By Jen
Wise words from Brown Girl in the Lane. She asks, if 10,000 hours spent on an activity makes one an expert, what does a cycling expert look like? At her conservative estimate of 10,000+ hours in the saddle, here are her rules for cycling. I put some of my favorite parts in bold (#4 is both very true and made me laugh pretty hard). Get a little more reflection and Google’s idea of what an “expert cyclist” looks like. Then go look in a mirror to see what a real expert cyclist looks like. Because even if you are just starting out on your bike, you are still becoming your own expert at riding.
1. Ride as much as possible.
2. Be pleasant when riding. If you feel a little grumpy, ride it out. Have a beer (or 5) at the end of the ride to simmer down. Take up kickboxing if you really have unusual anger issues.
3. Smile and read the daily funnies. Humor is not low brow – it is also a necessity to deal with life “in these times”.
4. Get a comfortable saddle. If your ass hurts, the ride will not be pleasant. If you ride a bike with one of those thimble sized saddles and are always angry, get a saddle with more surface area.
5. Get a bell. Ding it as often as possible.
6. Get some tunes to play for yourself and others around. Make sure it is happy music. The sort of music that will make people around you smile. This is a MUST.
7. Breathe deeply. Even if the air stinks to the high heavens, breathe deeply. This is your reality.
8. If your surroundings look crappy, look up. The sky is usually pretty beautiful.
9. Don’t judge other cyclists. Everyone makes their choices and everyone makes mistakes. This is not a tragedy. The real tragedy are the people who want to ride, but cannot.
10. Be smug if you do ride. You certainly have earned every right to be smug.
What are you an expert at? Do you have any rules for cycling?