IT'S NOT ABOUT THE BIKE
Chapter One
Encore
Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something
else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever. That surrender, even the smallest act of giving up,
stays with me. So when I feel like quitting, I ask myself, which would I rather live with? Facing up to that question,
and finding a way to go on, is the real reward, better than any trophy, as I would learn all over again in the 2000
season.
By now you've figured out I'm into pain. Why? Because it's self-revelatory, that's why. There is a point in every race
when a rider encounters his real opponent and understands that it's himself. In my most painful moments on the bike, I
am at my most curious, and I wonder each and every time how I will respond. Will I discover my innermost weakness, or
will I seek out my innermost strength? It's an open-ended question whether or not I will be able to finish the race.
You might say pain is my chosen way of exploring the human heart.
I don't always win. Sometimes just finishing is the best I can do. But with each r ... read full excerpt from It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life ebook
