Workin' Them Angels

"All my life I've been workin' them angels overtime; riding and driving and living so close to the edge." Those lyrics kept running through my head last night while I rode with the Boy Scouts along the Jordan River Parkway Trail. I'm not sure why. It could have been that the river was high and close to the edge 9but the nwhy not select "Close to the Edge" as the song?) or that the Scouts were just randomly wandering down the trail, or maybe just that I like the song by Rush. Whatever the reason, it was the soundtrack for the ride.

These Scouts are working on their Bicycling merit badge, and I'm the de facto counsellor for that badge, given my history of biking. So that means I get to take some rides with them, including the 50 miler they're preparing for this Summer. Last night was only a 28 km event. 

There were some good lessons from that ride, however. One was to make sure that the tires are properly inflated. We fixed that quickly before getting into the ride for one person. Another is to make sure that your brakes aren't rubbing before heading out. You may remember a post about upgrading the brakes on my mountain bike. Well, it turns out that I still need some adjustments to get those working correctly. The front wheel is definitely rubbing, and I've not checked the back. I know the adjustments should be simple, but I didn't have the owner's manual with me and I'm not familiar with those brakes yet. So, I rode with a rub. Another lesson was that it is always better to use a road bike for a paved ride. I worked far too hard on that ride, but my road bike was at the office so I grabbed what was available.

I also learned that I need to come up with a good way to teach the concepts of shifting and using the gears to your advantage when working with new riders. I can sit there and tell them when to shift, but that only goes so far when there are six boys learning how to use their gears. I need to come up with a way to help them all to understand that the gears exist to make life easier; to make it so that at any given point they can pedal at an easy cadence without exerting too much effort to push the bike forward. However, I remember when I was their age, the goal on my Schwinn Varsity 10 Speed bike was to start in the hardest gear possible and crank it. Oh, the foibles of youth. How do I help these new riders to see what I've since figured out: that at no time should they feel like they have to stand up and mash the pedals, but that they can use gearing to make life far easier, especially over the course of 80 km, like they'll be doing this summer?

I guess they'll all be workin' them angels this year while they try to figure out efficient cycling techniques, and how to stay out of the way of traffic.

You're the Best

At times we all tell ourselves that we are good at something. Sometimes we even go so far as tell ourselves that we're the best at something. Then we have experiences that cause us to doubt ourselves for thinking such an outlandish thing. I have a friend who recently went through this with her running. I went through this on my ride home tonight.

I was making pretty good time, getting through the lights, and keeping my legs moving. I was feeling like a great biker. Then I thought about the pace and endurance of even the lanterne rouge of the Tour de France and realized that I could not hold his wheel for even 1 km. I would know I was passed by Dave Zabiskie once. He just flew by making me feel like I wasn't moving on my bike. Well, the feeling of being good lasted for a few minutes before reality took over.

Then there was this dude who ran out of gas. He just pulled around the corner, against the light, cutting me off and severely ticking off several drivers behind me. As I yelled to help ensure that he wouldn't do anything more dangerous that he already had, he yelled back telling me that he was out of gas. Well, I still don't think he handled the situation optimally, but I decided that I could go back and offer my help if he needed it. At first I think he was pretty defensive, but I hope that by the time I had offered to lend a hand the third or fourth time, that he realized that I did want to help. He had a buddy nearby that he was going to call, so I wasn't needed. However, I hope that this little act helped put him a little more at ease in a difficult situation. Maybe it was a good thing.

As I said, at times we all tell ourselves that we are good at something. And, maybe in the end, that is what really counts.

Here I Stand and Face the Rain

I was supposed to be at a trailhead in Park City right now. I was to be there with a bunch of Boy Scouts eager -- or at least caused -- to begin a 25 mile (40 km) bike ride for their Bicycling Merit Badge. This was to have come after a night camping near Jordanelle Reservoir. However, I am in front of my computer, in my warm house, listening to my daughter instead. I'm not saying that's bad.

That does, however, mean that I'm also not at 5-mile Pass getting ready for the Intermountain Cup race there today. That is the race I've chosen as my benchmark of fitness for a goal I set some years ago to be in better shape at age 40 than I was at age 30. I try to get to it every year, but have missed the past few years because our ward has had baptisms on the first Saturday of May for those years. This year is no different. I am to conduct the baptism this morning. I was going to miss that for the Scout ride and camp out, but now it's back to re-creating plan A after that was cancelled.

It is amazing how the good things in life can get in the way of biking. And, it's amazing how priorities can determine which one to choose. I was off the bike all week. I don't regret it, either, amazingly. I don't mean to make this a "churchy" post, but my family's involvement with our church is the root of the story. My wife was invited to be a presenter at the Brigham Young University Women's Conference this past week. She did a great job of that! In order to support her in this, I chose to attend her session of the conference, even though I am not (albeit to some people's surprise) a woman. I know, shocking. Well, it turns out men are allowed to attend, particularly if their wife is a presenter. With the preparations for that, I chose to have a car available at home this week, so no biking to work.

Then, even though I had not pre-registered, I could have still gone out to the race today, except I have chosen to volunteer my time at church with some responsibilities. One of those is conducting the baptisms of children turning age 8. Knowing I had committed to that made the decision to forego a bike race easier to make.

So, I guess the bottom line is this: even thought biking is one of the great things in my life, it's far from the only thing, and sometimes I need to keep my priorities in perspective to make wise decisions for my family and my life. Next week I should be back to the commuting again.