Doomed to Learn

October 24, 2007, 9:15 am; posted by
Filed under Articles, Chloe, Featured  | 3 Comments

It was a bright and beautiful day when we kicked off. The weather must have been sunny with a high of 75, not a cloud in the blue London sky. The traffic was moderate, only a few people honked at us, and before too long, we were on a train headed to Birmingham.

Two friends (Mike and Matt) and I were biking from Birmingham, England to the coast of Wales, 160 miles total, sleeping on the side of the road, and eating dried fruit and peanut butter and jelly. We had been planning the trip for weeks, everything had gone right, and now we were there, on the train, actually going on this grand adventure.

Birmingham was bigger than we anticipated. We hadn’t done much in the way of city cycling, and we didn’t know Birmingham. As the sun sunk lower, it got colder. We lost each other a couple of times trying to maneuver the rush hour traffic. Then I started shaking. My heart was beating irregularly, my legs were on fire, and I was dizzy. I was falling behind, so I jumped off my bike. Mike and Matt stopped ahead of me and waited for me to catch up. We had only been biking for about four miles. “I don’t think I can do this,” I announced.

They convinced me to try again, arguing that since I wasn’t out of breath, it was probably just the traffic throwing me off. They were sure I could do it.

But ten minutes later I was off my bike again, then again five minutes after that. Only then did they finally accept I simply could not handle this trip. So they went on, and I walked the bike all the way back to the station and caught a train home.

Throughout the next day, I learned that even the fittest person can’t just hop on a bike and go 160 miles in four days — that kind of work uses such specific muscle groups. It would take intensive training to take such a strenuous trip. But my mother didn’t share her similar biking experiences until I got home. My professors didn’t admit how worried they were until I admitted it was impossible. No one said I couldn’t do it. And knowing me, if they had, I would have made a point to prove them wrong.

There are so many lessons in life we must learn the same way. One of the hardest things is keeping your counsel when you know someone else is going through such a trial. But the lessons learned through experience will be lessons they’ll never forget, lessons that will increase their wisdom and make them more whole.

Mike and Matt returned home the next day because of a broken bike. I’m thankful all three of us got home safely. I’m thankful for the experience, for biking around London and Birmingham, for getting to know Mike and Matt better, and for getting to see firsthand how God humbles and protects His children.

And I’m thankful to the people who let me figure it out myself.


Comments

3 Comments to “Doomed to Learn”

  1. Matthew Chase on October 24th, 2007 7:41 pm

    Yeah… it was kind of interesting, the whole thing, how God just did not let us do it. I mean, Mike and I would have tried no mater what but, when a bike breaks, what else can you do but stop and turn around. It was good to know both Mike and Chole more, but I think I learned a bit about God those days. Her cares enough to stop you, and I don’t mean the nice parental “don’t go” I mean the breaking your bike kind of stuff.

  2. David on October 24th, 2007 9:02 pm

    If the two of you had gone on any further your bike may have actually had to turn aside of its own volition and then speak to you with a mans voice when you punished it for it’s insolence.

  3. Erin on October 25th, 2007 2:54 am

    Oh, Chloe. This is exactly the sort of thing I would do and have come very close to doing on several occasions ;)

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