I've been a cycling fan almost all my life. It's a pretty obscure sport for most Americans, but I fell in love watching Lance Armstrong win his 7 consecutive Tours de France in the early 2000's (that's worth a whole separate post on it's own).
Anyway...I've always enjoyed watching it. But I've enjoyed riding my bike even more. I bought my first bike when I was 14. It was a little Trek Hybrid commuter bike...nothing to write home about. But when I was 16, I bought my first road bike. It wasn't much more to write home about, but I enjoyed getting out and putting the hammer down on our back country roads.
I've had a few quality bikes since, but I hadn't experienced any revolutionary change in my cycling abilities since. Then in December of this last year, I got Zwift for Christmas. If you're not familiar with Zwift, this is a helpful primer. But I'll summarize it like this: it's a way for me to train and race indoors on my actual bike against real people all over the globe in a virtual world.
Folks, the future is here.
Over the last 5 months or so, I've ridden inside a lot (not least because we have too many kids to justify regular multi-hour rides). And I've raced on Zwift quite a bit too. But it wasn't until recently that I started to consistently win some of those races. Now...there's a few reasons for why that is. Some of that is fitness related. I've gotten way stronger and more fit since I've been consistently riding over the winter. But I think the key component for me was actually tactical.
I'm pretty large for a cyclist, so I tend to fare much better on flats and downhills rather than climbs...particularly long climbs. So in races, I tended to wait until the end and try to sprint for the win. I was able to consistently log top-10 results (not shabby), but never could manage the win. Something would always seem to come up...an ill-timed climb too close to the finish; an overzealous opponent who would attack from a distance; fatigue getting the better of me.
There was often a point within the final 5km of each race where I had the opportunity to go on my own and attack from the leading group. But I wouldn't do it because I was afraid I'd blow up and finish lower than I otherwise could have.
At it's core, my results were less about fitness and more about the willingness to take a tactical risk. After a while, I wasn't impressed with my top-10's anymore. I decided I'd either win or lose, but I wouldn't settle for simply being "up there". After all, it's a virtual cycling race in a made up world that I'm doing in my office at 5:45am on a Friday...does it matter if I win or lose? So, I started to make my own attacks from a bit further out. I would wait for those moments in the race where I could get a gap from the field and then I'd go all out to the finish. Almost every time (though not every single time), I won as a result of the move.
I was telling Wendy about it in an overzealous explanation one day when responded, "Maybe that's true for life too."
Ah...well...now that you mention it...
There's that cliche that "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take." The thing about cliches is that what they lack in nuance and subtelety, they make up for in obvious truth (most of the time). In many ways, your life is the sum total of decisions that you make. Sure, there's plenty of stuff that happens to you that you have zero control over. But many of those circumstances are shaped by how you choose to respond to them. Every single decision you'll make requires some degree of risk. You might risk financial security, relational security, a sense of predictability, you name it! As my friend from college (now Dr.) Dave used to say, "You've gotta risk it to get the biscuit."
The author of the letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament said it like this, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God..." Faith and risk are closely related. In some cases, they're virtually synonomous. But there is no way to accomplish a great good in this world (for God, yourself, or others) without faith and risk.
Personally, I think this is a lesson God has impressed upon me over the last several months. I can take risks because with him and in his Kingdom, he'll work all things out for good. So even if I totally blow it (which, let's be honest, is unlikely to happen to most of us), I can trust that somehow it will work out for good in the end. For me, that looks like leaving familiar institutions behind and starting a business and ministry at the same time. Does it feel scary? Well...yeah, I'm human. And as I mentioned, I've got a bunch of kids. But do I trust that it's going to work out for good in the end? Yeah, I really do. For me, this feels like that point in the race where I can hit the gas and go all out to the finish. And I think I'll make it over the line alright.
What's that look like for you right now? Is there a decision you need to make that you've been putting off for fear of certain consequences? Or is there an invitation into risk that you've been quietly turning down for a while? I'd love to hear about it in the comments or shoot me a message!
If you'd like help navigating transition or decisions in your own life, that's one of the things a good coach can help with. So feel free to reach out and we can set up a call to work out next steps for you. Either way, I'm praying that this blesses you in some way today.
Make a great day,
Stephen
PS - Thanks for staying with me if you've read this far. And if you haven't signed up yet, I'm teaching a Lunch and Learn at Summit Leadership in Johnson City on May 9..."Leading with Calm in Crisis" uses Edwin Friedman's work, Failure of Nerve, to look at how we navigate leadership in anxious and stressful environments. You can register here. I hope to see you soon!
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