| | I had my first bike accident this week. (Well, technically it's the second - if you count that one where I biffed it in the driveway because my shorts got stuck on the seat when I was trying to get off of it... yeah, NOT my finest moment.) Last month my brother and dad conspired and convinced me to start biking so that we can go on a big ride around Iowa next summer. I've ridden lots of bikes over the past 20 years, but they were the kind that were next to the treadmills and ellipticals and in front of televisions in nice air-conditioned gyms. So getting back on a real, free-standing, movable bicycle has been quite the experience. Extremely wobbly at first... but it came back to me, and now I'm getting faster and more confident... and it's way fun!
My dad and I have taken some rides together, and he's been sharing his vast cycling knowledge with me (which he has gained over the past several months from frequenting the bike shop, reading cycling magazines, and buying every bicycle gadget known to man so that he has the most souped up bike the in world). When he saw how much I slowed down to take corners and turns, he began telling me how he's learning to lean with the curve so that he doesn't have to slow down much.
So I've been working on leaning. And this leads me to the accident... last week I headed out on the bike trail and was determined not to slow down dramatically before the turns, but to lean, and maintain a decent speed. This one particular curve was about a 90 degree angle, and I kept telling myself, "okay, don't slow down, just lean and you'll be fine."
I had great intentions… and as I approached the curve, I braced myself, began to lean, and thought I would make it. But then about halfway through the curve, I just couldn’t do it anymore. It was just so unnatural, and my I was freaking out that I’d fall if I leaned any further. So, since I wouldn’t lean, my bike didn’t turn, and I ended up careening over the edge and down into the ditch. Okay, I’ll admit that part was actually fun, in an adrenaline-junkie sort of way. When I finally came to a stop at the bottom by a tree, I put my feet on solid ground and looked back at where I had come from. I saw a nice man, who apparently had been behind me on the trail, and we had a hilarious conversation, which started when he yelled down to me, “Did I just see what I think I saw? I was riding along, and I thought, ‘Hmmm, it looks like that girl just rode right over the edge.’ And I thought my eyes must be playing tricks on me. But there you are at the bottom.” After I assured him that I was okay, and trekked back up to the trail, he said, “You know, you were going really fast.” That’s right, folks, this man, who looked like an experienced biker, complimented me on my speed. I’m savoring that one.
But back to leaning… I am not sure why it is so difficult for me. It’s just hard to believe that I won’t fall. I hate letting go of that control and trusting that my bike won’t slip out from under me, that I won’t end up lying on the road with scrapes all over me. I think that however I work it out for myself will be better than having to lean and trust that it will be okay. And yet I end up not being so successful doing it my own way.
It’s not just that way when I’m biking. It’s like that in my walk too. It’s just so hard to lean on God. I have this idea that if I can just keep it all together, be aware and alert, even when life is coming at me really fast and a curve is approaching, I can take care of it. But what happens when I don’t lean? Again and again, I end up losing control, heading over the edge, and getting way off the path.
So, in October, I’ll be working on leaning. Both literally and figuratively, both physically and spiritually, both in biking and in walking.
And maybe someday it can be written about me what was written about John, the disciple whom Jesus loved….
…that I leaned against the Lord. |
| | Posted 9/30/2007 3:22 PM - 22 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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