Sirius Fun

I enjoy riding my bike. There have been a lot of excuses this year for my slow start to being out on the bike, but the other day I went for my first ride of the season. Sometimes I ride with a group, but this first one was a solo thoughtful journey. It felt great.

This picture is a GPS graphing representation of one of the hills. It is nothing huge, about 200 feet of elevation over about a half mile in both directions. Again, fairly small by New Hampshire standards, but still a bit of a challenge in the Lakes Region. This day it was a slow steady uphill followed by a too short downhill run.

As I approached the top, I passed a fellow rider headed in the other direction. He had completed his climb and was just starting the descent, and the enjoyment was obvious. For a split second, there was a feeling. Anger? Jealousy? Not really either, but somewhere in that range. Then he gave a quick nod a shouted, “Almost there!” Two words and the emotion switched. I felt supported, encouraged and even though I had not yet reached the top, the enjoyment of the downhill began to fill me.

For the remainder of my ride I thought about that unknown interaction and what that can say about life. We all climb hills and we all ride the downhill side. For each of us they are different sizes and take varying amounts of time and struggle. What if we spoke kind words to strangers without having to know what they were going through? Instead of being angry or jealous of someone who has completed a climb, celebrate with them in their downhill. Remembering of course, that our downhill will come in its own time.

You’re almost there! Be well.