The Pull

I hope it's not just me.

The other day I had a great day off, the weather was decent, I even got dressed for a ride, but for some reason when I made lunch and sat down to watch an episode of Dr. Who while I ate, I just kept on sitting on the couch and did not get off of it for the rest of the day. As the day went on I felt more and more ashamed, but the lazy just pulls me in to the warm, comfortable folds of the couch and for some reason the shame and guilt had no power against it.

Don't get me wrong - I love riding my bike. It makes me feel better not only physically but mentally. I get grumpy if I don't ride. I am just not myself. So why oh why did the couch have such a pull on me? Why did I not do something that I love, something that makes me a better person inside and out?

So far my excuse has been that the last few weeks have been quite stressful - work has been crazy busy and we have been dealing with some personal stresses as well. Did this stress lead to the attack of the couch or was it just pure old laziness? Usually I just push through the lazy and head out to the trails and feel all the crappiness and stress leave my body as I my tires grip the trail under me. I always feel better after a ride - it never fails - the bike cures what ails me. Such a wonderful piece of machinery, but not that day, all I was left with was a bubbling brine of all that stress ... now with added shame.

I know I can't be the only one out there that gets pulled in by the laziness of the couch, can I? There have got to be others whose bikes feel lonely because they do not get ridden enough; others who sit on the couch or behind the screen of their computers instead of flowing down a trail on your metal steed. What keeps you from throwing your leg over your bike on those days when you know it would be better to ride than it would be on the couch? Why do you think that we ignore something that we know we love so much?

I wish I had the answers to these questions, and if we did know the answers would it change the results? I know it sounds as easy as just getting off our asses and riding, but there is something more to it that I just have not been able to put my finger on, something that keeps pulling me back in to the warm clutches of the couch and laziness. If you figure it out just let me know, you know where to find me ... yawn ...