Harder than a Century

For the past week my wife and I have been in San Antonio, Texas for the purpose of buying a home. I thought about bringing my bike with me in order to get my first taste of riding in the Texas Hill Country, but I decided I should leave it in Washington and stay focused on the task at hand. It's a good thing too, because I've found the whole process of buying a house a lot harder than riding a century.

First you have to choose a realtor, then you need to decide where you want to look, then what kind of house you're looking for, then you have to locate potential properties from the MLS listings, and then actually go out and look at the properties, because most of the time they don't look anything like they do in the listings. Once you've finally settled on a house, then you have to go through the financing process.

Financing is the worst part of all, because everything you've ever done with money is laid bare for the loan officer (and anyone else who works with him) to see. It reminded me of how I felt as I put on my riding gear after a long, cold wet winter when I didn't ride nearly enough and put on way too many pounds. I felt almost naked in my lycra spandex, with way too much being revealed, even though it was still covered. After three and a half hours in the mortgage office I felt like I did after riding the STP in one day. SPENT!

The amazing thing is that just as God has guided, guarded, strengthened and kept me through many long, hard rides, he has guided and strengthened us through this long process. We hope to close on our new home in a few weeks and be enjoying the new life God has in store for us in Texas. It's exciting. It reminds me of one of my favorite Bible passages, Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust the LORD with all your heart, and don’t depend on your own understanding. Remember the LORD in all you do, and he will give you success."

The Virtual Tour

Once again it is Tour de France time. July has become my favorite month of the year for this reason. It's an amazing race that it difficult beyond comprehension. Over 2000 miles and an unbelievable amount of climbing. The mountains are where the race is won or lost.

This year for the first time there is an online Virtual Tour. Each day of the Tour you ride your bike and record your ride using a GPS. Then you submit your ride to the website. A computer program analyzes your ride and your performance while riding and compares it to that day's course on the Tour. It tells you how long it would have taken for you to ride the same course as the peloton rode.

On Saturday Fabian Cancellara won the opening time trial, covering 15 kilometers or about 9 miles in 19 minutes and 32 seconds. On the second day, sprinter Mark Cavendish was the winner, riding 122 miles in four and one half hours. Well, I submitted my rides and got the results. They were stunning, in the worst possible way! It would have taken me 50 minutes to ride the time trial course in Monaco on Saturday. Today's ride would have taken me 10 hours and 12 minutes (that's considering that I would have been able to complete it at all). OUCH! These revelations were humbling to say the least. I can't believe how much fitness I've lost since my Canada to Mexico ride just a year ago. But even in my best shape at the end of that 1300 mile ride, the peloton would have left me in the dust.

Paul writes in Romans 12:3: "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." This is even more true spiritually, than it is physically. I need to have a realistic view of myself as a cyclist, otherwise I will get into trouble trying to overextend myself as a rider. This could result in a "bonk" at the least (bonking is running out of "gas" during a ride) or a crash at the worst. If we do not have a realistic view of ourselves spiritually, the results could be much worse. I could overestimate myself and underestimate the Enemy and end up falling into serious sin and spiritual ruin. I could become self-righteous and judgmental as I make false comparisons between myself and other people.

Logging on to the Virtual Tour gave me a good reality check on my cycling abilities. Each of us needs to open God's Word and examine ourselves in the light of God's will so that we will not think more highly of ourselves than we ought.

The interesting thing about the Virtual Tour is that you can "win" no matter how slow you are, just by entering. In a similar way, God's grace makes us all winners regardless of how weak or strong we are, because we trust in Jesus and His saving grace. Grace does not apply to the real Tour de France, however. The one who rides the race in the shortest overall time wins. And right now, I'm not ready to pick a winner for 2009. They haven't hit the mountains. But we can all be winners if we put our faith in Jesus!