this blog now for two weeks but really am enjoying it. You have a nice way of making me think about life and also have helped with my cycling also. I plan on taking some time to go over your past articles soon.
During my journey through life, both on and off the bike, I have had the privilege to experience some pretty amazing stuff. Conversely, I’ve been witness to the darkest atrocities of humans. What I discovered about myself was I lived life in a veil of fear. If I am to be totally authentic with myself and the rest of the world, then I have to share it was fear that drove me to follow through with my commitment to ride in last years “Ride the Rockies”. It was a brilliant plan on my part, set up a website, blog and make myself accountable to others…then I would become so afraid of how I would look if I didn’t follow through, that I had no choice but to follow through. The elation of crossing the finish line after a week long bike ride should have lasted longer, there should have also been a feeling of accomplishment, yet I felt empty, and never understood why. I’ve been woking with a life coach, and she enabled me to see that I was literally living my life in a veil of fear, reacting rather than taking action…funny thing, that brilliant plan, turned out to be my calling. You see, through the veil of fear, I couldn’t see that my actions had positive influence, and that positive influence was leading to successes. Nope, I was growing more and more afraid. I was starting to feel overwhelmed and I wanted to abandon everything I had been doing and go crawl into hole and hide. So what does any of this have to do with faith? Fear does not give room for trust and trust is the foundation of faith. I have learned ways to deal with my fear allowing me to be fully present in a given situation through my work with Grace (life coach), giving me a fresh new perspective. As my fears subside I trust myself more with the decisions I make and I have faith in myself which leads me to have faith in others, and not fear an outcome that may never be realized. I guess it’s the long winded way to say, having faith is being able to set aside your fears.
Be well and happy riding…
Well said, Joel. Thanks for sharing your own personal insight and as always I hope you keep on pedalling forward and continuing to be the good man that you are.