mountain biking

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Four Reasons To Stay Focussed

Bad things can happen when you don’t stay focussed. I learned that lesson (again) the other day while biking in the woods. Mountain biking is a little different than road biking.

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On the road you just stare at the pavement in front of you, maybe a white line as well.  But when you are biking on a trail amongst the trees, there are all kinds of obstacles you have to watch out for.

You have to focus on what’s ahead of you, like that rock (whoa), or that root, log or (yikes) that cliff! If you’re not paying attention you’re going to crash. If you lose your focus for a moment – even on a trail you know by heart – you could be in trouble.

I found myself in that place the other day. I was biking on a trail I’ve been on at least a hundred times. It was near the end of my ride and getting dusk so I turned on a light to shine on the path ahead of me.

I was going down a steep hill, which I like to take fast at the top and then slow down near the bottom because of the obstacle that’s there. At the bottom of the hill the path also makes a 90º left turn.

That’s not that big a deal, but to make that 90º turn you have to go over a huge log that lays across the path. If your front tire hits the log at the wrong angle, you fly over your handle bars. If you’re going too fast, you’ll miss the turn and smash into a tree.

You have to focus, start slowing down near the bottom, hit the log on the right angle, get off your seat, get your weight over your back tire, (oh ya) AND turn left.

I was doing everything right as I approached the log. I barely have to think about it, but I do need to focus on what I’m doing.

I’m not exactly sure what my light reflected off of, but out of the corner of my eye I saw something. And instead of staying focussed on what was ahead of me as my tire hit the log, I turned my head slightly to see what caught my eye.

About three seconds later I was six feet from my bike, picking myself up off the ground!

What had happened was I had stopped focussing on what I was doing. In other words, I lost sight of my goal (literally); my eye was not on my target. That’s the first reason not to lose focus.

Next, I lost my balance. Going downhill, having to turn and go over a log was impossible without staying focussed on the path. I could NOT navigate the course without focussing.

Then I fell. In my case, I bailed in mid air. I knew it wasn’t going to end well and I figured I’d do better if I wasn’t attached to my bike. … When we lose focus, we fail.

Then lastly, I hurt myself. I really banged up my shin (the same shin I had hurt one week earlier). I will heal but I’ll be sore for a bit and carry a scar for a while.

I just hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow so I can get out there and try it again!

Here’s the thing: It doesn’t matter whether it’s biking or the Christian life. If you lose your focus, you’ll lose sight of your goal of living for God, then you’ll lose your balance, making mistakes which will cause you to fall, or sin, that will leave you and/or others hurt and with scars … Four good reasons to stay focussed on your Christian life.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When have you lost your focus and witnessed these four things? Leave your comment below.

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I’ve Had It With Falling Off My Bike

I went for a mountain bike ride today and noticed a few things that I’m not crazy about. It was my first time riding this trail this year and it has lots of technical and rocky sections to it.

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Though I know the trail well – I’ve been biking it for years – I found myself stopping, and falling off my bike more frequently than I normally do. One time as my tires slipped, I clicked out of my peddle to put my foot down, and what I thought was moss covered rock was actually moss over a hole. I step down into it hard.

The whole ride I felt a little clumsy. I started to think, “I didn’t have this trouble last year. What’s up with me?” Maybe, as we get older, we start to revert back to the junior high days of not being in control of our limbs!

Junior high kids are always tripping over their own feet or someone else’s. I remember when I worked with junior high kids and a kid would have a mark on his forehead. I would ask what happened and the reply would be something like, “Oh, I walked into a door.” He would say it like it was an every day occurrence, certainly something he’d done before.

I don’t really want to revert back to those clumsy days. I’m still in my fifties. If I’m starting to regress now, I can only imagine how bad I’ll be when I’m 65 or 70. I’ll have to be clothed in bubble wrap! … It will look strange and it will hamper my movements, but you can’t beat the protection. I wonder if I’ll be able to get it in blue and white?

The other thought I had was that as I get older maybe it takes a little longer to get my balance back for riding those trails that are cambered. If that’s the case, I better have my balance back the next time I go riding. I don’t want it to take half the season to get comfortable on that terrain.

Maybe it’s worse than that! Maybe it’s a combination of regressive clumsiness and faulty balance. I’ve known some older people who get vertigo; maybe this is just a real bad case of “clumbalansy” – that’s a new word I just made up to describe this medical condition that seems to be attacking my equilibrium.

I’ve never had anyone tell me that they have experienced this as they got older. My doctor never warned me that I might contract clumbalansy as I age. I wonder if there is some medication I could take to clear it up fast?

They have products to help junior highers with their acne – what about some ointment or pill for my clumbalansy? … I might just have to fight through this one on my own.

Here’s the thing: You would think that the older we get, the easier it would be to stay close with God. But what I’ve found is there are all kinds of reasons, pressures, interests that make it difficult to persist in seeking God. Growing as a Christian is something we do for life. It’s really becoming more like Christ, and that will never get easier. So we have to keep fighting through and keep seeking, keep drawing close to God, dedicated to becoming more like Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you find more difficult the older you get? Leave your comment below.