Starting All Over Again

23 March 2011

Cycling has become one of the biggest enjoyments to me during the past seven years or so. I am not entirely sure how it all started, but I guess invariably it was as part of my intention to be healthy, and to maintain a decent body with appropriate weight. It was only over time that I came to realise that it had many other benefits as well. The most pronounced of which are probably that it is also a form of meditation, an excellent strain reliever (I know most people talk about stress reliever, but I will discuss the issue around stress and strain another time), and it affords me the time to do mantra recitation while on a subconscious level mull issues, problems, and situations over.

Initially it would more than likely have been a case of merely thinking about the exercise, the physical exertion part. Going hand in hand with that would be the fact that one got to spend time outdoors (occasionally even in the sunshine), and to breathe plenty of air. Fresh air at that. From the outset I have to say I would never have gone cycling had I still been living in Johannesburg, or probably any other big city for that matter. Fifteen years ago while living there I had certainly considered it, but the mere prospect of taking my life into my own hands by negotiating traffic, in addition to mainly breathing in toxic exhaust fumes much of the time, were enough to not consider the prospect for very long.

It was only after living at the temple in Bronkhorstspruit for two to three years that I actually started cycling. As I said, in the beginning there was never any consideration of it being for any purpose other than physical exercise. There was also never any intention of it ever being or even becoming competitive, other than competing against myself. I never saw much point in doing it unless one is not also going to try and improve oneself both in terms of fitness and speed or stamina, but not to actively compete against anybody other than myself. In order to do that, in the early days I would only time myself in relation to the distance I had cycled. Over time it then also became a case of monitoring different routes, both in terms of difficulty (with hills, gradual slopes, etc.) and in distance, and eventually also heart rate.

The longest distance I have cycled was 108km, and interestingly enough it was as part of an actual cycle challenge. It fascinated me to watch the Cape Argus (which has since gone by various other names), as well as the 94.7 event, that I decided I had to at least once experience such a ‘happening’. So back in about 2008 I entered the Pick n Pay / 94.7 Cycle Challenge, which means being part of 25 000 other crazies on the road. In order to get  a bit of a feel for such an event I also registered for the Telkom Satellite Challenge about a month earlier, and which only had around 5 000 participants near Hartebeespoort. That was the 108km ride, and started at around 6h00 in the morning in mild rain, fog, and freezing cold temperature.

One would think that those are the perfect conditions to put one off from setting out, and about 2 000 riders also did not turn up, but I felt that if I could survive and complete that one, then most others should be fairly easier. Though I was among one of the last I did manage to finish within the cut-off time, and in the course of the four plus hours the weather did somewhat improve in that the rain stopped and the fog lifted, but largely it still remained fairly cold for late September. I was happy to have finished in time, and also for having gotten some idea what these events were all about. Or, at least so I thought. Early November saw the 94.7km race taking place in and around Johannesburg. Due to the large number of participants one get ‘seeded’ into groups according to ones known or estimated cycling ability. That meant I was in one of the last groups to leave, which was fine, though on the down side it meant one did not have very much time to get to the first two checkpoints before cut-off time.

I only just made it past the second checkpoint in time, which meant there were a couple of hundred, if not thousand, cyclists behind me who were then stopped from continuing. That did not make sense to me, as why would anybody then want to participate the following year if they did not even have a chance of trying to finish this time round? Apart from that I completed the route well ahead of many who had started long before. Not getting to a certain place does not mean one will not get to the end by a certain time, or that one will necessarily not be able to finish within the overall time available. As an example, many from earlier groups dropped out long before they got to the end. That was an interesting lesson and comparison to normal life for me. All of that aside, apart from that the 94.7 challenge took place on a very hot and extremely windy day, I hated just about everything about the event. From the day of collecting ones official number and ‘goodies bag’ to the finishing of the event, I thought it was badly organised, and had little in the line of fun and pleasantness. Fortunately that was made up by the camaraderie of other participants, though I was very certain I would refrain from ever doing that event myself again. The only one I do still want to participate in is the Cape Argus, just to have done it. But as time progresses I have also come to realise that that desire or need is gradually waning.

Now all of that was a very long introduction for what will most likely become a fairly short ending. Because the main reason I wrote this was about the ride I did today. Having been on the island here five months now, two weeks ago Akong Rinpoche asked me what I missed the most from before, and I had to confess it was not going cycling twice a week. Back in South Africa I would do about 80km on a Saturday (or Sunday), and around 50km midweek. Since arriving here on Arran that has of course not been possible, but that has now also changed. After three trial runs over the past two weeks I finally did a 30km route half the way along a gravel road today. What I did not know was that they were reconstructing parts of the road, and so about two kilometres consisted of grapefruit size rocks, which made steering almost impossible, and about a kilometre and a half of small pebbles and sand.  I managed about four hundred meters and then I just got off my bike and pushed. Note: cycling in loose sand is a total waste of time and energy.

Naturally I had become quite unfit during my inactive time, not that I have necessarily gained in weight, but not cycling regularly does allow ones muscles to become lazy and soft, and endurance and stamina also decrease. The other advantage of regular outdoor exercise in fresh air is that ones body gets well aerated from time to time. And there are few things that bacteria and viruses hate more than oxygen. Consequently ones health status improves dramatically with regular outdoor activity. Tell that to today’s youth with their TV and video or computer games. Hey, I enjoy TV and computer games as well, but in moderation. The other benefit I discovered years ago is that with increased cycling I was also more able to sit in the full lotus position during meditation. It made it easier for me to fold my legs, but also to remain seated for extended periods of time. I tried the same with walking and hiking, and though they also do help, it is nowhere as effective or beneficial as cycling. 

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