Jill in Alaska

Jill up in Alaska writes one of my favorite blogs. Jill rides a lot, and she rides a lot in REALLY horrible conditions!

Definitely worth a regular check - Up in Alaska Blog

Little did I know…

I have always had an inner pull towards the dirty side of cycling…that was apparent when I was 13, out on my 1983 Nishiki 12 speed’s maiden voyage and I hucked a woopdy-do resulting in a bent rear rim…ooops!!!

Three years ago I was introduced to what has grown to a slight obsession. (OK OK…for anyone who has tried to have a conversation with me about ANYTHING besides mtbikng knows d@mn well I am COMPLETELY obsessed!!…but let’s move on about why!!!)

I was getting my life back in order (after what I would like to call one of life’s unfortunate detours)…I joined a gym, hired a trainer, started running & lifting weights. I had heard many stories about this place called Oleta. It had dirt, little hills, roots, rocks and something known as “singletrack”. Everyone who had been there always had a huge smile when they talked about it. A client of mine would come in for pedicures with her mtbike shoes on…the one with clips on them so she would tip-tip-tip all the way to my chair. She had mud on her shins, spots on her face, her hair was mussed, and stories of escape! I wanted to experience that freedom…I would in time. So I took my 1994 Diamond Back rigid mtb (a little boys model) in for a tune up…I was gonna be a “mountainbiker” !!!

…little did I know that escape was going to become a passion!

Somewhere between breakfast and dinner my good karma cashed in (with a little help from a friend) and I met “him”. He borrowed a bike, some of those clippie shoes and told me to follow…and follow I did. We rode as fast as we could (ok…so I had some fitness to work on) but I think I impressed him a bit! Apparently I passed the pavement ride with gold stars so off to that “singletrack” I had yearned to see.

This ride started off slow…I think I actually closed my eyes a few times. Somehow I made it over the first drop (not very gracefully I am sure) but failed the little climb littered with roots. My guide would holler out “PEDAL HARDER” in hopes I would make the next little hill….whew!!! Barely, but I did! He would stop and give me tips, yell out words of encouragement, constantly ask “are you having fun?” as if the grin on my face was not explicit enough!!! As the ride developed the speed accelerated…the risked increased…and the ego bloated! I was a mountain biker…hehe

He tried to warn me…”after the next little hill you have to swerve blah left blah blah then blah blah blah” I thought I was invincible, a natural, this trail is MINE!!! Hahahahaha…splat!!! I flew to the right…the bike to the left…and boulder (yeah! Boulder as in rock) in between. My guide, shocked and scared, ran to see if I was OK. HA! Of course! What is a little scrape? I popped up and swung my leg over the bike and wanted nothing more than to pedal farther down this “singletrack” to see what else it had in store for me!!! I think it was that very moment I had truly won that guides heart…

That night, tired, bruised, in pain and still grinning, I knew I would be visiting that “singletrack” again and again and again! A new passion was sparked in me…I found a sense of escape, freedom and challenge. Something that no matter how long I pounded away at it I wanted more, something that would bring me to tears but I couldn’t stop, something causes suffering and pain but I longed to endure…I wanted to pedal farther and farther and farther!!!

And pedal I do…I get cranky (pun not intended but made me giggle) when I can’t ride. I ride a roadie now too…have a commute/touring bike, as well as a unicycle (I hope to actually ride one day). I have had many hobbies and “things I like to do” but nothing seems to keep me as happy as simply riding my bike.

Thank you my Love for guiding me and continuing to ride along with me on this wonderful adventure…

Laurie

Something Special About The Road

Three years ago you couldn’t have paid me to ride a road bike. “I don’t like riding with cars, I don’t feel safe, I would get REALLY hurt if I fell,” I would say. My husband (Kris) would say,“You go downhill mountain biking at Killington - you’re chances of getting injured are much greater on the trail than on the road.” And of course there are statistics to back up his point. Nevertheless, I had no interest. Welll…I wouldn’t say I had NO interest, but I didn’t have enough interest to justify spending money on something I might not like.

Hubby knew me well enough to know that it was more about me being cheap than anything else. He saw how jazzed I was mountain biking - downhilling, cross country single track or simple fire roads and furthermore, I couldn’t get enough of spinning class. Kris knew cycling was in my blood and it was just a matter of time before I’d answer the call from the road. So…he devised a plan.

