The hardest part of cycling isn’t the hills. It’s the wind.
The wind is always present on a bike. On a still day, riding fast creates a 35kph headwind. Sudden gusts can feel like the brakes have accidentally deployed.
Riding my first two intervals (265W, 285W) felt smooth and easy this morning. I thought, “What a beautiful morning! No wind—not even a breeze!” I had no trouble holding 35kph.
But when you don’t feel resistance, it doesn’t mean there’s no wind—it means you actually have a tailwind. You’re planing along, feeling like God is in his heaven and gravity is no longer at play in your life…and you forget the invisible hand on your back.
We are all the product of hard work—and mostly not our own. Our great-grandparents couldn’t always deliver a meal for our grandparents, who labored their entire lives to send our parents to college, who, in their turn, launched us forward to a future of relative ease.
My grandfather would not recognize my job as work, but he would be thrilled that I am free to ride a cool bicycle at 9am on a weekday.
A strong tailwind is a hell of a legacy, and we all share it even when we forget it’s there.
