Life Lessons I’ve Learned From Riding My Bike
January 1st, 2007
Look to the Future
This may sound obvious or even a bit cliche, but when you’re working hard it’s easy to get fixated on the 15 feet of road in front of you. It’s important to look up frequently to take in the road ahead. If you don’t you’re likely to sail through a stop sign and get a ticket (yes, cops do ticket bike riders for this), or worse.
Changing Gears Takes Time
Stopping stinks. Especially uphill. Nothing is worse than starting out into a swift headwind at an uphill stoplight.
When you stop you have to change gears. On a bike, this means you have to shift into an easier gear before you come to a complete stop; if you stay in a hard gear then it is very difficult to get started again. You’ll end up bearing down with all your weight onto the pedal, grunting and heaving as the cars behind you start to edge up on your back tire. But if you shift into an easier gear before you stop, you’ll be in the right gear to get started again, and you can get back up to speed quickly.
BUT… all of this shifting takes time. You have to shift down, stop, and then shift up to get going again. It can take several minutes to get back up to speed again; longer if you’re already worn out.
In the workplace this is the equivalent of workplace distractions. Answering the phone, responding to pop-ups, and humoring droppers-by are all stoplights – they all create a situation where you have to stop, switch gears, and then start again.
Whenever possible, I try to take a route with as few stoplights as possible. At work, I try to carve out hours of uninterrupted focus time – time that’s just my own.
Communicate
On the road, a bike rider has to let other vehicles (especially cars) know what the plans are. That is, unless you want to get run over. This means signaling your intent before you take an action.
It Hurts So Good
Exercise hurts. Practice hurts. Doing things that are difficult hurts. So do it anyway.
Nothing feels as good as realizing that you’re getting good at something. I recently got on my bike again after several years of being off it. Truly, I have never struggled so much to climb modest little hills like the ones we have here in Texas. But after a few times out I could already feel the difference. I could go faster up the hills with the same amount of effort. My muscles recover faster now. I feel better during the week. The things that I saw as obstacles