So I decided that I would get back on my bike and join the assault on Mount Evans with some guys from my church. I basically stopped riding 13 years ago so that I could engage with my 3 boys on their journey to manhood. Now that my youngest is “ready” for college, I knew now was my time to once again tackle the hill. I started riding (about five weeks before the ascent) and (was) keeping track of the miles and what food to eat and so on. The problem was that while I was putting on some good miles they were not really the right kind of miles for a ride of 28 miles sustained uphill riding. I realized that what I had done was not working. Deep down in my body was “The Zone”, but I couldn’t find it. I had been like a college kid cramming for a final in a class that he had not been to all semester. Relying on things he had studied in high school and hoping that it would help now. That’s how I felt yesterday. I know that hills are a cyclist’s friend, but I had failed to do enough of them. Actually it was worse than that. I really failed to do something everyday to keep this body that God gave me in shape. Or at least in better shape than I had kept it.

So that got me to pondering about things. Sometimes when I ponder too much I lose track and then rant. Yesterday though, my pondering took me to how do go through life. Do we choose to not do anything that would challenge us? Do we ride, but only on nice hard flat surfaces? Do we wait until everything is just right before we begin? Do we give up when the wind blows? The apostle Paul tells us that life will be difficult when we choose to live it for Jesus. Those years of engaging my boys for their journey taught me a lot about how hard life can be when you want to glorify God with it. The challenges of being a Godly father when society says that men are not necessary are real and hard and are meant to be taken head on everyday. That is the mileage that really counts.

Just my rambles,

Gary