Recently I bought a new bike. I changed my context. In the world of bicycling, the change was fairly significant, from slow steel to fast carbon. But the most important changes for me personally came from the change of context. The new bike allowed me to enter a whole new world in terms of training and goals. This is the new context.

For starters, I can train longer and cover more distance. I can do specific types of training, such as hill climbing, more efficiently, thus increasing my riding strength. And I can keep pace with a stronger group of riders now, thus pushing me to improve my endurance and riding technique.

As to goals, I’ve got a bigger horizon now. I realize that I have much more work ahead before I plateau. This year is the second of a four year training plan I made for myself. Now I’m revising the plan. I’ve signed up to train on some mountain rides with my buddies Will, Rob & Chad in Oklahoma. And I’ll train next summer for more ambitious rides, 200K instead of 100K.

Out of this new context I’ve gotten some good results already. Above all is a greater sense of freedom. Simply put, I can do more than I could before. I also feel more confident, in part because my sense of purpose has been reinforced, as well as having greater longevity.

Greater freedom. Strength of purpose. Longevity of effort. These breathe light into life.