“I don’t want to go”, I thought.  I had a million excuses running through my mind.  “…this week has been too stressful…my teenager has been hard to get along with…been up too late helping my daughter with her 4H projects for the County Fair…stood too long in line today and my back is killing me…have to get up at 4:30 am and I’m exhausted…”  The list kept getting longer the more I let my stress envelop me.  I really, really did not want to ride that day.  But I had paid my entry fee, and my friend would be picking me up at 5:30 am.  No turning back.

Reluctantly, I got my act and my gear together.  My friend and I arrived in Waverly, CO, just after sunrise on a gorgeous Sunday morning.  I went through my little routine of getting my bike and gear ready, without really thinking about it.  I was just on auto-pilot.  My mind continued to race about things I needed to get done when I got home, the activities to get ready for the next week, the worries of a mom of a teenage boy.  The accumulated stress and fatigue weighed on me as if I were a cartoon character holding two pieces of broken bridge together so the cartoon car could pass, but I tried not to let it show.

Around 7 am,  we were ready to ride.  There were a few of us at the side of the road, just hanging around.  The ride people had said they would have an organized start at 7 am, but there didn’t seem to be anything happening.  I was chomping at the bit, already worried about when we’d finish the 72-mile ride because I needed to get home.  I asked my friend, “Are you ready to go?” and she said yes, so I clipped in.

I took one pedal stroke, then another.  The air was crisp with the promise of a warm day ahead.  Another stroke, and- that’s when it happened- a crack.
It was a crack in the cement shell of stress that was encasing me.
Another turn, faster this time, muscles warming.  Ka-chunk!  A large piece of the shell fell away.
My mind awakens, and another huge chunk breaks free, crash!.  Pedaling faster…more pieces falling behind me…breaking free…FREE!
All the worries, the thoughts, the list of to-do’s, the excuses not to ride; they are all erased.  The negatives are replaced with the peaceful bliss of a morning view of the Rockies, a cool breeze, and the simple rhythm of my cadence.

The effect of riding on my psyche has never been so obvious to me as right at that moment.  The perfect stress relief.

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