Yesterday I rode out to the other side of town to join a group ride, which is always something I look forward to, with the intention of riding for at least 100 miles. In cycling circles riding a hundred miles is called a Century, like a century is a hundred years. And doing this is considered a turning point in every cyclist’s life.
Riding a century requires a good deal of preparation; it requires a great amount of food, both before the ride, during and especially after; it requires you to be rested; but, it also requires you to have the determination to do it, to keep going even when you are at mile 60 or 70 and are starting to feel your muscles become tired.
Determination is a thing that is required to do anything in life, unfortunately a good deal of people lack it. I know this because I see it in people, and I am able to see it because I too lack determination.
Does this relegate us to never succeeding in life? No! In fact I believe this puts us at an advantage for we know and understand our shortcomings and can then overcome them and be better because of it.
This ride that we are all on, Life, is just like a Century! There are times when you want to give up or you think you can’t go on, but you simply must keep going. If you come to a rise and it is suddenly too difficult you can look at this “hill” as a negative, something to be feared or you can take it as something that will make you stronger.
There is an organized Century ride that happens here in Texas every August, and it is arguably one of the most popular Century rides in the Nation and it annually attracts tens of thousands of people. I, however, have never been attracted to it. Why? I feel it’s too boring, perhaps even too easy! It is completely flat! Why would someone want that?
It’s just like my distaste for an “ordinary” and uneventful life. It might be easier and you might live longer but what monotony! Where is the challenge of the hill-climb or the thirty five mile an hour wind that is blowing straight at you? If there is no challenge then you will never be as strong as you truly could be.
Riding a century requires a good deal of preparation; it requires a great amount of food, both before the ride, during and especially after; it requires you to be rested; but, it also requires you to have the determination to do it, to keep going even when you are at mile 60 or 70 and are starting to feel your muscles become tired.
Determination is a thing that is required to do anything in life, unfortunately a good deal of people lack it. I know this because I see it in people, and I am able to see it because I too lack determination.
Does this relegate us to never succeeding in life? No! In fact I believe this puts us at an advantage for we know and understand our shortcomings and can then overcome them and be better because of it.
This ride that we are all on, Life, is just like a Century! There are times when you want to give up or you think you can’t go on, but you simply must keep going. If you come to a rise and it is suddenly too difficult you can look at this “hill” as a negative, something to be feared or you can take it as something that will make you stronger.
There is an organized Century ride that happens here in Texas every August, and it is arguably one of the most popular Century rides in the Nation and it annually attracts tens of thousands of people. I, however, have never been attracted to it. Why? I feel it’s too boring, perhaps even too easy! It is completely flat! Why would someone want that?
It’s just like my distaste for an “ordinary” and uneventful life. It might be easier and you might live longer but what monotony! Where is the challenge of the hill-climb or the thirty five mile an hour wind that is blowing straight at you? If there is no challenge then you will never be as strong as you truly could be.
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