Fear vs thrill, the balancing act.

 

Fear vs thrill, the balancing act.

Bikes are scary. There is without a doubt buckets of fear associated with riding a bike. Even just tipping over from standing, your head can hit the ground at more than 15 miles per hour. The sacks of meat that are our bodies are pretty darn soft. Yet at the same time flying feels incredible. 

If you are intrepid enough to ride a bike there is undeniably a sense of fear. But really it's like balancing a chemical equation: 2 Molars of fear and 1 Molar of skill renders 4 Molars of thrill. I can remember so clearly the first time I lived this equation. I was at the top of some hiking path that I definitely should not have been riding a bike on in south county. I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. But I got to the top of the hill, took a big chug out of the Poland Springs water Bottle I had stuffed into my very loose aluminum water bottle cage. I then went on to give my chunky plastic pedals a spin, but not before I got off the bike and lowered the seat post. I then let the brakes go and in a feat of athleticism that felt like a freight train just barely holding on to the tracks, but was definitely more like a butterfly taking off from a flower. I can remember my hands shaking and the thud of my heart in my throat. But at the bottom of the hill, the satisfaction outweighed any fear I ever had. 

Fear is a part of riding a bike. There seem to be two major camps “the fear means the payoff will be even greater” camp and the “I'm scared and I need to get over it to ride what I want to" camp. The former is best represented by Tyson, power derived from hedonism. The risk of pain can never outweigh the thrill of pleasure. The latter is Holyfield, considers all the angles, and remembers they have to be at work on Monday. I think there are riders who are fully entrenched in each camp, but the best ones have a foot in both. So embrace the fear, remember the thrill, and don’t forget you have work on Monday. (Unless you’re a teenager with bones that bend and don’t break, in which case fling yourself off anything)