It’s not all mahogony and cavier here at the ivory towered headquarters of launchday inc. we do occassionaly venture outside – blinking, wrinkled and pasty white, but outside nonetheless – to do something silly, like ride a bike.
for those of you unfortunate enough to get stuck on a ride with me, you know that basically everyone is faster than me. I was recently “dropped” by an eight year old. I get “dropped” all the time by the local 13-year-old, so often that I’ve stopped even noticing or thinking about it. It’s just the norm. Getting dropped is the norm. Just wait at the top if you’re so inclined, I’ll get there. Last place is my natural position on a bike. I don’t like not being last place. It stresses me out.
And I started thinking about the brain chemistry of this.
When not in last place, I tend to find the brain chemistry displeasing. Who’s behind me, are they ticked off, are they maybe depressed about it, or worse are they gaining, how about that awkward moment when they pass me, then it’s my turn to get kind of ticked off, or maybe depressed about it, and wonder if these are my declining years, or if my legs are too short, or wonder why im such a lousy “descender”, or im too fat (which is a fact) or maybe I just need to ride more, should I be doing interval training, get some power cranks, blah blah blah. it’s a myriad of unhappy thoughts. Why not just ride the bike? And you know where you can do that in peace and quiet? Last place.
In last place you’re just chillin. Noones watching you to see if you get up the hill (I wont) or over the rock (I might). In first place, its all work, work work. It’s for the athletically gifted. Last place is for the guy that rides his bike, does what he can, tries to get some sun and not get killed by a car or bear. It’s for the guy that can ride up to the group that’s waiting, smile and give a big “everybody good? ok im going to keep chugging along if you dont mind so i dont cramp” and keep chugging along.
Anyways I had something more to say about it but i’ve forgotten what it was. Something about brain chemistry. Thanks for listening.
