Another New Beginning.

For those of you who are my new friends, you will most likely have a better idea about the motivation for the title of this Blog. September 2009 was a watershed in my life. This weekend on Sabbath morning, I will again testify to this change in my life. That September was a time of the most bitter anguish and heart-break, witnessed only by my God and Savior, nobody else had an idea. Apparently I suffer from a syndrome called "Poker Face", a throwback to my days racing and pretending that everything is just peachy and that I am not hurting in the least. Fortunately, He stepped in, I was hurting badly.

Well here I am......I have officially been off the bike for one and a half years now and I have begun to miss the feeling of wind rushing past my face and the fighter-pilot feel of technical singletrack at speed. OK, I admit it, I have missed it for quite awhile now but have been busy (and lazy). Self-justification will get me nowhere in this matter.

A couple of months ago, I met an incredible man, Dr Ron du Preez. He was here to run the Two Oceans Marathon and also speak at the Gauteng Camp Meeting. As with a lot of Adventists, he is a man whose physical appearance completely misrepresents his life's cumulative experiences. What I am trying to say is, he looks far younger than he is, but that implies that he is old which is also not true....

We spoke of his keen interest in fitness and my flagging interest in exercise in favour of exercising my addling mind. He uttered one sentence that absolutely cut to the bone, "Fitness for witness". Ouch, that hurt.....but so many times in life the things we need most to hear do hurt. I decided to start running, well more like brisk walking that became trail jogging (you certainly could not call it running).

That was going well, a couple of weeks in I decided to clean up the local trail from some stinging, prickly bushes and essentially set off to do some pruning. This pruning proved to be my undoing, it was not heavy work but a miss-timed bending/standing/twisting/throwing movement caused damage to my back that made sure that I could not walk 2 days later! Whoever said gardening is safe is absolutely mistaken, really!

2 Months later, back rehab, one trip to the Transalp mountain-bike race in Europe as a team mechanic, some reflection upon my current physical status when I returned to SA and today I had my first ride.

"Another New Beginning"

Whoohooo! What fun to be back on the saddle again and that into the teeth of a chilling North Westerly wind on Signal Hill. To Peter and the boys I used to train with, I know you guys will understand. That wind has the ability to make you feel like the loneliest rider on the planet when you are trying to cross the back of the Lion on Signal Hill on your own.

Take note people, this Blog is for you guys, to make sure that I continue. I lack motivation in some areas of my life, scheduling events in my day is one of them.....watch this space, it is time to rebuild my temple of the Holy Spirit. I owe Him that much and much more.