Kris and his parents jointly bought me a road bike for Christmas. They gave me a Bianchi Volpe in October, as late December in New England isn’t the best season for road biking. And even though some of the funds came out of our joint checking account, I didn’t complain. I was thrilled; but extrememely nervous - about cars, pace lines, not being able to clip out fast enough at an intersection…did I mention cars?

I vowed to only ride by myself. Again, pace line fear, didn’t want to hold others back, didn’t want to feel pressured. Also, I had a baby at home and it was nice to have true “alone” time. That fall, I got used to the bike and to being on the road instead of the trail and treasured the time by myself.

Winter in New England came quickly. When our daughter went to bed, we headed to the basement to pedal on trainers and watch reruns of Seinfeld. On rare temperate days I’d venture out on the road for 12-15 miles and needless to say, I didn’t get hit by a car (knock on wood!!) or get stuck in my pedals and tip over as I had so feared. Instead I nurtured my growing connection to the road and anxiously awaited the spring thaw.

About a year and a half later, I decided to ditch work one day and attempt my longest ride ever. To that point I had never ridden more than 35 miles, so I set my sites on 50 miles. I did it and was thoroughly impressed with myself. Kris was too, and he was so proud that I had called in to work to ride my bike!

Not long after that, we decided to leave behind long commutes and long winters and head south. In Asheville, we are immersed in a cycling lifestyle; partially because hubby left his sedentary computer tech job behind and pursued his dream of working in a bike shop. But there are other factors at play. In my previous life I left my home in suburbia at 6am to get to my desk by 7am where I stayed until 4pm before getting back in my car for the second hour of the day. Now I live a 5K away so when possible, I bike commute to work. There are far more cyclists in Asheville than in metrowest Boston and plenty of girls that are into the sport too. We got a Burley trailer for Greta who LOVES mountain biking with mommy and daddy at Bent Creek and thinks she is too cool for school when daddy brings her to day care in the Burley. Cycling is definately a lifestyle for our family these days.

And for me, the biggest factor that has kept me engaged over the last year is the female contingent here. In fact, it’s what got me to where I am today, which is literally the 62 mile mark. With two girl pals I completed my first metric century; and not any ol’ metric, but the Hilly Hellacious!

Stretches were tough and I’’m tired for sure but I never once thought “why am I doing this?” Instead I rode in a pace line and thought, there’s something special about the road.

Happy in Nature

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.  Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.   The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy while cares drop off like autumn leaves.” -John Muir

Not so long ago, maybe it has been about fifteen years now, I started to open myself up to my surroundings and know a feeling of happiness that was like nothing I have ever experienced before.  I grew up in rural Pennsylvania with nature all around me and sometimes the only friends to be made were the flora and fauna that surrounded me. I couldn’t avoid them, so I learned their names and cured my lingering loneliness with the help of my newfound friends.  I was fortunate in this respect because I formed an intimate relationship with nature, the greatest friend and best psychologist anyone could ask for.  What a feeling, to be in constant amazement and awe every single day at what to others may seem like the simplest of things.  The miracle of a flower, a rainstorm, a spider, and a tree, of the glittering stars above unobstructed by man-made light: of the mysterious sounds of the night.  Of all the sights, sounds, and smells of my forest.  I would lie down and listen to the spring peepers for hours and just surrender, accepting their invitation to a very peaceful and joyful place.  I stepped beyond experience alone and found the needs of my soul this way.  I have pondered my role in nature and feel good about any conclusions I have come upon.  I let my friends speak to me.  My feelings of interconnectness are the grandest things in my life and have shown me a happiness that exceeds all others.  One truth I seem to have found is that we have always been far more a part of the mystery of the world than our fearful egos can tolerate knowing.

