Cycling provides great physical exercise, but it’s also a wonderful metaphor for our life journey. Flat stretches, difficult climbs, and exciting descents provide great examples for thinking about the seasons of adversity and joy we all encounter.
As a cyclist, I enjoy following le Tour de France each year. I don’t always understand all of the intricacies of strategy and tactics, but I appreciate the difficulty of riding more than one hundred miles per day for three weeks over some of the highest, steepest mountains in the world.
The other day a rider made a surprising statement during an interview. He explained that the best point to pull away from a competitor is on the steepest, most difficult part of a climb.
At first that seemed counter-intuitive, but his rationale made perfect sense. It’s nearly impossible to get away from the best riders on easier parts of the course because they can probably match any acceleration. Only the steepest climbs can separate the best from the nearly best.
I applied this idea to my own rides. It’s nearly impossible to make much improvement going downhill-gravity already does most of the work. If I really want to decrease my time on a particular route, I have to focus on the uphill sections. That’s where I’m the slowest, and that’s where it’s hardest. That’s where I can really improve my performance.
The easiest time to stand out is when the ride’s the hardest. I thought about that as a principle in many different arenas.
- If you’re doing a project at work, everyone looks good on the easy stuff. You stand out by doing well on something that’s too challenging for others.
- In customer service, anyone can please a satisfied customer. The remarkable person finds a way to work with an angry, difficult customer and convert him into a repeat client.
- As a teacher, most good instructors could work well with motivated, curious kids. I always admired my colleagues who figured out how to reach the resistant, disinterested students.
- In a workout, easy activities don’t increase strength or fitness very much. The biggest gains come when you’re tired and keep going while everyone else gives up.
Lots of people can do the easy stuff and navigate the flat terrain in life. Trials, challenges, and obstacles offer the opportunity to be truly remarkable.
What can you do to confront a challenge and be remarkable?
Rich Dixon is a writer and motivational speaker who addresses issues related to leadership, inspiration, encouragement, and faith based on grace from a Christian perspective. Visit Rich’s blog at http://www.richdixon.net/bouncingback
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