The True Believer

I admire the true believer. And, I aspire to be one.

I am talking about the guy I saw on the way to school this morning. He was riding his road bike on a morning when the air temperature was in the low 20s. Bundled up against the cold and the wind. On his way to work.

The true believer will make great sacrifices for bike time. He will forego his morning Starbucks, his NPR, his sports talk, for that brisk morning ride.

I was close to being a true believer once. Then winter hit. Then I got into running.

But I still hear that call. A little piece of me dies every time I see a rider or peleton making its way down Mission Road near our house on a semi-warm winter day. Why am I not doing that? I ask myself.

It is the same (and sometimes greater) feeling I get when I skip mass.

So seek out the Bible in the nightstand and thumb through to the correct daily reading. I work through a couple of articles from the cycling magazines I take.

More bike time. That's what I need.

Fortunately it's that time of year. Spring is in the air. The basketball tournaments are coming to town. The forecast calls for 70s this weekend.

There is hope for me to be a true believer...again.