Not Just Spinning My Wheels

 With the winter upon us, my cycling has moved indoors and I feel fortunate to have snagged an electronic bike trainer to help develop and maintain fitness I gained over the summer.  I have often rejected the idea of riding indoors through the winter for fear of burning myself out, but with gyms being closed and no spin classes in sight, it seemed like a no-brainer this year.

What I have found, much to my surprise, is that I am really enjoying these training sessions.  Instead of feeling like work and a necessary evil of staying fit, they challenge and inspire me.  They remind me of the incredible summer of riding that took place this year and have me looking forward to the coming season in 2021.  

The premise of the riding that I'm doing is "Base Training" - literally working on developing and maintaining a strong base of fitness that I can then work on increasing and growing over time.  The sessions are preset, so I just have to show up and ride, and seeing as my trainer is set up on the other side of my bedroom, it would be harder to avoid my bike than to ride it!  

This morning as I was riding there was a prompt that came on the screen that really stood out to me - the "coach" who walks you through the training session and associated drills will also share insights and things to focus on while you're riding as a way to make the work make sense and also to help with the monotony of indoor riding.  The prompt was to not focus on just getting through the ride but to make every section of it count.  I felt like I'd been caught as I often will look at the map of the ride and try to figure out how long each section will be, how far along I will be at x amount of minutes in etc.  Basically focusing on getting through the ride.  Not always, but definitely sometimes.  

This reminder to make every moment count really hit home not only for the ride itself but for so many of the other challenges we face in our lives.  It is so easy to just be focused on the end result, the part where we get a reward or can ease off of what we are doing, instead of actually taking some pleasure in the work at hand or respecting the hard work that we are undertaking in the moment.  I suppose it is another way to say and to be reminded about being present in your life and embracing each and every instant whether or not you are enjoying what that moment in time is all about.  

This has been a year when I think many of us have found it difficult to want to be present.  Amidst so much uncertainty and upheaval, why would we want to dive into those feelings and explore them?  Why wouldn't we want to do anything and everything in our power to side step or look past all of the hard times?  For me, allowing myself to feel and experience the downs makes the ups so much sweeter, as there is that comparison available.  If we never did take a look at what challenges us, how would we decide where to put our focus for the next challenge we want to take on?  And how would we be able to acknowledge our growth without having a real sense of where we are in the present moment and the ability to check in to see how that is evolving over time?

So as I think about the countless hours I will be spending on my trainer this winter, I am comforted by the fact that although I may not be physically moving anywhere, on so many levels I will be in motion, and not just spinning my wheels.