Appreciate Smooth Road When You Have It ~ be grateful for the bumps as well - that's where the learning is

This afternoon I headed out for what was supposed to be an hour long ride. I was looking forward to the ride because there was very little wind (unusual for central Illinois afternoons), low humidity, and pleasant temperatures. For my weekday rides, I usually head east on a country road. There isn't a lot of traffic, although it does tend to pick up during the after work hour.

It didn't take long to realize this ride was not going as I had expected. There was a nice layer of fresh chip rock on the pavement. For those of you who have not attempted to ride a bike on that, it is a bit like riding on marbles. I was tempted to scrap the ride altogether. I had been looking forward to a nice quick little ride - not much wind, plenty of opportunity to ride fast.

I decided to stick with the ride and turn it into an hour long bike handling skills ride. I rode 30 minutes out. I knew it wouldn't be any faster riding back into town because of the chip rock. It certainly couldn't be any worse, could it? After all, I was getting accustomed to handling the bike in the deep gravel.

Well, the answer is that it could get worse. Hello, headwind. Not a strong wind, but when added with the already difficult to navigate road conditions, I found my legs getting quite tired. It couldn't get worse than this, could it?

Of course, you know the answer. Yes, it could. The post-work traffic had begun to pick up since it was now 4:30 PM. That meant that cars were headed home. They, in fact, were in a hurry to get home and not at all concerned about flying by me going the opposite direction. This meant rocks were flying right at me. I got pelted on my shoulders and took a couple of good zingers to the chest. Quite a few of the rocks bounced off my helmet and sunglasses, so I was glad to have those areas protected. And I was soon covered with dust from head to toe. It couldn't get worse than this, could it?

Tell that to the bird. I heard a squawking overhead - quite loud, in fact. And then I felt a hard blow to the top of my helmet. It took a minute for me to realize what was happening. The bird was actually dive-bombing me. Now I had to handle the bike on the chip rock, into the wind, pelted by rocks from passing cars and try to stay upright while the angry bird tried to take me out. He took 3 more dive-bomb attempts before moving onto more exciting prey.

I eventually made it back to my car. I came away with a renewed appreciation for smooth road to ride on and an equal appreciation for the bumps. The learning happens as a result of the bumps. The times when the ride, or life, isn't going as smoothly as expected, may well be the time when you learn the most about riding, or about life.