Who’s in your Peloton?
Cycling is life!
Today the Tour de France pedals into Paris after 2,100 miles through picturesque small towns, up steep alpine climbs, down breath-taking descents, and along beautiful ribbons of asphalt, through scorching heat and downpours with just a thin layer of colorful lycra protecting the cyclists from the elements.
I’m a sports fan, but there’s nothing like cycling. Other sports play within the restricted boundaries of clocks, fields, pitches, and courts, while cycling offers openness and, like life, comes with uncertainty because we don’t know how long the race will last. There are no time-outs, commercial breaks, or instant reply reviews. The stages come one after another – there are no three-day breaks between races – it keeps going, as does life.
Pedal stroke by pedal stroke, breath by breath, the mind shifts. It plays tricks on us. At one moment, it’s sharp, then it wanders and wonders if we can keep pedaling or belong in the peloton, but with the help of others, we find a way to summon the grit and tenacity within us to keep going.
Like life, there will be potholes, broken chains, flat tires, and crashes, but these obstacles don’t define us; how we respond to them does. It takes resilience and courage to keep pedaling when the voice in our head tells us to stop, but we don’t because we need each other’s energy in this race.
Cycling reminds us that we go far together. We take turns blocking the wind, sharing a bottle, and offering encouragement even when riding on different teams with different goals.
No other sport allows the fans to be as close to the competitors as cycling. The energy between groups is symbiotic, but like life, it’s perfectly imperfect – mental health challenges, gender inequities, and a lack of diversity weave through today’s peloton as it does society.
This year’s Tour de France has been one of the most demanding and dramatic in recent history. Future stars appeared as we celebrated those who are moving on. There was a clash of titans, improbable breakaways, sprint victories, and one of the best post-competition interviews in sports ever.
It’s been a lifetime of sensations in three short weeks.
In our personal lives and careers, there will be moments when it will feel like we have it all figured out, pedaling is easy, and we’ll feel pushed along by a strong tailwind. We can ride like this forever.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature will shift the winds, the terrain will change, and you’ll realize lycra isn’t body armor. You’ll think you’re the slowest in the bunch, and everything, including baguette and soft, smelly cheese, will be thrown at you. There will be days when you don’t want to ride.
But you will; you’ll find a way to keep pedaling because you know you can do hard things – especially when you ride within a peloton that brings out the best in you.
The question is, Who’s in your Peloton? Who’s riding beside you?
There are many opinions on how to be successful and happy, but the data from several studies, including Harvard’s 80-year Study on Adult Development, clearly points to the importance of community.
The bottom line? Your peloton matters.
It’s fitting that the peloton rides into The City of Love today. Healthy communities require like-heartedness and openness to different-mindedness. Love is the mortar that creates belonging. Love is what holds us together when forces wish to break us apart.
Yes, cycling is life, and riding with a loving peloton makes our rides that much better. We’ll have moments when we wish it would be easy, but, I’m sorry to say, it never gets easier; we just get faster and ride farther when we ride together.
Until next week, keep pedaling and have fun storming the Bastille!
And if this resonated with you, please share it with your peloton.
Michael
p.s., I have an exercise to help you audit your peloton and create one that brings out the best in you. Please let me know if you would like to receive it.
p.s.s. In celebration of this year’s Tour, I’ve reopened my Last Bad Day free Pause Breathe Reflect Meditation app and Ripple Love/Ripple Kindness T-Shirt giveaway through tomorrow. Click PBR to receive the “yellow jersey” of meditation and gratitude apps and the RIPPLE to receive a tee shirt to help you ride like the wind.
You can share this with your peloton as well. It’s a great way to spread of ripple of love.
