I was looking forward to my day yesterday. I had planned to sleep in, have a good breakfast, and get my beloved bike - her name is Punkin - ready for our first ride since my return. All went according to plan, until we were actually underway. My snazzy app was telling me that all was well with Punkin. Batteries were full, the system was calibrated. But the gears just wouldn’t shift.
Because I was soooo excited to be back on my road bike, I decided to just keep going until the first hill came (at which point shifting would be absolutely necessy). Well, after about 15 km I reached that point, pulled off to the side, and tried to figure out what was going on with lil’ miss Punkin. I reset the batteries and recalibrated the gears. Three times. Now, as you can imagine, I got more and more frustrated each time my attempt failed. The gears just wouldn’t shift. So, angry at the situation, I was forced to turn around and head back home, cutting my ride short by at least 20 km. AND I had the dreadful realization that I would have to walk my bike up the hill to my house. Lame!
On the way back home, my sourpuss face going hard, I spotted some people by the side of the road waiting to be picked up. That gave me a flashback to a moment in Guatemala.
We were on a bus heading from one little community to another, enjoying the views from our private van. On the way up one of the big hills, we passed by a little field where a bunch of women and children were camped out. To us tourists it wasn’t really clear what they were doing there. It was clear that they weren't just there to have fun and play. They were waiting. But for what? We asked our guide. He said that they had most likely been working in one of the neighboring towns and were hitch-hiking back to their community. This was probably just one of the stops along the way, where the previous vehicle had to drop them off.
Since the arrival of these nice random people can’t be scheduled, the women know that they just have to wait it out. And, because the temperature in the evenings drops quite significantly, each family had their own little campfire built up to keep them warm while the kids ran around and played soccer. Everybody was waiting to get back home after a long day at work. No fussing. No upset faces. Just families waiting...patiently.
So, what the hell was I doing, being frustrated that my fancy bike with electronic shifters wasn’t fulfilling my desire to go on a leisurely ride, on a day off that I’m privileged to have in the first place? My mood changed REAL quick. I went from
“why isn’t this going how I want it to?”
to
“I’m grateful that I got to go on a ride. no matter how many kms.
I have a nice bike that I’m super grateful to have.
I’m privileged that I can afford to have today off.
l’m so freakin' lucky.”
Perspective. It seriously changes things.
I wonder what other little travel snippets will help me snap back to reality as life goes on?
Thank you for this.