Go Ride Bikes

Go Ride Bikes on some woodwork in Canada!

Go Ride Bikes is synonymous for Keep Moving. It comes from a guy at a local bike shop, who will be glad to sell you something, but his first statement is always Go Ride Bikes. He assumes if you are out riding you are going to break something, and that works for him.

For me it is more than that. We are assaulted with masses of information, news, and entertainment and make thousands of decisions every day. In addition, we have the stresses of work, family life and other obligations, both real and imagined. Even riding a mountain bike requires a host of decisions: what is the right equipment, which is the trail of choice, how are the crowds and the dirt and so on. It is very easy to put the activity in the list with waves of other things, and have it get bumped because of time. What Go Ride Bikes really means is Do It. Do it first. Throw some gear together, lace up the shoes, break out the walker for the mall, get the rods in the car, and get moving!

I mentioned in a previous post I had the opportunity to have cancer. I was one of the lucky ones that survived. A special side benefit of that was the physical degradation during the treatment process. When I was severely under the weather, I had a simple thought process. I figured if I could walk around the block, I was still alive. I did that, as best I recall, daily. Anyone foolish enough to visit me would get dragooned into walking with me. Since I couldn’t talk, I would write on my mini whiteboard, tapping violently with the pen, and how could they refuse? As I got slowly better, I would do a couple laps, eventually began to jog, and graduated to figure eight laps. If the weather was bad, I would be on the treadmill inside but with the slightest ray of sunshine I was like a moth to a street light. I never became a runner, and actually did not really care for it, rarely doing over 5K, but it triggered some sort of hormone release in my brain and became basically an addiction.

After I went back to work, I spent some time in Longmont, Colorado. As I was heading out the front door of the hotel, in a snowy muck, to go for a jog, a co-worker asked what the hell I was doing. Oddly, I couldn’t explain, other than I had to go for a quick run. A few years later, in cold, rotten spring conditions in Boise, as I headed out for a bike ride, my dad asked the same thing but added some special commentary on not overdoing things. I had the same answer, but instead I was going for a quick ride!

Over time I converted that need to get outside into bike riding, and I started in the oddest of places, jungles in Asia. I remember coming home one night and seeing a fellow resident in my apartment building working on his bike. I had the same set up, so I watched him and we chatted while he changed a bearing, as preventative maintenance on a bike that never really went outside. I had a standing offer with him to take him riding, but nary a call. My stuff, on the other hand, was continually getting rusty, my leased car had unfortunate wear marks from my bike rack, and my shoes, due to the extreme conditions, would come unglued in under a year. Of course my arrogance toward him turned around and bit me when my pedal fell off a few weeks later because the bearing seized!

My dad’s active addiction was anything outdoors, which could be exploring, hunting, fishing, gathering mushrooms, etc. However, his true addiction was fishing. He did it to a point the family would ask him why he was going in in those conditions and make comments on maybe not overdoing it. At 91 years old, if he has not been out of the house by 3pm, he is manic and insufferable to be around. As I complain about it, my wife laughs and tells me I am just like him, but my peak time is 10am. I don’t believe her though.

I ended up with a healthy addiction. If the sun it out, I need an outdoor adventure. If not, I can go a day or so, but in the end I have to move. There are a vast array of benefits and a few real downsides, too. I’ve seen amazing jungles and rice paddy fields in Asia, Tetons in Wyoming, stunning geology in the desert, the rain forest in British Columbia, every animal and reptile you can imagine, petroglyphs, and been on killer rides and enjoyed lots of great beers. I’ve also acquired sore knees, tendonitis in the elbow, an arthritic shoulder, broken fingers, burst bursa sac on the elbow, broken ribs, and collection of nicely infected leg gashes, along with other assorted scrapes and cuts. To me, those are a small price to pay; remember the words of Evel Knievel, ‘Chics dig scars.’

If you’ve read this far, you’ve made the critical mistake of what my close friend’s wife calls ‘making eye contact.’ You were unaware of your engagement, and now you get the pushy, poky, uncomfortable part for which I’m famous among friends and family. Get off your ass and do something. Hike, bike, fish, rock hunt, or like Daddy, drive to the mall and do two laps. Things that seem like requirements really aren’t. Raise your GAF level to include only the important things and make time for yourself. Skip a meal, grab some water and a granola bar and get going.

I now know the restraints of life. I had That Job. I consistently worked well over 50 hours a week for more than 30 years. Each night I would come home to a busy family life and turn into a zombie by 9pm, knowing that the whole thing would reset again at 6am the next morning. I was not good at it, and whether it’s true or not, I believe the stress of that life, along with a healthy dose of alcohol, caused the cancer. With that lifestyle, you have to pack your fun into a weekend, and just survive the week. I had to go thru that to figure out that the first thing I needed to do when I got off work was to ride, and everything else came second.

You can read a lot of studies on health and wellness and see fitness gurus on TV and the internet giving you all kinds of advice. Who knows what to believe? Keto, Atkins, low carb, low fat, Zumba, yoga herbals, CBD, fasting, and the list goes on! These people are all trying to fill a gap left by our health care industry, whose main focus is treating symptoms, not causes. After you get past the genetic problems, their answer is a pill for this and a pill for that. It’s not a question of why did you get cancer, why do you have type 2 diabetes, why do you have high blood pressure, but how we can treat it. I lived this when I was recovering from cancer. Once the docs realized I was gonna live and be alright, I was way below their GAF level. I had to manage my own return to a healthy life. Things like trying to figure out how to get enough muscle back to get to the point where I could actually build some lactic acid and feel it was on me. So you have to figure out how to fuel your body, how to burn the calories, and what activities you can do to aid in all that, which are going to keep you moving to a ripe old age.

If you show up at the docs with a problem, he or she is going to give you a maximum of 20 quality minutes, and work on that treatment for type two diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. It’s going to be along the lines of ‘take these pills, go to the gym, and eat better.’ As a first wave of attack, that works. The initial work comes in identifying the source. Maybe drop the sodas, chips, and daily Monsters, even if those cans say zero calories. Do you dread the exercise regimen, or is it something you look forward to? If you don’t like it, you are not going to do it the rest of your life. The happiest day of your life should be not when you are diagnosed and begin to treat, but when you can naturally stop the treatments. Of course, in many cases, genetic issues or issues where your body does not do something like produce insulin, you are going to have to take that pill. I, for example, had my thyroid roasted with radiation, so there is little natural production and it has to be supplemented. It’s a rare physician who has the ability to spend time with you to go beyond treatment and work wellness issues.

I have seen it firsthand. My ancient dad went through a process that has made him as astute and physically capable as he was 10+ years ago. First, he eliminated the booze, which allowed him to eliminate the blood pressure pills. Next, he dropped the sleeping pills, and after that the baby aspirin. His medication list today is a multivitamin about once per week and his blood pressure is always spot on target. Within 5 sites here in the RV park where I spend each winter, most of the dogs take more meds than the old man! I am sure they are out there, but I have yet to meet anyone who is as physically capable and mentally astute at over 90 years old.

You probably noticed an acronym mixed into the post, GAF level. There are studies, documentation, and some great TED talks on this. It stands for Give a F***. In industry, the term is GAS level, and it’s pretty common. It’s a way to filter the noise, activities, peer pressures, and all things that stand in your way. You only do the things necessary to achieve your goals, clear and simple. It may sound cold, but it’s just about the goals. In addition to Go Ride Bikes, your goals may be elder care, volunteer, foster key relationships, or build a strong family. As you free up your time, you can focus on the single most important investment in your portfolio, your health.