The amount of energy two wheels hold, especially big boy wheels, is something incredibly hard to quantify. Cycling has a strange power in this world and many of us are struggling to harness it. Those who obsess over this power have to battle more than just the wind, the snow and the rain to achieve greatness. No other discipline has the same power to tear relationships apart or threaten the very health of the individual. Is the void left by striving to achieve greatness worth this heartache? We cover up the emotional destruction by getting back on the bike, crushing a big gear and clearing our heads. What a conundrum. The very thing that drove us to the point of breaking is now keeping us from breaking all the way. There is always a finite balance that one must achieve, and unfortunately that balance is harder to find than the perfect gear ratio, the perfect frame set or the perfect trail. Who knew there were so many philosophical underpinnings to pedaling? Alas we will always get back on the bike despite the philosophy behind it and we will always struggle because that is what the sport is about. We are all used to pain and hell some of us bask in it, but there is something to be said about those few who have a clear head before the ride. Those of us who ride to ride and don't have the same implications of destruction. However, the end goal is the same and fortunately at some point on every ride there erupts that feeling of weightless joy...at least for a little while.
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