I never really thought about year-end goals until I checked my Strava account. Ever since my wife got me a bike last year, I’ve been trying to clock in rides every week. Some days I have daily streaks of 20km rides. Other times, every other day but longer distances of 30 to 40km. In the beginning I used to come home with aching legs but as the time passed, I have been breathing better, making less pit stops, and exerting less effort on my rides to go faster.
It wasn’t always like this. I spent most of my 30’s finding an excuse to not exercise — or at best to try to be inspired by those “from couch potato to hero” motivational workout regimen. There was a short time before the pandemic I got into kettlebells, but again, knowing me, I could not last. I fear gyms in general because despite all the movement, I’m stuck in a room.
Fast forward to the pandemic.
2020 was a dark place for most and the tail end, 2021 threw me three deaths in the family. I was stuck at home with … thoughts. It came to a point where organizing online wakes seemed like the norm, and I knew that was definitely wrong. It was becoming the new normal for me. And I knew if I continued down that path, I would lose it. Because everything is OK until it isn’t.
Thank heavens the wife got me a bike. It wasn’t the exercise per se, but the headfake of being able to bike to a coffee shop and clear my head. A headfake is defined as something that you pick up or learn without trying to, because you’re doing something else. In the case of sports, the headfake is teamwork and grit. In the case of video games, it’s hand-eye coordination.
The headfake for clearing my head outdoors was that I got healthier. I lost some weight, gained back the muscle and felt less tired. I knew myself enough — it should not feel like exercise. It should feel like a trip to the coffee shop. On a bike. Clear goals to clear my head.
I recently started a short Twitter thread about health and being in your 40’s. There’s a tipping point in that vicinity, of you trying to finally get a hold of your life, and somehow certain pillars crumble. For most of us, it’s our parents. In my 20’s I was attending parties. In my 30’s I was attending weddings and baptisms. In my 40’s I am offering condolences.
As my bike tires spin, the wheels of time turn. You don’t realize how far you’ve gone until you’ve looked back.
I checked my Strava today and saw that I’ve biked the distance of more than 4,000km for the year. That’s at least 10km a day.
I’m not sure if there’s a real lesson in this year-ender. It’s part humble-brag, part achievement-hunting. But I guess, after reflecting on it as I write this post, I believe that death knocks on everybody’s door and this is something we have no control over. “Like a thief in the night” as the bible says. But what we do have control over, to some extent, is the way we go. I prefer to go as healthy as my body can be.
The last lesson, and probably the most important one, is to listen to your wife. She got me the bike and the bike saved me.
