(photo credit: http://www.snookerbacker.com)
Albeit odd rather odd--or maybe not so much if you know me personally--I was thinking about how it would be to look in on one's life from a distance and what the evidences would be of certain changes...seasonal, life transitions, and so on; as an alien or foreigner looking in on my life and family from afar (not thinking about the creepiness of it all), irrespective of temperature changes and clothing choices, what evidences would be see that the Season had changed? I thought about it and was confounded. I think for many people there are metaphoric transitions from one season to another, from one life circumstance to another. The seasons are changing and it's time to embrace Autumn.
Most of us enjoy the changing seasons of Minnesota, or we would have selected another place to call home. As we meet this seasonal transition head-on, we all need to discern what we'll be doing athletically when the snow starts to fly. Some might be putting bike away on the hook in the garage, some might be pulling out the trainer from the dusty spiderweb laden corner of the basement, and some might be just putting some studs on the wheels and heading out into the cold.
The life of a bicycle shop is not much unlike that of a triathlete. Some folks are coming in to purchase rollers or trainers. Some are bickering about how they have to put a jacket on and scarcity of ride-able days left in the season. Maybe my favorite is the mid-60 year old who walks through the doors, looks left and right at the Fat bikes parked inside the windows and says, "Hey sales guy, can I give one of these bad boys a test-ride!?!"
For me it is really the excitement of change that is the catalyst for growth, optimism and the embracing of something NEW- but not too foreign. In my first week leading group training classes at our shop, I am already cognizant that not all people are embracing the change of season as I am, which can be told from the size of our classes. Whether two people or ten, we've been having a blast and finding common-ground in the instituting of discipline in our lives and the regimen thereof. Weather measured in temperature, or whether measured in frequency of outdoor/indoor exercise sessions, don't be bound by arbitrary metrics of sorts. Embrace discipline and the pursuit of fitness; while with balance and prudence you may start walking with the knowledge that you don't need to run until later into the spring.
Train Smart, Keep Balanced.
