"The Rat Race"

“Hey, man, how’s it going?”
“Pretty good, yourself?”
“Great, been riding three times this week. Have you been riding much?”
“Not as much as I’d like.”

In this whimsical summary of my everyday interaction with friends and foes I make note of the answer, “Not as much as I’d like to.” I wonder; how much people would like to ride and if they really make their riding lives a priority? I have never heard a person say anything different than the almost pathetic, dreary, answer of, “Not as much as I’d like to.” Could these people, me included, really be riding more than or as much as they’d like to? I for one would like to be riding all the time. Would you?

But what of life and the increasing speed with which it goes by. With the girlfriend, husband, children, telephone bill, gardening, rent, mortgage, and the job that pays for all the wonderful trinkets; how can you ride more? It just isn't’t possible. Or is it?

Here is a note on time. About thirty years ago people used to spend approximately thirty hours a year in a mall shopping for their clothes, furniture, food, and various life changing items. Today people spend roughly two to three hours in a mall in one year. Yet the dollars that we all spend have still managed to go up. They go up in relation to what was spent thirty years ago not because of inflation.

You mean to tell me that people are spending more money faster. Why? Because time is more important than money and your time is more important than anybody else’s because it is yours. People are busy, they are rushing around trying to do a million things at once, saving time because they are multi tasking so well, but then never using that time to their benefit. This is what is affectionately known as “the Rat Race.” Are you caught in it and would you like to get out of it?

You’re not going to hear anything here that will be something you haven’t heard before. It may only make utter sense because it will help you ride more and work less. A very wise man said, “You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.” It is here that the inspirational lesson begins. You may choose to heed the warning or simply ignore it as I expect many of you will. You will ignore it because you are too busy. Start today making the very thing that keeps you ticking a priority. Riding your bike and exercising your spirit. Life is too short to be caught doing nothing with it. Right now the more you earn, the more you spend, instead of the more you earn the more it works for you so you can do what you want, like ride your bike. Be smart with your time because being smart with your money will follow.

What does my money have to do with me riding my bike? It is the sole mitigating factor behind people not exercising their body and mind. The futile chase of the very thing they could be doing right now. Bigger house means more comfort. Faster car means more enjoyment. If I work a little harder I’ll get more time off and be able to ride more. Yeah right. If you believe that one I’ve got some water front property in Alaska that I can sell you. After I sell you that land I’m going riding. The lesson follows.

‘Reverse Your Priorities and Think’. That is it. The one thing that will make you ride more, spend time with your loved ones, stress less, and enjoy your life. If your family means a lot to you make them number one not the last thing on the list. If your bike and the time you spend on it make you smile, ride the two wheeled beast as much as you can. Smile lines are cool. Staying out of ‘the Rat Race’ and thinking how you can have your life work for you only requires a meager amount of effort. Less than you put in everyday taking one step forward and two steps backwards. Wouldn’t you rather be pushing the pedals over and over in the forward direction? Ride your bike not your desk. Join a riding club today and put 'the Rat Race' behind you.

Willie Henry
John Henry the Bicycle Man

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