Fat Tires on Paved Paths

Many of you know how fond I am of running and riding a bike.  I’ve done both as long as I can remember but recently I had to really work through a recent development that challenged my thinking and what I thought was “allowable”.

I rode a mountain bike on the road.

That’s right!  I rode a knobby-tired bike with suspension on perfectly paved roads. 

You might not think that’s very revolutionary or worth writing about.  Plenty of people do that all the time.  But God uses rides and runs to whisper to me and while it’s taken months to wrestle it onto a screen I’d like to encourage you to embrace the pedaling and not dwell on the bike.

Riding a mountain bike on the road is a big deal for me because as long as I can remember I’ve had bikes.  “Bikes” being plural because I like to ride in many different places and ways.  With all of the different rides I could justify having multiple bikes.

Bikes are specific that way.  You can build or buy a bike for any type of ride and purpose.  Want to bomb down a mountain?  You can add big suspension!  Want to be speedy on the road?  There’s bikes that cut through the wind with ease.  Want something fun to ride to the coffee shop?  There are bikes for that too! 

When you are a cyclist, or identify as someone that rides a bike, you can literally pedal a bike that is exactly the right tool for the job without exceptions.  You just need a lot of bikes in your garage!

When I started to ride my mountain bike on the road I did it because I was training for a specific race.  Then I realized that it was pretty fun because it was different.   It’s a different position and a different way of rolling over the road.  Things look different and the feeling of pedaling up and down hills is drastically different than the purpose-driven road bike.

After decades of riding the “right bike” on roads and trails I think the experience of riding a mountain bike on the road brings me back to a simple message.

Pedaling is the purpose.

That’s right.  When you ride a bike you must pedal, no matter what the bikes intended purpose may be.   And I believe that while I was pedaling a bike with tires made for rocks and roots on the road God was telling me to not get caught up in the bikes, their parts, and their intention but rather to keep pedaling whatever bike I was on.

Can you feel that?  Do you know that you are called to pedal?  When we seek and know Jesus we are to actively live that out.  We are to pedal.  We are to pedal where we are placed with those that God puts in our path.

I’m pedaling in places I didn’t expect.  As a husband, father, and son.  As a substitute teacher, coach, and guy that does a million odd jobs a week to keep things going.  I’m pedaling…some things are road bikes on roads and many feel like big mountain bikes on roads! 

Pedaling is the point but it’s easy to put the eyes on the bike instead of the action of moving.  Do you ever drift into that mindset?  The focus is on the job.  The title.  The building.  The institution.  The status that comes with the proverbial “bike”.  

I’ve done enough races that I’ve heard many stories of the race outcome seemingly resting on the performance of the bike.  The bike failed.  The bike wasn’t fast enough or wasn’t up to everyone else’s.  I have made those excuses!  But truth be told races always need active participants that are willing to pedal whatever bike they have when they have it!

When we accept Jesus we practice pedaling on bikes that aren’t always our choosing.  But the important part is to pedal, and pedal well, because all bikes need people to move them.

I found that there was an unexpected contentment in moving my fat-tired bike down the paved road.  Was it easy?  No.  Was it the perfect set-up on paper?  Definitely not.  Was the action of pedaling familiar?  Yep!  Did the pedaling exercise my heart and stir emotion in my soul?  Absolutely! 

The same is true for everyone that follows Jesus.  We are the church of pedaling people.  We pedal in different places and under different circumstances.  It’s work to pedal.  Sometimes the pedaling is noticed and often it’s not.  The pedaling doesn’t always line up with understanding, acceptance, or a dialed-in position.  You may feel like you’re pedaling a mountain bike on the road.  But it’s ok because pedaling is the purpose.    All bikes need people to pedal them.

Pedaling in life is an act of action and surrender.  It’s using what you have but with a willingness to use it where God has specified.  God’s strategic planning might be different than yours!  But pedal where you are placed.  It’s ok to do it differently when you are aligned with God.  It’s worth the wrangling because the purpose is the pedaling.   Bikes change and evolve but God always needs people to pedal all over creation. 

We know God deeply through pedaling, especially when we are on bikes that aren’t exactly dialed in or perfect in our mind.   Others catch God’s work through those that pedal where they are placed.  Don’t stop pedaling because of the bike you are on.  A pedaled bike never sits still. 

God will use your pedaling.