The Journey is the Destination
We are all guilty of the same things: Go to school; get programmed; join the rat race; follow everybody else's plan; never question the things we are doing; end up somewhere we never expected. Now that you think about it, most of you are probably wondering where you are really going. Why are you in the job you are? What are you trying to accomplish? Are you tired?
I am convinced that each of us needs to slow down and enjoy every day, whether we are a surfer, a banker, a real estate agent, or a cyclist. The problem for most of us is that we are so caught up with daily life that we rarely have a chance to slow down. However, there is a way you can slow down your brain without actually giving up your busy life. Herein lies the secret.
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Ride to work. Rain or shine, early or late, once a week or every day. Riding to work energizes the soul.
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You wouldn't be reading this newsletter if you didn't already believe in the value of riding your bike. Most of you are mountain bikers, and you all know the enjoyment and sense of escape you have when you are on your bike. Riding your bike at anytime of day, for any reason, gives you that feeling you crave. Whether the ride is challenging or simply an outdoor excursion, the fact is you aren't working. You're just riding.
The seasons are changing, the weather is turning for the better, and your body still desires a break from your hectic schedule. Fit a ride in every day by using a bike as your mode of transportation. You will need to put in a little effort here, to be comfortable on your daily commute. There's no need to spend any money, so don't start with the excuses.
Follow these steps to get yourself ready. Put some spare clothes in your office or locker at work. You might as well throw in a towel and some spare toiletries (soap, toothbrush, deodorant etc.) so that you look like you just stepped out of a limousine. Get out your bike, and clean it up. Make sure it is working nicely, and try to weather proof it a wee bit. Fenders and flashing lights are a minimum to enjoy your commute but aren't necessary, unless you'll be traveling in the dark. Look in that closet of yours and find your thinnest, water-resistant jacket and rummage up some old bike jerseys to layer underneath. Now grab your helmet, gloves, and perhaps some glasses to ward off any car shrapnel and you're set. Clearly, this is a basic idea. You could get even more wild in an attempt to enjoy your daily sojourn, but this column is meant to get you riding not spending all the money you earn at that job you're riding to. I will leave a detailed list of commuting equipment and road laws in a list form at the bottom of this article. Peruse it if you wish.
There isn't a better way to accomplish weight loss goals, reduce driving stress, manage your daily work load, and simply satisfy your urge for riding than ripping through traffic on your two-wheeled torpedo, waving at the sorry lot stuck in their single occupancy jail cells. I promise that you'll find sanctity on your bike, and you will feel better about yourself - even pedaling one day a week. Don't eliminate your other group rides just add a ride to work. Try it. I dare you. In fact, I challenge you all. Starting Monday I will be riding my bike to work at least one day a week - one kid in the seat on the back and with one on his own bike. If I can do it, you can to.
Mark the day in your calendar, because tomorrow starts the John Henry commuter challenge. Send us an email with your plan, and then keep us updated on your efforts. We're working on a monthly prize for the person who has best tried to stick to their plan, made a commitment to the betterment of their lives and truly energized themselves. I'm the godly judge but won't necessarily be the person who rides the most. Let's try to get at least one hundred people involved right off the start line. If you already ride to work or school, then you're clearly welcome to join in and congratulations on being one of the few who understands the journey. Go on, take the plunge, email us and tell us your story.
Mountain bikes, road bikes, BMX bikes, old bikes, new bikes, expensive bikes, deadly department store bikes, or any bike that has pumped up tires - they are all tools that will all have a profound affect on your life if you use them. So go ahead and pull the old rig out of the garage, and use her in a way that you never thought you would. Become a commuter because you owe it to yourself - and after all, 'the journey is the destination.' You are set for take off.
P.S. I know a wonderful lady who has ridden to work over 1800 days straight. Never a day sick, and judging by her visits to the store, she seldom has a bad day, period. Now put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Rider's Unite
Live to ride and ride to live.
Willie Henry
info@johnhenrybikes.com
www.johnhenrybikes.com
Here is a detailed list of commuter gear and why it may be important.
Fenders: They keep the rain off of you and out of your face. Full fenders are always the best because they help to keep water away from your feet, your face, and your back. The more you can keep it away from yourself the warmer you will allow yourself to stay. Remember that because you are moving there is always wind. Wind on chilled, wet feet is a disaster so try to keep them a little dryer than you would with out fenders.
Lights: A no-brainer. Lights are the law and besides being a law abiding citizen why would you want to be pegged by a sixteen wheeled semi truck because he couldn’t see you.
