In Between the Wheels for 30 Days

This month, I’ve thrown my activities into joining several thousand (!) others in doing the 30 Days of Biking Challenge. The goal is ismply to get on the bicycle each day for 30 days. For me, I thought this would be a pretty doable proposition – with any exception of spring rains. Well, Its been nine days of the month, and I’ve ridden five. Can’t make up days, but I can make better efforts.

Adding to the challenge of riding is that I’m also jumping into doing this with Loving the Bike – a global community of cyclists who pretty much just enjoy the activity of getting in between the wheels. There are beginners, athletes, and every once in a while someone famous to the bicycling community stops through. Its an interesting group, and one of whom I’ve grown to appreciate their insights at the weekly Twitter chat #bikcschool.

With the Loving the Bike edition of things, there’s some collecting of your ride data for points and a prize. Initially, I was doing this with just the emails that I’d send in after I rode, but after a bit of a reset, I’ve had to revisit how I’m logging this.

Oh yea, the reset. Like I said earlier, I’ve not ridden all of the days of April. I sufferered a broken valve stem (the core part that keeps the air in the tire) on Day 4 and didn’t have the funds to get a new tube. things have been very tight this month with MMM, and so I had to just sit still and wait a while. And let me tell you, once you get on a roll riding, its like a bad case of withdrawal for you to stop – for any reason.

I eventually got the ability to get that fixed and as of today I’m back on the road. Aside from the headwind, it was really a nice day to get out and ride. I needed it – and perhaps a few others around me.

What do I hope to get out of this 30 Days challenge? Well, to be honest, initially it was just something to add a bit of variety to my day. But, that pause set things in a bit of different focus. I’ve been in the midst of several decisions over the past weeks, along with looking for some work to help with the expenses. You can lose sight of what matters when you are fighting to make sure that gas stays in the tank and a roof stays over your head. Riding was an escape from that, not a push to go forward. After addressing the inner tube on Saturday, I left Sunday alone from riding (despite the holiday and visiting) to think about how I would go forward if biking would be a part of that. I settled on (a) logging things better, and (b) being less afraid to tackle the challenge of living in this city with a intent towards biking.

The log is simpler than whatever I was doing before. A Google Docs spreadsheet, a few formulas, and some attention to whatever the URL is that I’m posting pictures to – its simple and works. The aspect of being courageous towards riding and life is different. Its not that zealous energy that I’ve had in times past. It can’t be if its going to last. Its got to be more focused, more intentional, and yielding towards that perspective of life that I have in which others might not. I’ve got to be ok with that, and then go ahead and take hold of it.

How am I doing today? Well, so far so good. But, there’s a number of days to go – let alone a birthday and poetry collection to begin wrapping up. Constantly evolving… focus. Just another gear in between the wheels.