By Susie Griffin

I love analogies. I use them often in my professional life when coaching clients toward change. They help communicate a point, lesson or idea in another way that might be more relatable, evoke deeper meaning and greater understanding to the client. Analogies typically are used as away of describing something by comparing it to something else. They can contain metaphors, comparing things in a rhetorical way, or similes which include the words “like” and “as” – as represented in the quote above by Albert Einstein. Other common metaphoric life analogies that involve bikes, such as “the best view comes after the hardest climb,” colorfully describe the inherent rewards that accompany perseverance and determination. Capitalizing on, or not capitalizing on potential is summed up by Charles M. Schulz’s quote of,

“Life is like a ten-speed bicycle; most of us have gears we never use.”

There is a reason why so many life analogies, metaphors and similes exist about bikes; they are vehicles that we must direct, control and move through the world, over and around obstacles that are placed – either known or unexpected, in our way. To get where we are going, either in the short or long run, we need to keep moving forward, find the energy and breath to do so, and pick ourselves up off the ground when we fail to do either one of those.

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

 — Albert Einstein

The years I’ve been tootling around on a mountain bike are few compared to my trips around the sun. However, in that short time span I’ve accumulated a grand list of importantly relevant life lessons learned from being on (and falling off) the mountain bike.

1) Look Where You Are Going Because You’ll Go Where You Look.

Many people who have a history of playing and competing in sports can relate to this one.

Where the eyes lead, the head and body will follow, or to sum it up shorter: where you look, you go. This order (eyes, head then body) creates a streamlined direction and efficacy in energy expenditure and movement that is applicable in any sport – dance, horseback riding, gymnastics, skiing, etc.

In mountain biking, this order is even more important to play out since there are often obstacles, or features, in the way. Rocks, stumps, roots, and other natural phenomenon pose a challenge and distraction to our focus. If we look at the feature, we usually will stop at the feature. However, if we just notice, size up the feature to quickly calculate a navigational strategy and then look up, out and down the trail, our focused intention usually carries us over. 

This is imperative when considering speed: the faster you go, the farther down the trail you need to look. This lesson is also applicable in everyday living. Life throws us curveballs, obstacles, or features that we need to quickly sum up the energy and strategy to get through. If we spend our time focusing on the feature, instead of the path on the other side, it will take more energy to not only go over, through or around the feature, but to recover from our focused effort. To add to our short and sweet mantra “where you look, you go,” consider “know, then go.” Know your direction, know how much energy its going to take to get there and then, go.

2) Pedal. Pedal. Pedal.

I can still hear the voices from my early mountain bike mentors in my head, who with encouraging words shouted “Susie, pedal, pedal, pedal!” This was usually attached to approaching a feature, narrow bridge, hill, or tricky spot in the trail. To go down the trail, you need to have momentum and you’ll only get that by moving the cranks or pedaling.

In life this looks and feels like fear or doubt. The obstacle or feature can make us hold our breath, pucker, and stop our forward momentum. So, when you come upon a feature that stops you and makes you reconsider, employ number one above: eyes up, chin up, chest up and pedal, pedal, pedal and instill the mantra, “when in doubt, pedal it out.”

3) Light Hands. Heavy Feet.

I vividly remember when I was first told this lesson. I was in my first year of mountain biking, maybe four rides in. I had come from years’ experience of road biking, so I thought to myself what’s the difference? At the time, I really didn’t understand the importance. It took years and miles later to discover the relevance and the words to comprehend the lesson.

In biking, your hands (and torso) are the directional tools, and everything below (butt, thighs, legs, feet) is your power tools. In mountain biking, specifically, sometimes you need to use your legs and feet as levers, pushing against the pedals to free up and lift the front wheel over features.

If your hands (grip) are tight it not only creates a barrier to this action but causes unnecessary tension throughout your arms, shoulders, and upper back. Employing light hands and heavy feet when climbing is also important in ensuring all your tension is productive – aiding the movement up the hill rather than gripping the handlebars.

In life this is a message to let go of unnecessary tension (who clenches their fists when they’re angry?) and solidly ground yourself. This helps give you stability (heavy feet) in uncertain times and mobility (light hands) to go up and over life obstacles.

4) Practice balance.

In mountain biking, there are times when momentum needs to be varied by choice, preparing to navigate a feature or when it becomes altered un-expectantly like in the case of spinning out. During these times it is helpful to know how to “track stand.” Track standing is a skill of keeping your balance on the bike standing still. So, opposite of Albert Einstein’s quote, you can (practice) maintain balance without the aid of forward momentum. Ratcheting the pedals, or by making micro movements (not full pedal strokes) alone or in combination with moving the handlebars back and forth can help you stay balanced on the bike in one place.

In life, this lesson looks a little different, but the effect is the same. We can apply it when preparing to overcome a known life obstacle or recover from an unexpectant one. We just need to take a moment to stop our forward momentum, breathe, relax, and slow down. Any overreaction or undue tension can cause us to move in a direction that is unhealthy, resulting in physical, emotional, or mental pain.

5) Sessioning.

This is a term that is near and dear to every mountain biker’s heart. For every feature a mountain biker makes or cleans, there are a lot they don’t, especially when just starting out. Sessioning is when you practice a section of trail or specific feature over and over until you clean or clear it, or best yet, when you understand what you need to do to clean it. When I first started mountain biking, I used to fall a lot. My mentors would encourage me to redo sections of the trail I was struggling with. They would stop, wait, and watch me, giving me feedback and celebrating my success. I thought sessioning was reserved only for the inexperienced, unskilled newbies. It wasn’t until I was watching a RedBull extreme downhill competition, where I witnessed the professional riders scoping out the trail, picking their line of travel and then sessioning their lines, that I understood I was wrong. Sessioning is a tool that yields benefits to everyone who utilizes it.



In life, the sessioning version shows up in the mantra, “when at first you don’t succeed, try, try

again.” Our greatest growth doesn’t necessarily come from our greatest failures, but the courage to “fall down seven times, and get up eight.”

Women’s Mountain Biking Community – starting in March!

I would love to share these life lessons in person and create a local mountain biking community ride for women of all abilities. If you are a woman interested in exploring the world of mountain biking, already mountain bike and need a group to ride with, or just want to move outside, have fun and explore our local trails, please contact me via text/phone at 541.705.5710, Facebook message me at Griffin Wellness Solutions, LLC or leave a note on my website contact page:

www.GriffinWellnessSolutionsLLC.com

Tally Ho!