Helmet: Commuter or just plain rider; you need one to save your melon. Wear one period.
Gloves: Padded gloves offer a little bit of road damping. This means they act like shocks on your car and make your hands less tired. Winter gloves are good idea in the cold and wet because your extremities are the first to go numb. If you try to make your ride comfortable you will be more likely to keep riding. Besides wet, cold hands suck!
Cycling shorts: Chamois is the terminology. Wicking moisture from your private parts is the job. A little bit of padding is there to make you comfortable for the regular rides. Do I need to go into depth as to why this is an important area for you. Padded, dry, comfy – this should all make sense. (Editor's note: You don’t wear them with underwear or they don't work.)
Cycling jersey: Layer these technical fabrics for appropriate weather. Technical fabrics keep moisture off of your body making it less likely for you to get a chill. Never use cotton because it only collects moisture. These layers can be tight to the skin so that the fabric can do its job perfectly. Remember you are moving and you are an athlete so try to keep the layers thin and free moving. Polypropolene can come in varying thicknesses to add to your warmth level. Fabrics that contain it are the perfect technical winter riding layering pieces.
Riding jacket: Same as above in terms of thickness and mobility except that this is meant to keep you dry and shielded from the massive wind gusts you are creating because you are so fast. These riding jackets are similar to ski jackets just not nearly as thick. The best jackets have great breathability and try to look for something with pit zips so you can let out the heat.
Shoe Covers/Booties: These little gems make all the difference to your life. They are what warm gloves are to your hands for your feet. Covers that keep rain and wind out and insulate your feet even if they do get wet. Consider these to be like a wet suit for scuba divers. Mostly used in the winter.
Considerations:
Chain Lube: The wetter it gets and the more mileage you haul the more your going to want to help old Betsy get to the job site. Lube her up.
Panniers and Pannier Racks: Keep everything off of your back if you can. The more mileage you do with weight on your back the greater chance there is for discomfort. The position that cycling puts you in will not disperse your weight from a bag very well and you will get aches and pains. Put the weight on the bike, allow your back to breathe, and carry your stuff more comfortably.
Ear warmers/headband: Just like they sound. With wind a factor some people are prone to earache. Beat the wind by not allowing it in. Again, winter based primarily.
Clear glasses: Keep schrapnel from flinging in your eye. Wear protective eyewear.
Flat tire kit: Incase it happens and god I hope you never get a flat just keep a pump and spare tube in your bag so that you won’t be too late for work. If you want help learning the skills required click here.
Bell: Believe it or not this little gem is a great asset when commuting. People hate to be yelled at and a little dingle gets you through.
Water Source: Keep hydrated because you are working to get where you're going. Drink a little often to keep your body a temple.
Mirror: When in traffic some love a mirror. Just like a car it just lets you know what's there.
Lock: You don't want to lose your new found success as a commuter do you. Keep your baby yours.
Labels: bicycle, bike shop, John Henry Bikes, North Shore, North shore bike shop, The Seat Post
Dare To Dream
A few years back my sister took a journey of self discovery, education, and mind expansion. Her journey saw her land in the bustling city of New Delhi, India. From there she shot off via what can only be described as a bus but bares very little resemblance to the coach lines visible in our country. In this case, pictures do tell a thousand tales and some of them are incredible. Chickens, cargo on the roof, and people hanging from the bumpers and windows are just a few of the significant details. Her journey lasted about six hours in this moving coffin but ultimately came to an end near her destination. She had come to study with a master Yogi for what would turn out to be about a year.
Her tales were magnificently relayed to us via email, postcards, and then finally over coffee and cold ones when she arrived back in the land of plenty. Now when you are on the receiving end of yoga stories you tend to lower your expectations for car crashes and late night parties but none the less the stories were fascinating. However, what initially struck me more than culture differences were the incredible levels of discipline she was desired to follow.
Like Tibetan Monks, Tai Chi followers, and first nation elders, each day with the rising of the sun the school would meet in the great hall and all meditate. Discussion was not allowed and movement was minimal if allowed at all. Sometimes morning meditations would last for hours before a morsel of food was consumed. Then and only then would instruction begin. Discipline was being taught from the second my green eared sister had arrived. Thinking and discovering your body and mind was the essence of this training. Trainings we are never taught in school and something sorely missing from our society.
