I raced my bike the other day.
At the end of August, I watched the highlights of Vuelta a Espana with my daughter. Primoz Roglic had just wrapped up his fourth win at the three-week stage in Spain and stepped onto the final podium with his son. My daughter thought it was just about the coolest thing in the world. And it was enough to make me want to race again — at least once.
Before the Traverse City Trails Festival, I hadn’t raced for nearly a year. Life gets busy; priorities change. For me, bike racing — even bike riding — has lingered pretty low on the to-list. To be completely honest, it required an incredible amount of effort to get out the door and join group rides that I previously looked forward to all week long.
Cycling isn’t a priority for me anymore. And that’s OK.
Many of us experience that change in perspective at different times in our lives. It’s not only a reality; it’s a good thing. Shifting the focus to things that just matter more is an opportunity to grow as people and to double down on the essentials.
For me, it was the birth of my daughter.
For others, it might be a job change, a move across the country, or the realization that what worked for us previously just isn’t a fit moving forward.
I didn’t line up at the Trails Festival to win or to get on the podium — my daughter wasn’t there on race day, in any case. I raced because the cycling community has been such a huge part of my life for over a decade, and they supported me away from the bike as much as on it, whether they knew it or not.
And over the past year, so many of those people have been there for me, even when I wasn’t racing or riding as much as I used to. I’ve learned over the past year that cycling and the people who make it so special are always there for you to come back. No rush.
I broke a chain with about 30 minutes left to race. That would have been devastating a few years ago, and it probably would have ruined my week, let alone the rest of the day.
Now, I was relieved to be close to the aid station, where I could grab a cookie (OK, two) and a quick link to fix my bike and get back on the move. Along with a shift in priorities is a change in perspectives, usually for the better.
If I never get to bring my daughter up on a podium, so be it. What gets me on the bike is the people it keeps me connected to, not the result of the race.
What keeps me going is the example I set for my daughter of being active and healthy.
And hopefully, one day, she’ll think that example is the coolest thing in the world, too.