Nice Ride

La plaza del toros, Ensenada, Mexico 

Most of the things that I try fail on the initial test. It is, I suppose, fortunate for me that I am no stranger to this. Feelings of doubt have accompanied me to many a rodeo. The bull bucks, swats me from his back like a nagging fly and I kiss the dirt. 

You know the rest. I get up. Dust my jeans and put my hat back on. I conduct a real-time damage report and then, with the report indicating that a trip to the ER is unnecessary, I enter a magic nano-second of absolute wonder. A nano-second so precious and mystical that every accumulated bruise, cut, sprain and medicinal post-ride barley pop is worth it. 

Before I take step one back towards the safety of the chute I glance at the bull. And for an instant he is looking back at me. Our eyes meet. 

I am thinking something along the lines of, ‘I’ll get you next time you son-of-a-gun.’ 

He is just starring with those huge black unblinking eyes waiting for my next move. He is looking for my response to the contest that has just ended in victory for him and defeat for me. He snorts and kicks at the dirt with his front hoof, a clear signal translated from the bovine to human to mean something along the lines of, ‘bring it dude.’

It is in that dramatic split-second confrontation that a lifetime’s worth of lessons are learned. Or have the potential to be. 

It is in the respect for our competition that we find the opportunity for improvement and growth. If I was tortoise riding instead of atop a two-ton, pissed-off living and snorting beast, it would be an altogether different story. Goat ropers never get the girl. 

And so it goes with or choices of sports, livelihoods and in our daily practice of them. It is a fairly simple and widely understood premise, more a rule to follow, that should one desire to improve one’s skill-set, up one’s game and move in the direction of what we call potential, one must ‘play up.’ This means that in order to continually improve one must seek out the best, or better, competition than the ones that he or she is currently engaged with. In training this means that the drills, sets, reps, times, speeds, resistances, durations and our corresponding attitudes and dedications to them, must gradually and safety progress. We add weight to the bar, resistance to the bike, numbers to the sets, and frequency to the overall protocols. We go longer, faster. We continually improve. We appreciate the ride and respect the degree of difficulty that keeps our motivation topped off. We rest and recover. And then we repeat. We pay very close attention to the slightest change and respond to the demands of the change with appropriate action. 

This is the bull.

When he decides that the time is right to add another challenge, to test the riders mettle, we have eight seconds to hang on, to put all our training, growth and accumulated acumen into play. Not tomorrow, next week or when the bull catches a cold. RIGHT FUCKING NOW. 

Dust your jeans and put your hat back on pardner.  Nice ride.