You may know it as rest and relaxation but I prefer to call it time with oneself. How many of you take a moment every day to reflect on the things that are important to you, to create ideas for future development both within your job and your personal life, to think about what your next steps will be and where it is you are actually going? Too busy aren't you? What are you chasing that has stopped you from taking a moment to yourself? I bet you don’t even know.
To enhance your commitment to everything in your life requires skilled time management but above all else an idea of what you are trying to achieve. The only way you can be successful in your life is to take a moment each day and discuss with yourself these goals and ideas. The most successful people on the planet rise with the sun and reflect on their lives, why they exist, and what they are planning to do. They also plan their days, weeks, and years, and they routinely check back with those plans.
For all of you to be able to say that you know yourself and are in constant pursuit of total self discovery is a grand goal. It is with discipline that you will find success in this most noble of goals. Time to reflect, to discover, to think about life, and to dream will become the best moments in your day.
Without reflection where would our world be? From Einstein pondering the world under and apple tree to Bill Gates dreaming of a world connected through the air, where could you be if you only gave your dreams time to take over and seize your soul?
Jump on your bike, find your comfort zone on the road or trail, and then dream and discuss the finer points of life with the one that matters the most. You.
Dream on friends.
Live to ride.
Willie Henry
info@johnhenrybikes.com
www.johnhenrybikes.com
Labels: bicycle, bike shop, John Henry Bikes, North Shore, North shore bike shop, The Seat Post
Notable Cyclists
Today I have decided to let the proud and the proven speak about your beloved bicycle. See what they have to say about cycling and then try and tell me that the bicycle doesn't have the power to change the world...if you can.
"Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of riding a bike." - John F. Kennedy
'As a kid I had a dream - I wanted to own my own bicycle. When I got he bike I must have been the happiest boy in Liverpool, maybe the world. I lived for that bike. Most kids left their bike in the backyard at night. Not me. I insisted on taking mine indoors and the first night I even kept it in my bed." - John Lennon
"When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
"Chasing records doesn't keep me on my bike. Happiness does." - Lance Armstrong after his third Tour de France victory
"Few articles ever used by man (or woman) have ever created so great a revolution in social conditions." - Fred C. Kelly
"Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain - at least in a poor country like Russia - and his vanity begins to swell out like his tires." - Leon Trotsky
"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live." - Mark Twain
"Next to a leisurely walk I enjoy a spin on m y tandem bicycle. It is splendid to feel the wind blowing in my face and the springy motion of my iron steed. The rapid rush through the air gives me a delicious sense of strength and buoyancy, and the exercise makes my pulse dance and my heart sing." - Helen Keller
"Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There's something wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym." - Bill Nye the Science Guy
"Government must help to eliminate cars so that bicycles can help to eliminate government." - Advocacy slogan in Holland
"I'm not going to be doing any Tour de Frances or big mountain bike courses, but it's good to mix things up." - Shaquille O'Neal
"I thought of that while riding my bicycle." - Albert Einstein, on the theory of relativity
Thoughts that may or may not move you but, none the less, makes me want to ride my bike.
Cheers until next week.
Willie Henry
www.johnhenrybikes.com
info@johnhenrybikes.com
P.S. Speaking of moving you; John Henry Bikes' Riding club, 'Pedals and Pints', is back in action. Both mountain bike and road rides are going out. Wednesday nights for mountain biking and Wednesday and Sunday for raod riding. Take a look and join up. We'd love to see you.
Labels: bicycle, bike shop, John Henry Bikes, North Shore, The Seat Post
Inner Child
The eyes reveal the story that the heart wants to tell.
Their reaction is the same every time. They cross their legs like they have to go to the bathroom, jump up and down with incredible anticipation, and their eyes glaze over like they have just consumed a remarkably large amount of street grade chocolate.
A new bike for children is like winning the lottery.
Smiles are a mere consequence of the action. Think back and remember the day that you received your first bike. Almost everybody remembers that day. Cries of 'an Apollo', a 'green Norco Bandit', or 'I can't remember but I know it was red and had tassels'. The laughter will reverberate around the water cooler. Everybody knows that blessed day their parents brought the prized possession home and everybody remembers riding it around their neighborhood; jumping and skidding, up and down, candy store to school, eyes bugging out of your head. Nobody forgets. Not even the adults who don't ride today. They say things like, " I haven't ridden in like 20 years." Everybody remebers being a kid on a bike, no matter who they are.
Your first bike was a staple in your life and something that nostalgia says you'll never forget. Smiles will always tear across your face when you talk about the good old days of your bike with a gas tank. It doesn't matter if your sixty or sixteen your first bike is a timeless memory that inspires great feelings.
