The Bike Chonicals #2

On the way to town, there is a long tough hill that I have to traverse before I get to a nice stretch of down hill.  It is on road 34 - it is about 2 miles of uphill riding. 

Every day I ride on that road, it looks a little shorter.  It is still a butt kicking ride, but I feel that it kicks my butt a little less every time I ride it.  I love that.  I feel like a king when I get to the top of that hill.  It makes makes the downhill after that seem so much better and I feel like I have earned it. 

When I was looking for the best way to town, there is a way that is more flat and where the hill looks smaller.  It never stops being tempting to take that road instead of that long hill.  I am like everyone else -  it is human nature to always consider the path of least resistance.  Flat and downhill never sounds bad.

The problem is that if you do a lot of downhill the trip back up hill will suck really, really, bad.  And make no mistake, you always have to go back up the hill.  That is one of those hard and fast rules in life.

You see despair in people when they find themselves at the bottom of a couple of long hills and they are contemplating how to get back up the hill.  There is no way around having to move back up the hill.  You can postpone it but that makes its seem more daunting than it really is.
 
Everyone understands the things that are meaningful are at the top of those hills.  Getting to the top does not require any magic or special gifts.  You just got to get on the bike and ride, no magic just pedal the bike.

If I knew how to post pictures on this blog, I would post one of me, sweating through my neon PIG ROAST t-shirt at the top of my hill - the undisputed king of hill 34.  I would want you to have that image when you find yourself looking up at a hill with your name on it.  You will be the undisputed king of a whole lot of hills in your life.  You already know what it feels like to get to the top of one.  I hope you never lose site of that.

You have to be equally careful to not kill yourself riding uphill all the time.  That is as bad as riding downhill all the time. Downhills are the rewards for the up hill climb.  If you don't take time for the downhills and enjoy them, a lot of real joy will be sucked out of your life for no reason at all. 

Joy belongs in your life.

Love Dad.