Transcend: Wise Mechanics

God speaks through all sorts of people - including bike mechanics.

Sometimes it just takes me a few weeks to get the message.

Earlier this summer, I went to the bike shop to get a new rear tire. While I was there, I talked to the mechanic about getting a new rear cassette (yep, the thing in the picture), complaining that I wanted a steeper ratio to help increase my top speed. I was expecting a "oh, we'd have to custom order that" or "yeah, but that's the racing model" or something like that. I was dumfounded by his answer.

"Um, they don't make anything faster then that."

"So what do I do? Get a bigger front chainring?"

"Well, you could try slowing down. Easier on the bike, and your knees, too, probably."

It was the last thing I expected. His job was to sell me bike parts - things that could make me go faster. And he was telling me to slow down? I mean, I haven't been passed on the bike paths in three years except for couriers and Olympic trainees, but...

And it took me until now to get it. This isn't about my terminal velocity as I scream down a hill. It's about a lifestyle. I keep pushing when I need to be able to coast. To store up my energy for when I need it. To appreciate the wind in my hair, the sweat on my face, and the scenery I'm hurtling by. I need to stop pushing.

"It never comes from pushing."

That's Alfred Hitchcock, apparently shutting down production at the end of the day when his actors were trying too hard to get the scene right. And the next day, after sleeping, they nailed it, first take. It never comes from pushing.

Special thanks to Mark Bucannan for letting me butcher his beautiful Hitchcock story.