Where do those feelings go?
Now I am a lucky man because I get to watch and help new riders hop on their first bikes. I am reminded daily of the butterflies that float in an expectant child's stomach. The colour has never mattered and the derailleur type holds no significant value to a rambunctious youth. They can hardly wait long enough to get their helmet on. They just want to ride, and ride, and ride. They don't even know where they are riding too. The riding, and consequently the fun, is their primary focus. Strange isn't it? Hopping on your bike and riding until your legs cave like a newborn calf. Makes you smile like a madman.
As adults we are consumed with all the details. All the crazy questions. Where will ride, who we are riding with, and bizarrely what we are riding on? When did technology take over our mindsets so totally that you were rendered incapable of remembering that it was a bike you were on? One with two wheels, a bright colour, worn tires, shifters, brakes, and a place to put your feet, hands, and bum. A bike; a simple vehicle born for transport purposes and used to enhance your feelings of freedom and exuberance. I cannot remember the last (or first) person whom has ever told me that they loved riding just their brakes. Every one of them smiles and tells me they love their bike; the whole beautiful thing. Sure parts can make a difference to the whole but a part can never change the essence of just riding your bike.
So take this thought with you. When the spirit moves you, look into a child's eyes and ask them if they like their bicycle. Then ask if they would like to go for a ride with you. Keep an eye on their response and then try to capture that feeling.
You haven't lost your inner child, he or she has merely lost their way. The next time you ride or are having trouble pulling out the rig to go out for a spin remember your inner child and just get out there and pedal. Go anywhere and ride for the sake of riding alone.
Live to ride.
Willie
info@johnhenrybikes.com
www.johnhenrybikes.com
Labels: bicycle, bike shop, John Henry Bikes, North Shore, The Seat Post, Vancouver
A Cause
"Blessed is he who has found his work."
Thomas Carlyle (nineteenth century English essayist)
"When you were born, the world rejoiced while you cried. Live your life in such a way that, when you die, the world cries while you rejoice."
The world is begging for you to help out.
Begging and begging and begging some more. Help me. I need more disciples and more people that understand the meaning of this world and this life.
You see it is the lost causes that interrupt the true nature of finding, discovering, and living for the true causes of this world. The habitual, new world, phenomenon of material gain has clouded the vision of most of us and has rendered us useless.
People no longer live to aid a higher cause because they feel that gaining and adding cars, trucks, houses, and fine clothing is their real purpose. Where and when did this divergence get created? Why?
Today the modern person gets up early, misses lunch, works late, doesn't truly take care of their physical state let alone their mental state of affairs, and then wonders why there is love lost, lack of energy, a loss of drive or desire for getting up in the morning, and major illness plaguing their lives. When described like this it seems easy to discover the reasons for these problems yet most of you in this situation will read this, hear the point, and then carry on with what you were doing; being part of the problem and not part of your solution. Hearing and not understanding the point.
What are you working for? What are you really most proud of?
A little glimpse into the everyday conversations around the bike store can give you a view of what really matters to most.
- "I road further today than I have ever ridden before - it felt amazing breaking down that mental barrier of two hours in the saddle."
- "I can't believe I actually finished that Duathlon. I never thought I could do it."
- "I rode that log like time was standing still and then Peter ripped it right behind me. It was like we were fifteen years old again. We were so proud of each other. It is going to be a great barbeque tonight."
- "I'm training to complete my first triathlon."
- "A trip through the Napa Valley on my bike was possibly my best trip ever."
This is where the journey must start for all of us. Discovering ourselves will allow us to gain the next level of understanding and to then help others and our world.
Here is the warning. If you do not discover that you are striving for the wrong things than you will never end up satisfied and that pot of gold you thought so necessary will only become an anchor that is difficult to release. Money is not what you should want it is a by product that you may earn as you pursue your cause. Just ask the Dali Lama if he thinks he is wealthy.
John Henry the Bicycle Man
Vision: Create Riders
Purpose: A world where the bike is a part of the fabric of our society and healthy people are the main by product of continued bike usage.
Cause: A stronger and more empowered community focused on others, sustainability, and their own personal legacy
Keep riding and keep smiling. Both are important for your health.
Live to ride.
Willie Henry
info@johnhenrybikes.com
www.johnhenrybikes.com
Labels: bike shop, John Henry Bikes, North Shore, The Seat Post, Willie Cromack