I was reading the article on happiness on this website and it seemed like common sense to me.   Physical people are happier, but then I hike or jog or ride my bike nearly every day and so do most of the people I see day in and day out.  I am surrounded by a bunch of physically active folks and they all seem pretty happy pretty much all of the time.  One difference I noted is that for me and many of my companions, being active goes to another level of not just being active but being active in the out of doors.  I’m active outside, with my friend nature and through my activities I am able to reconnect myself to my planet and find happiness and inspiration on a daily basis.  To be honest, I feel like I know a happiness that some people may have never fathomed.  A more ecstatic happiness, if you will, and one that is rooted in my relationship with my world.  So I pose the question, am I happier than most folks?  I think I am, but then who am I to judge the depth of another’s happiness?  I do know that I have friends who use to play with me in the realm of ecstatic happiness, who in their adulthood have been swept away from it by their corporate jobs, their families, their city environments, or plain and simple rough times like divorce.  In our youth there was always time for a hike or ride and more than that, to just be in our surroundings in love with everything.  I am so fortunate that my work revolves around biking.  Having a lifestyle that revolves around owning and operating a bike shop has many benefits, like always being able to stay active.  It is the lifestyle my husband made possible for us and he can feel good about having an important role in protecting the environment through bicycle advocacy. It’s no wonder I am so flippen happy.   Many of our old friends busy lives don’t leave time for biking or hiking anymore moreover any advocacy for things close to the soul.  As a result, that connection they once knew gets put on the back burner way to long.  An occasional weekend get away just doesn’t cut it anymore because it just allows only a glimpse into the connection they once knew and leaves them wanting more.  I wonder if somehow they were able to take a hike every evening and made a point of it, they might find it somehow therapeutic, moreover inspiring.  Perhaps that one mountain bike ride a week would rekindle an old love affair.

I believe physical activity greatly increases your senses and could serve as a reintroduction to an old friend.  Imagine Getting out on the trail on your mountain bike.  Hurting atfirst, but letting go after the lactic acid burns away.  Realizing that you are indeed strong and that your legs still work pretty damn good.  Imagine climbing steep single track and getting over a few obstacles successfully.  You begin to descend and you are flying through rhododendron tunnels, gliding over streams just filled with magnificent energy.  You are on a mountaintop overlooking the valleys below, rhodendron in full bloom, pure beautiful color.  Your in a pine forest, soft trail beneath you, riding by a waterfall, a rock formation, hey there is a spiderwort, an Indian pipe, a boxer turtle.  Hello old friends!  I love this!  Physical activity like some drug opening closed doorways and you embrace your beautiful planet in a moment of ecstatic happiness.  The connection you feel be it through biking, jogging, paddling… takes you to that level of happiness that you got to know so well on those quiet contemplative days of discovery under an old oak tree that was your special place growing up.  A sacred place.  Maybe you never had such an enriching feeling of ecstasy and want to give it a shot.  Everyone should step beyond the outer limits of existence and embrace them.  As Socrates said; “an unexamined life is not worth living.”  Maybe our modern day bouts with anxiety and depression are  rooted in the separation we have created between the planet and ourselves.  Perhaps we should be trading in our paxil and Zoloft for a bike or a pair of hiking boots.  It certaily couldn’t hurt, but what if your just not able to fit in in your busy schedule.  Then maybe its time to pose the questions to yourself that you don’t want to face.  What is my job doing for me other than creating a paycheck?  What is more important, the things my television shows and commercials and magazines tell me I need.  Maybe what I actually need is free of cost.  Maybe I don’t need to work so much and then I can make time to be outside and to do the things that really mater to me.  Scary? Yes unfortunately for some it is but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.   Like the survey says, people active in the outdoors rank among the happiest, and what I am suggesting is that the root of that happiness lies within nature itself.  Perhaps human existence and the natural world have a unique unity, which needs to be present in our lives for the sake of our happiness and sanity.  Perhaps we need the aesthetic beauty of the world and that a separation from it may actually cause unnecessary neurosis.  Ecopsychology is an entire field of study on such ideas and many adventurous psychologists are finding huge successes using the environment as therapy.

We need access to wilderness and natural wonders.  We need the companionship of trees nd beasts; we need the reverence we experience in these inhumanly magnificent surroundings.  Worked for me and as far as I can tell I’m just another person not privy to any special secret that someone else doesn’t ave access to.  Give me a pair of hiking boots, a bike to ride, a boat to paddle and I am smiling big.  Give me an intimate moment with nature, and I damn near explode!