Cadence Part 1

Biking, a passion I have. To live is to bike, and to bike is to live. Okay, I'm not that much of a fanatic, but I am a fan. Last June 7Th, we all remember that day, it's the day it rained in biblical proportions, I was riding in the Trek 100 with Lance Armstrong. Well, more like he was there and so was I, but since it's my story, me and Lance, yes, Lance and I were riding together. The day was simply beautiful, the rains wouldn't come until hours after Lance and I finished. Okay, he finished well before I did, I won't mention him again.

Cadence is the term that refers to your rate of pedal stroke. No matter how the terrain changes, small hills, steep hills, long hills, the goal is to keep that pedal stroke constant. The easiest way to accomplish that is by shifting gears up or down, steeper hills shift into lower gears, straight aways higher gears, simple really. Keep your effort constant, when it gets hard to pedal, shift gears, and keep working on that cadence.

For me cadence is a metaphor. No matter what is going on in my life, or yours, we are required to keep our effort efficient and constant, its the only way we can move forward. Some hills we need to zigzag up, some we just have to stand out of our seat, and some we may have to stop pedaling all together and push our bike up. Sometimes we also need to be reminded to shift gears.

In 2003 I listened to a sermon entitled One More Night With The Frogs. The setting was in Egypt, Pharaoh and his people were enduring the plagues because Pharaoh was to stubborn to let the children of Israel go.
So the frog plague hits, frogs everywhere, in your hair, in your soup, in your bath, in your yard, in your house, everywhere. Moses tells Pharaoh, say the word, I can pray for you and the frogs will go away. To me, Moses says, I can shift gears for you, say the word. Pharaoh does, he says come back tomorrow. Egypt is riding up a hill, their cadence has dropped to almost nothing, Moses volunteers to shift gears for them, Pharaoh chooses to spend another night with his problem.

I took that sermon to heart. I recognized God's voice saying I can shift gears for you, if you let me. The hill I was on was to steep, my cadence had no rhythm. I knew it was time for me to leave the frogs behind, and let God select the gears. I still had to pedal, I just gave up shifting the gears.

End Part 1