Life is a funny thing, I think we often take a lot of things
for granted. People seem to value monetary items and wealth over wellness and
experiences.
Sometimes it’s the little things that we over look so often
that are things that are the most valuable and precious. Simple pleasures I guess
you could call them.My simple pleasure… one of the things I value the most (aside from my family and friends of course) is the ability to ride a bike.
Now I know this is something that may sound pretty horrific to some… the
thought of exertion, getting hot and sweaty and grinding away in a mixture of
pain and lycra clad horrificness ( I can imagine some of you reading this are
smiling and nodding away reading this)… sounds pretty off putting right???
Well wrong…. To me riding a bike is a lot like life… and I
think it’s a pretty good metaphor. (*disclaimer… this post is not attempting to
convert any non cyclists into buying a bike and slapping on some lycra, but if
it makes you feel a little tingly and slightly curious, I take no
responsibility…. Just run with it and smile!!)
Anyway.. so what am I on about in terms of talking about
life and bikes… have I changed the focus of this blog away from my cancer journey?
I may hear you ask yourself… the short answer is NO….
Keep reading, I know you want to ;-)
Riding a bike is as close to flying as I thing you can get whist
not having wings…. There is a freedom about getting out, feeling the wind in
your face, your heart beating and having a smile on your face… hey isn’t this
something we all want to achieve in life… freedom and enjoyment???
Life brings us happieness, choices, freedom, and new experiences…
it also brings us change, unpredictability, challenges, fear, and at times can
take us all to really shitty places we would rather not be in.Riding a bike is pretty much the same.. As you know I have talked about riding the 50km Karapoti Mountain bike race which was in March… this race is not just any race…. I guess its tag line of “more than just a race” stands true.
For me Karapoti is a good summary of my life since I got
diagnosed…. A mixture of hard work, incredibly steep (never ending) up hills,
some places where I felt I just wanted to give up, lots of physically and
mentally challenging bits, a fear of ‘what next, what could go wrong’, a few places
where I got wet feet, an ongoing need to keep pushing myself no matter what,
followed by an overall reward of some down hill and the finish line (Hmm that
description actually makes it sound somewhat manageable… not sure if I’m
talking about my journey or the race!).
I finished Karapoti…. I don’t care what time I did, I don’t care
I was second to last, or that I rode most of the way with the tail end charlies
(these guys were funny and great company), I don’t care that I yelled/ swore at
the woman at one of the second to last aid station who asked if I wanted to
give up and get a ride back in the 4WD (like hell was my answer… ummm ok, I may
have used another word)…. But I had come far too far to give up just because
someone thought I was struggling… struggling isn’t a reason to give up, if
anything it a reason to keep moving forward… which I did. Two rules for myself…
I wasn’t not allowed to sit or lie down (until the finish line), or go
backwards… I had to keep going forward no matter what. What I care about the
most is that I finished. I didn’t give up, and I crossed that finish line with
my family and friends there to cheer me on…. Just like when I completed my
cancer treatment… surrounded by people who invested as much time and trust into
me as I did with them. Just like finishing treatment, at the end there was a
few tears, not of fear or of pure tiredness, but of joy and completion, these
were however masked come race day as having a lot of ‘sweat’ pouring out of a
few eyes ;-) it was a very ‘sweaty’ finish line!
Karapoti (and riding a bike) affords the same amount of respect
as life, there are always going to be ‘hick ups’ in life (and races) that show
us down, may they be flat tires, broken bike bits, illnesses, unwanted changes…
the list goes on. Life is full of changes, very few people will go through life
on their initial “plan A” path, things changes, events occur … we fall in love, we fall out of love, we discover new
interests, we experience life changing events; the same goes for riding a bike…
we may set out to ride to one place, but there are always new paths and
adventures along the way that will often make us stop, pick some blackberries,
pat a horse, watch a waterfall, or just forget the original plan and keep
riding with a smile on your face.
I guess one thing that I have discovered since this journey began… is that no matter what path you start off on, being prepared to change course and just go along for the ride, who know where you will end up.
Until next time… keep riding
RAG x x x
