It's all about The Dirt:

This post acts as a combo cycling/life lesson. A two-for-one deal. I’m always amazed how one mountain bike ride can reveal so much about life. That’s why I’m soooo addicted to the mental and physical challenge.

Parts of my biking = parts of my life. I learn and apply…even the crashes.

In mountain biking, most bikers ride on a hardtail (front suspension only) or a full suspension (both wheels have the cush). It’s nice to have a full suspension bike to soften the blow and stop from headbobbing and body jiggling. Plus, then you can also fly over baby skulls (loose, rounded rocks that resemble…I won’t say it again), roots and other things without missing a beat. I’ve ridden on both, and two shocks make me go faster. It softens the blow, yet rides over just about anything. But sometimes it buffers too much and I can get sloppy and careless, just like when I make choices in life…

Focus.

When I ride trails, some have switchbacks: The trail heads in one direction up a mountain, then flips to the other direction so you can climb without going straight up. It can be a nice, easy transition, or it can be a super tight turn. I constantly struggled with these at first, never quite figuring out how to pedal, look, and turn at the same time. It’s almost like patting your tummy and rubbing your head simultaneously…it takes practice. I finally figured it out after about 50 times when someone told me to LOOK AHEAD. Look through the turn and the bike follows. When life takes a sudden turn, look ahead…

Vision.

Sometimes climbing just sucks…wind. Breathing hard, learning to settle myself as my heart pounds in my ears, sweat pours down my face, gravity is cruel, and legs burn. Sound fun? If you master it (and I have yet to feel euphoric at that point), then you rock. One thing I did learn on a steep climb is to shift your weight forward onto the seat, and amazing things happen…my bike moves up the hill. The suffering is less. The conquering is more. The euphoria happens at the top, sipping your water bottle and chewing on goji berries. To lean into my world and be floored at what happens…

Movement.

After a couple of crashes, my bike doesn’t sound great afterwards. Rattling, clanking, scrapes, stickers scratched, gears out of whack or whatever. I know nothing about my bike and how it works, for the most part. It looks cool and I know some parts, but change a tire? That’ll take me an hour. I was cruising along one day and the front of the bike was noisy…and noisier, then really noisy. I stopped to take a look at the tire and it was super loose. Like almost falling off. If I didn’t listen, that would have been a nasty fall. Take a hint in life…

When a situation gets louder and louder, listen.

There are some days in a ride when I feel like I’m on the top of my game. Balance, lungs, smiles, legs cranking, less burping, well hydrated. I’m in a zone and feeling like I can ride forever…then I get cocky. When I feel good, there’s no stopping me, except for a fall. I corner faster, I risk more, I fly down descents, and the adrenaline rush is addicting. The next thing I know, I’m on the ground pinned under a tree, body sprawled, bike tangled around me with a stunned look on my face. What happened? Know your limits…

Balance.

Then there are days of self defeat. It’s not my day, my stomach hurts, ankle feels sticky, lungs burn, snotty nose, focus is blurry, balance is sketchy, and I feel like I’m crawling. Every pedal stroke is a sufferfest and a huge effort to crank out. Where’s my head? Is there anything positive from this ride? Should I just stop, go back and call it a day? Sometimes I do listen to my body occasionally and turn around, but then again, do I need to just get over the hump and feel better on the other side? Usually I push through and let my positive thoughts take over. To stop beating myself up because I’m having a different day. I look around at the beauty, the scenery, the peace, the quiet, take each climb as it comes and I’m back…into the place that gets me somewhere. Get through the tough stuff and accomplish more than you ever thought possible…

Perseverance.

This concludes my gnarly, needed lessons. Bike lessons, life lessons. My lessons, your lessons. Digging deeper and finding treasures.

Man, that’d be so cool to be carrying The Dirt of Genghis Khan! He was the “supreme conqueror” who united the Mongol tribes and forged a huge empire. Ole Solomon was a king of Israel who was a very wise man; a sage. Then nebuchadnezzar was the largest type of wine bottle, holding about 15 liters. Wait, wrong one…Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia, who conquered Jerusalem and did some other nasty things, but eventually came around.

What do these guys have in common?
They are all under the fingernails and stuck to the bottom of Pig-Pen’s shoes!!

Really and truly, what I get from it: Thinking BIG. No matter what their objective was, they saw beyond their little scope of life. These guys thought they were larger than life, feisty and go-getters. Doers. Real life action figures…not some pliable Stretch Armstrong. Maybe they weren’t the most noble of characters all around, but their strength was shown in numbers, words and ultimately character.

The “bits of dirt and dust of far-off lands” blows on us too. We carry the seeds of our ancestors, the roots of different cultures and the dirt from comic strip characters. We sprout from the flowing patterns, love and simplicity of our history. We dig and feel the dark pain from past bereavements and the sorrow from family secrets buried beneath, yet we rise to the occasion to pick up our heads and forge on…

How?
The inspiration is in The Dirt: We are what we Do, Eat and Think.

Let’s till our grounds and see what we find. Stir it up. Not just yours, but I will find plenty in mine. This is such a life lesson for me as it will be for you. Just as dirt yields crops, it also brings up huge chunks from deep within the earth. I want to think more like Charlie Brown and be that person who sees more of the positive amidst Pig-Pen’s cloud of dust. To look beyond the exterior and dig deep. To “stagger the imagination”. To feed the mind, body and soul from a larger scope.

Grab your shovel, take a bite and open your heart…let’s go!