Riding a bike downhill is easy. Just watch out for potholes. Even flat stretches are relatively easy. Pedal consistently and propel yourself forward.
Then you see that hill. Ugh.
When the Blue Line of the DC Metro announced an almost 1-year maintenance plan that included single tracking (single-tracking means one track for both directions of train aka stopping to let another go by) AND reduced the number of trains I decided I did not want to try and jam onto a crowded train car for up to an hour each way. So I decided to start biking from Old Town, Alexandria to West End, DC. It was a 9 mile trip one-way, so 18 for the day, and about 40-45 minutes each way, depending how tired I was. I took a shortcut at the end which took a bit off from the image below:
My path took me along the Potomac River, past Reagan Airport and Gravelly Point, then crossed into DC on the I-395 bridge where I branched off to go along Basin Dr and Ohio Dr, underneath the Yoshino Cherry trees, which would bloom beautifully in the Spring. Then past the Lincoln and up Rock Creek Parkway for a minute. It was a really nice ride, pretty much all trail - no major roads - so no fear of getting hit by a car. Just the occasional walker who didn't know which side of the path to be on.
On my trip there were about 5 hills total. When I say hills I mean slight inclines that generally took the bike path over a crossing road or exit ramp. The biggest one was the last one on the way to work, from Rock Creek Parkway up to M St. The total height was probably 30 or 40 feet but the incline was steep and in the last mile, at 7:30am, it was a doozy. You couldn't get any speed leading up to it because you were sharing an exit ramp for the main road, and the traffic was oncoming. So imagine slowing down to a stop, making a sharp left turn, almost back the way you came, directly into an uphill exit ramp. No momentum, as low on the gears as you can get, cars mad because they can't pass you on a very narrow ramp, and you haven't even had coffee yet.
To top it off, once you get to the top, you're merging into traffic with no merge lane!
But I did it! I once rode in all 5 workdays in a week, though my average was about 3 over the course of that year. 100 degrees or 30 degrees. I sweated through layers and into my backpack. I slipped on ice and felt my fingers and nose go numb. I even went face-first into a sidewalk one time as I tried to hop a curb as a shortcut.
Over the course of that year I got to be in the best shape I'd ever been in. My pants fit, my legs were toned and strong, I got down to 190 on the scale, which is the lowest I've been since about 9th grade. I'm back up to about 205 now; damn you, Christmas cookies.
When I started riding, those little hills I mentioned earlier - they were mountains. I hadn't ridden a bike in years, probably since before 9th grade! I lived in a small town growing up and either walked around the neighborhood or my parents would drive. When I purchased a bike and they let me take it for a test ride I was worried I'd crash it. But, like they say, it's just like riding a bike. It came back pretty easy.
So I mapped out my ride to work. Google Maps said it'd be about 45 minutes. Life pro tip: if you're not aware, G-Maps shows directions via different modes of transport, including bikes, and even shows you where the hills are! Check this out:
If you place the mouse cursor anywhere on the blue line it will show a little dot on your path where you are. How nifty is that! And yes, that is the ride from where I was living in Old Town to my work in DC. So maybe that last hill is 52 feet instead of 30-40. Whatever.
I knew it was a "mostly flat" route. I tried it on a Saturday one day - to and from. Took 90 minutes - right on schedule!
But those little hills. People passed me. Every day. It felt like it took everything I had just to get to the top. Then I could coast down and ride smooth for a while. Then there was another, then coast.
I got used to them eventually. I knew when they were coming, so I'd pick up speed going into them and go as long as I could without having to downshift. People still passed me.
Finally, after several months, I was getting stronger and I could make it to the tops of some of the hills without downshifting. I'd cruise into the garage at work, feeling great, take a quick shower, and be right on time for work.
Right now, those hills are presenting themselves in the form of daily, tedious tasks. For someone who has never worked for himself, the tasks look like mountains. To the objective observer, they are not hard tasks. Send some emails, follow up with this person, enter data and update statuses in spreadsheets, check job boards, rewrite a cover letter. Write a blog.
Yesterday was the first day I skipped my blog on a day I had promised to do it. I had blogger's block, man. I couldn't think! It feels bad to let myself down like that. It was the last hill on the bike ride into work - and I couldn't do it.
I'd exercised, emailed the people I needed to, did the dishes, ate my ramen, etc. As I sat down to write I just looked around the living room. Like sitting on my bike at the bottom of that last hill. I couldn't picture the top. I could blame it on the HVAC tech. As I started to come up with a topic he rang the doorbell and was there for the next 45 minutes or so. I did the GEICO commercial "becoming my dad" thing and stayed with him, lending a hand to lift the fan while he fiddled with the wiring underneath (he only charged me for 30 minutes instead of 45!)
But it wasn't his fault. It was mine.
I should have started earlier but I procrastinated. And now I'm writing this blog at 9am instead of doing other things I should be.
In times like these, I need to remember that every time I got to the top of those little hills, there was a moment of jubilation. I did it! And the culmination of climbing those tiny hills was being in the best shape of my life, being confident and strong because I'd done the things I needed to do to get where I was.
The strange thing was that I didn't know that's where the bike riding would take me. I didn't have an end goal in mind or an image of what I would look like, or how confident I would feel. I just knew that I didn't want to cram onto a train with thousands of others for an hour or more each way. So I figured out a solution that would be cost-effective and maybe get me in shape.
That's probably what I need to do right now. The train that I have taken for many years is down for maintenance and I need to find a new way to get to where I need to be.
Those tiny little hills are there. They're coming, today and everyday. But every time I get to the top of one will be a moment of jubilation, of self-triumph. And eventually, I'll be where I want to be.
Final note: the cover image is one I took on a ride into work. I may have actually been riding my bike when I took it. I didn't normally stop as it would kill my momentum. It really was a beautiful ride.
The last image is a Google Maps image of the dreaded final hill. It doesn't look like much with the panorama view, but with the traffic, narrow road, and 8.5 miles behind me - it was a killer.
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