Friday, February 13, 2009

How to Ride a Bike

Author's Note: I'm printing an excerpt from my Internship Journal.  I intern for Venture Expeditions in Burnsville, MN, where I do copywriting, editing and PR for the national cross-country cyclotour The Ride Well Tour.  

Sometimes strength isn’t what you do, but how you do it.  

Take professional bike riders, like the guys who do the Tour de France.  They are, spandex leggings and all, amazingly tough.  They climb relentlessly, descend daringly and, sometimes, leave their skin all over the pavement, as a pricey payment for one little wrong move.  The Tour is the greatest test of endurance on the planet.  

But some Tour professionals complain their way through most of the tour, even bordering on neurosis on details as small as the weight of their custom-designed road bicycle.  “My bike is too heavy” “I’m not getting enough help from my teammates” “My bike is too heavy” “I’m tired” “My bike is too heavy” “I hurt all over” “I’m quitting after I’m done” "Who made this bike so #$%^ heavy!"  

The people I really admire in the Tour are unheralded workhorses like “Big George” Hincapie (pictured above with Lance Armstrong) who, for many years, sheltered “stars” like Lance Armstrong from the wind and attacks on the Yellow jersey by other teams. 

This blog is less an ode to the B-team and more a reminder that living isn’t a series of “whats” as much as a choice of “hows”.  

Acting bravely and cheerfully in the face of insurmountable odds isn’t the best way to go about life.  For a Christian, living for the glory and service of the Risen Lord Jesus, it’s the only way.


0 comments: