No Excuses

Author: Bikergrl

Mountain biking, like any activity that requires vast amounts of effort and planning, is overly susceptible to excuses. I am as guilty as anyone. I love to ride, I pretty much live for it. Catch me on a lazy day, a rainy day or in the wrong frame of mind however, and I will undoubtedly offer an excuse as to why I can't. Every aspect of mountain biking, from putting on appropriate clothing, to loading up the car, to doing the ride to unloading the car, washing the bike and putting stuff away again becomes a breeding ground for "aliblies"... excuses bordering on fib.

I used to be able to justify so many things as reasons not to ride, reasons not to try new things, reasons not to push myself. Then I started hanging out at the dirt jumps and I began to realize what a wuss I've been.

The first excuse I had to trash was the excuse that I didn't want to go to the dirt jumps when they'd be busy. I wasn't confident enough, I didn't want kids laughing at me. In my head I played over and over that scene from "A Christmas Story" where the teacher and mother band against Ralphie and chant "You'll shoot your eye out, you'll shoot your eye out". In my version, though, gaggles of grommets taunted me with "You suck at jumping, you suck at jumping." The first time I showed up at the jumps and saw kids there, I almost turned around and went home again. I tried to come up with excuses to get out of it, but it was too late. I had to face the music.

Strangely enough, I wasn't taunted that day or any day thereafter. I get questions about my bike, I get questions about my riding, but I've never been told I suck. When I'm at the DJs I feel like I'm one of them, a 12 year old who lives to ride bikes. There's no excuse not to go, and so I do and I love it.

There's another excuse that's all too common...the excuse that my bike isn't working 100% tickety boo. Well, on some levels, it may be a valid excuse - after all, I, a self-sustaining "grown-up", must replace my own parts when they break, at my own expense. Therefore it makes SOME sense to catch things early and fix them before I ride again. I also can't afford to miss work if something snaps and snaps me in the process.

But counteracting my mature and excuse ridden mind is Max Air. The first thing I noticed when Max rolled up the hill at the jumps was that every spoke in his back wheel, and I mean EVERY spoke, was bent. And not just a little bit. That wheel had more wobble than a weeble on the sauce. Max knew his wheel was screwed. And still he hit the jumps, over and over and over. He tried a couple of no-footers, he rode like he meant it. He rode until his wheel folded, grabbing his rear derailleur and twisting it parallel with the dirt. When Max Air quit for the day, he didn't have an excuse, he had a damned good reason. And still he tried to kick things straight enough to ride home. Every time I try to rationalize not riding because my gears aren't shifting quite right, I'm gonna think of Max and I'm gonna feel majorly lame.

And speaking of lame, how lame is it to use the weather as an excuse? Am I made of sugar and salt? Will I melt if a drop of rain lands upon my precious forehead? I go swimming, don't I? I bathe on a regular basis. Why is it so implausible, then, that I get off my butt and ride when something falls from the sky? People worldwide have to stay indoors because of things that come down from above... bombs, locusts, tornados and anvils. I am lucky enough to live in a region where the most hideous thing that might hit me from above is bird poop. I should ride in the rain to celebrate that, not avoid it!

Excuses have been the bane of my mountain biking existence...I won't ride things because blah blah blah might happen. I can't go because of yada yada yada. Well, I'm done with excuses and I'm done with thinking... from now on riding becomes something I do first and think about later. No more talking myself out of drops, no more hesitating to ride because of reason x, y or z. I'm just gonna do it.

Starting on Wednesday. Because tomorrow I've got to do my nails.

Posted by bikergrl at June 7, 2004 06:56 PM

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