3. You don't need the best to have a good time
On one of my travels I happened upon the Porsche store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Being curious to see how the "other half" lives I walked in to snoop around. Not much interested me except a very very cool looking mountain bike. Ten thousand bucks. I laughed to myself thinking if I had that kind of money I would love to take that bad boy on some ups and downs on Mt Tam, the mountain in the county I live in on which mountain biking was born.
But why? Why did it need to be that bike? It could be any other bike. Now let me tell you there is helluva difference between a bike and bike in the world of cycling. You are your bike. When you meet other cyclists the first thing they look at is the thing you're riding on. It says a lot about you. Any know-it-all sees the difference between a bike you bought at Cosco and the titanium machine that cost you an arm and a leg (unless you are the other half, then it doesn't matter.)
But at the same time any bike retailer worthy of our trust is going to be the one who says you should buy the bike on which you will feel comfortable. What your body feels while you are riding will determine if you like cycling or not. Riding a very expensive bike that makes you feel tired quickly is self defeating. Stay with what makes your ride enjoyable, not the thing that makes you look good.
Yet some people just can't make do without the best. The best clothes. The best cars. The best restaurants. The best looking partner. It is as if by having the best it makes them just a little better than everyone else.
But we all know, I would think, that that's not true. You don't need the best restaurant to have a good meal. Brand name clothes are still clothes. A better looking or richer partner doesn't mean you'll have good relationship.
Unfortunately we live in a consumer driven society that grows when we spend. Therefore it is in its best interest to make us think that only the best will do.
Think about it, some of richest experiences you've had in life probably didn't cost much.
BTW, the pic up there is a Porsche bike. Saw it recently for $7500 on ebay.
4. Hairpin turns
There's nothing like going downhill and you come upon a hairpin turn. It's a turn that looks like a hairpin. The curve is short and doesn't leave you much wiggle room before you have trouble.
We are primed to safeguard our physical safety and our eyes immediately look at what might go wrong. After all, that is a 500 foot drop on the other side of the trail. Or a wild patch of poison oak (been there, done that!).
However in cycling through a turn like that you will make it through when you look at where you want to go, not where you don't want to go. When you look down the trail, maybe focus on a tree in the distance, your body will automatically adjust and take you in that direction. If you look at that 500 foot drop, that's exactly where you will go.
As we move through life, we will do much better to focus on where we want to go and not get hung up on fears that will prevent us from going where we want to go. I don't remember who said this but it is a wise statement. "Great achievements come with great risk."
There are those who don't risk intimacy and vulnerability for fear of rejection. Or they don't risk testing themselves in pursuing creative, meaningful work. They keep seeing that 500 foot drop. And that's where they go.
