Sometimes,
usually when I should do something that I don’t feel like doing, the quote “do
1 thing every day that scares you” comes to my mind. Today I had a lot of time
to ponder over this quote as I was doing something scary, so I decided to look
it up. It turns out that I have know it for longer than I thought: since 1999.
It would go to far as to say that it has shaped my life ever since, but on the
other hand, it does usually help in doing scary things. Where scary can be
anything from showing Ian weird data (because how will he react and will he
expect me to know what it means?) to riding a mountain bike trail.
Today was
the mountain bike. I have absolutely no affinity with mountain biking, although
it is on a bike and in the outdoors which are two things I usually enjoy. I
always think it is a waste of the bike (mud, rocks), of the outdoors (ruining
the trail), and of my time (being scared the whole time and not able to enjoy
the bike ride or the scenery). But there is a trail behind the lake house and
Cindy had said I could use her bike. And because tomorrow is run-day, I wanted
to do some form of exercise but not running. I had run some of the trail so I
thought “how bad can it be”. Well, it was pretty bad, but I also had a lot of
fun. I always find it important to be able to have fun all by myself
(another valuable advice from the song/speech: “don’t rely on anyone else”
although it is more meant on the money-front). Whether that is having fun or making
fun at myself doesn’t matter.
I hopped on
the bike that was a perfect fit, found an impressive looking helmet (which is
not required in Michigan, but no way was I letting myself loose on a mountain
bike without a helmet) and a drinking bottle. Off I was. The trail was mostly manageable
for someone with very limited mountain bike experience, but as one guy who I
let pass said “It is treacherous isn’t it”. I will probably be most sore in my
hands from squeezing on the brakes on all downhill sections, so much that a few
times I nearly toppled over from braking so hard and trying to defy gravity.
Uphill I would spin the back tyre in the sand because I was in such a low gear
that I was basically just treading sand instead of climbing up. With each tree
root that made me and the bike bounce I exclaimed “Woooh!!” or “IIEEEEHHHH!”.
I also sort of fell off a few times when things got too steep or I had
overlooked a root. But nothing serious. All in all it was fun and I did get to
enjoy some of the scenery (because I was excruciatingly slow) but
I cut the trail short after around 75% because my hands were getting chafed by
holding on so much to the handlebars and the brakes. When I hit the road for
the last short-cut home I was intensely relieved and kept singing to myself how
nice it was to be on the road.
Nevertheless
I was proud to have done another scary thing. And it was good to look up that
song again that I had on a cassette back then, and refresh my memory. It’s not
a bad song to live by faithfully. Especially the sunscreen.
