Cycling, Waves, And A North Wind
March 9th, 2010 | by Conrad Walton |
BIKES ONLY
Because I love my wife, I rode my bike at the beach today. I try to ride twice a week, no matter what the weather is like. I want to grow old with my wife and I think that helps.
Today was tougher than normal. There was a pretty strong North wind. There is normally a slight breeze from the West, off the ocean. Not today.
I have a 6 mile route on the bike path at the beach. 3 miles North and 3 miles South. My goal is to do a mile in 5 minutes, so 6 miles should be 30 minutes.
Going North, with the strong wind blowing right at me, made that part of the ride a struggle. My legs were burning and my heart rate was up. It was cold. It was hard. I was not happy. I considered ways that I could cut short the ride and which excuses would work. Instead of a mile in 5 minutes, it was taking 7 or 8 minutes to go a mile.
Too much work and not enough progress.
I got to my “turn around” point and headed South. Wow. What a difference some wind makes. I was flying South with the wind at my back. I was making a mile in about 4 minutes. I was going almost twice as fast going with the wind compared to against the wind.
Click To Play The Video
This is the middle of Winter. We’ve had some storms recently that have washed the sand from the beaches out to sea. It happens every Winter, then every Spring, the sand gets washed back. There was one patch of beach, one that’s normally 200 feet wide, where the waves were crashing on the rocks. There was no beach at all.
The beach is very seasonal. Big waves, narrow beach, no tourists in the Winter. Smaller waves, wide beach and lots of tourists in the Summer. It’s been like that for as long as I can remember.
Sidenote:
Because I think about things to blog about as I ride my bike, I took a video as I rode by to help me explain what I was I seeing. You can click on the video to watch it. I’m curious what your experience with the video is like and how I can improve it. Feedback welcome.
Part Three:
Surfers have to paddle out through the waves on their surf boards. Then they wait out there, letting smaller waves pass until they see one they can ride. They paddle hard and hope to catch it. If they do catch it, they become one with the wave and ride it as hard as they can.
It’s been described as “euphoric”.
The Moral:
Each of these stories are about tough times coming before good times. Things change. They go up and down, in and out. They “cycle”. A “wave” is a pattern of highs and lows. They get high, then they crash down, and wash back out to sea.
Keep Peddling!
Just like the surfer paddling out before he can catch a wave, just like me riding into the wind before I could ride with it, and just like the beaches that get washed out before getting washed back in, you have some work to do before you get rewarded.
But you will be rewarded.
Keep working. It’s worth it.
The wave is coming. The wind will be at your back. Don’t give up now. The reward is just up ahead.
Keep peddling.
Tags: 30 Minutes, Beaches, Big Waves, Bike Path, Bikes, Burning Heart, Cycling, Headwind, Heart Rate, Legs, Mile Route, Narrow Beach, North Wind, Rocks, Spiritual Terms, Storms, Strong Wind, Struggle, Surf Boards, Surfers, Tourists, Train, Waves, Weather, Wide Beach, Wind At My Back, Wow
Agree completely! I can’t think of anything that isn’t cyclical, and it seems like we can use the downtime to think about what is and isn’t working, and get renewed and re-inspired. In other words, it’s all good! Thanks for the reminder!