Biking

I have only recently gotten into the bicycle thing. My bike is cheap, my helmet is good, my ipod has a cracked screen, and my bottle cage is duct taped to my bike. It's not a professional set up. as a matter of fact I don't know that I would call it an amateur set up.

Despite this I am quite fond of my bike. Once plastered with random "mongoose" stickers which I removed. and a unruly at best gear mechanism (we'll just call it that for now, I know that's not what it's called bike people) I got the bike on a whim for its price (Wally world special) and the fact that it had a full suspension that I knew would be fun for a rather large, steep, and rocky hill at Kids Camp.

Since I got it I already want a decent road bike, something that can seriously move. But until I save the money to get one it'll be me and the silver wonder.

I had a light bulb moment today. Riding the bike to church for the Bike Run (haha, irony) I can make it to church in around 15-20 min depending on how casual I'm feeling (usually more casual on the way home)

Pulling into the church I can feel my legs, they are telling me "When you get of this bike we are gonna have a good long talk" but they keep trucking just the same. My heart likewise is telling me that as soon as we are done it's got a mind to jump out of my throat and punch me in the face... but on it pumps.

And then I get off...

You can't sit down after something like that, the body is shocked, it can be dangerous... and chances are you will not be able to stand for some time. so there I am, finishing off my water bottle, bent half over having that conversation with my legs. The thought "I had a perfectly good car at home I could have DROVE" did not hesitate to cross my mind.

But the fact is that I never once think that when I am ON the bike. No matter how much my legs burn, how hot the air in front of me is, I never think about the fact that I didn't have to ride. I just aim to get to the next space ahead of me, where ever that space leads.


Now for the spiritual moment:

The real pain comes when you get off and the body has time to remind you exactly how much it just worked. The muscles have been stretched and worked and changed. Standing there afterward you are no longer working the muscle, but it has not stopped telling you there is a change taking place. And whats more sitting down right off the bike could potentially harm that change.

Kinda like spiritual change some times.

We often go threw change, revival, revelation. Never thinking about how hard it is, how much work is being done. But once we "Get off the bike" we are hit with it all and so many times we sit strait down and don't let that change take a permanent hold on our lives. It's the hardest part of a serious work out, like a runner who takes that one last walk around the track after running for a mile. You don't WANT to, the feelings you are suddenly faced with all seem to point to the "Go sit your butt down" option.

So, how many times have you "Sat down" and later on when you tried to get back up you realized sitting down so fast was not a good idea?