Reason #20 - Rediscovering childhood in grown-up ways

So last summer I pulled out a mountain bike that has been hanging out at my parents house and decided I was going to start riding it around to help me get in shape. What I quickly discovered was riding a bike is a whole new adventure at 30, compared to what it was when I was 10. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that no matter which way I go when I leave my house, I'm heading uphill, or maybe it has something to do with the concept of riding for exercise versus riding to get where I want to go. Maybe it also has to do with the fact that my little 10 year old legs were used to being extremely active, while my 30 year old legs have to look for ways to be active.

Whatever the case may be, when I pulled the bike back out for the first time this year, I decided it was possibly also the last time I'd be riding it this summer. It was almost impossible to ride for half an hour. But finding something hard sometimes does nothing more than ignite a flame of determination in my little soul. And I've realized I can't let this silly two-wheeled contraption bring me down.

My opportunities for riding have come in spurts. It's been a busy couple of months. But I have found that there is nothing that pushes all of life into the background quite like an hour (or so) on my bike. Not because I love every minute of it. But because I am constantly trying to decide how hard I can push myself uphill before giving up and going across, or down. All of my energy is focused on peddling my legs and moving forward just a little bit more.

Sometimes I wonder how exercise can feel so good when it's just a condensed version of what we do in everyday life. Sometimes just getting out of bed feels a lot like cranking my pedals that last 4 times to get to the crest of the hill, and it doesn't seem worth it to get there because it's not very comfortable. And occasionally I feel like no matter how low I set my gears, it's just too hard to keep pushing forward. But then... I finally get to the end of a journey, and I get to coast down to the end, and look back up the hill and appreciate how high I climbed. And it's exhilarating to know I survived. I made it through one more ride.