the tao of cycling: angels

Friday, July 3, 2009

angels

my first ride on my first roadbike gave me the opportunity to meet an angel.
he was dark skinned and wingless, wore biking gear, and changed my flat tire for me.
I had left home on my brand new bike without a spare tube, pump, or air cartridge, and of course, I hit a rock on my descent that punctured my rear tube and forced me to a dead stop.

this is embarrassment: to be biking, get a flat tire, and not have the proper gear necessary to fix the darn thing.

I apologized up and down as this dark angel gave me his spare tube, changed out the old one for me, and used his air cartridge to inflate the tire again.
he graciously shrugged off my thanks, and headed off up the hill, and I have never seen this man again.

today I met 3 more angels. this time I at least asked their names, so I can be a little more specific when asking the universe to assign extra karma points.
rick donated a tube, a cartridge, and emotional support to my cause, while jed and greg came through with a ride and some great conversation.
and all I could think of is thank you God, for sending me more perfect angels exactly when I needed them.
I don't know how to express my gratitude and wonder at how well taken care of I was today as my rear tire blew two holes, my spare tube turned out to be hole-y, and my carefully-patched-together tire (with 2 dollar bills performing the role of "boot" in said tire) finally sported a third hole which caused me to come to a literal and figurative screeching halt.

the details of my ride are overwhelmed by the existence of the karmic help floating around today, and what really matters is only the amazing willingness of strangers to help a stranded cyclist. this is what is true: we are most fulfilled when we give, and thus it is a gift to someone when we allow them to be of service to us.

we are alone only when we allow our minds to tell us so.

I gifted 3 kind and generous souls today, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude and a desire for their paths to somehow be made easier by some other souls as they continue on their journeys. I can't possibly know their needs, but I can at least offer up the hopes that rick has a great rest of the weekend with his daughter and family, that jed's car's air conditioning system returns to complete health, and that greg's first ironman competition is smooth and safe and leaves him with a significant sense of accomplishment and competence.

and thanks to all of my other angels out there ~ who are plentiful and oh so generous ~ those with wings, and those without.

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the Male Ego

The other day I was coming down a canyon in my drop bars (two years ago I would have said, 'what's a drop bar?'), working hard, when I came up on two guys who were also heading downhill but at a more leisurely pace. I passed them, said hello as I did so, and pulled back into the bike lane. a few minutes later they went flying past me, faces looking dead ahead, not a single bit of acknowledgment that I even existed on this planet let alone was involved in and enjoying the same sport they were.
I have to attribute this to the male ego. what else can it be? now I know we all have egos, myself included. and mine even shows its ridiculous little head once in a while, or perhaps more often. but the difference between mine and say, those of certain men on bicycles, is that I KNOW mine exists and I can LAUGH at mine. I know my ego was quite excited to pass those guys, and I could also smile because I knew if the men had really been working like I was, they would have kicked my butt down the hill.
I think I pissed them off.
and I'm sure I will be sharing with you much more of my thoughts about the male ego . . .

a little history

I was married, and I had a mountain bike which I rarely rode. we separated, I moved out, and four months later someone stole my bike. the next spring, 2005, I bought myself a new mountain bike. I rode occasionally, and in april 2006 I rode in my first century, the Cactus Hugger in St. George, Utah. I made it 54 miles on that mountain bike, and it took me about 6 hours. I think that included the rest stops where I prayed that someone would steal my bike again . . .
in june 2006 I started riding my mountain bike five mornings a week, a 45-55 minute loop that was intended to be all about exercise. and what I found was that I loved the quiet, peaceful morning full of bird chatter and barely breaking sunrises. by that fall I was hooked, and began considering the purchase of a road bike. I rode up emigration canyon for the first time that Labor Day of 2006, panting and plowing along on my trusty (heavy) bike, and a month later I was the proud owner of my own road bike: I had become a two-bike girl!
a 17-week-long "power camp" over the winter and a handful of new friends kept bicycling front and center in my life, and when spring of 2007 rolled around I was ready to hit the pavement. I rode my first century the end of april, when I again went to St. George and completed that Cactus Hugger. it took me about 7 hours, but this time I rode the entire 100 miles with about 9300 feet of vertical gain. woo hoo!
I started riding canyons around our area, emigration and millcreek, city creek, big cottonwood, little mountain and big mountain, and once--yes, only once--little cottonwood.
then in september of 2007, I rode from Logan, Utah, to Jackson, Wyoming, in the slightly infamous LOTOJA race. I rode, I did not race. and I completed the thing, crediting my good training buddies, the incredibly perfect weather, my support team, and an amazing convergence of all things positive in the universe.
I put in about 3500 miles last season, and as of today, july 19, 2008, I have about 1700 in, adding to it every day.
I have again signed on to ride the LOTOJA race, and my goal is to have just somewhere near as great a ride as I did last year. oh, and to have someone fun to talk with along the way as I got incredibly bored last year . . . star valley is still a nightmare scene in my biking memories . . .
and here is a picture of the machine that has helped me reclaim my life.