“You Gotta Pedal�
by Rick Hagler


In effort to keep my continually aging body as healthy as possible, I make semi frequent trips to the health club. It seems that the more I need the exercise the harder it is to find the time. However, I do manage to keep in relatively good condition considering my age and efforts.

Luckily I have finally made it to the age where you automatically drop twenty years. Having said that, I would like to give a heartfelt “Thanks� to the person who decided that sixty is the new forty! Thank you, thank you, thank you. You just shaved twenty years off my age!

When I do find time to get to the gym, one difficulty I encounter is remembering how to work all the different machines. Last night after twenty minutes or so in the dry sauna, I decided that I needed a half hour on the stationary reclining bicycle machine. If you haven’t seen one, you simply sit down, lean back and pedal. It’s actually quite comfortable and a good way to get some cardio without over exerting.

Upon mounting the bike and making all of the necessary adjustments to the seat, and pedals, arranging my water bottle, and getting my sweat towel wrapped neatly around my neck, I then pushed the start button that calculates your time, distance, calories burned and heart rate. Nothing happened! No lights, not guide, no whistles or bells. I assumed I had picked the only bike that didn’t work. I was ready for a pleasant thirty minute ride to nowhere and I couldn’t go.

I thought I’d try the bike next to it, but this time I decided to push the start button prior to getting all settled in. You guessed it, nothing happened. Bike three, nothing happened. Bike four nothing happened. There was a trend here.

I finally made it to a bike that was next to someone who was kicked back and enjoying the ride. I interrupted him and asked if he knew which bikes were working. I told him that when I pushed the start button nothing happened on the last four bikes.

He politely said………�you gotta pedal.� I said what? He said: “You gotta pedal to make the lights come on and everything work.�

I thought to myself, wow, what a novel idea. That’s a lot like life. Having all of the ingredients to being happy in life isn’t always the singular answer. You can have your health, your family, your friends, and be surrounded by love, but if you don’t pedal nothing happens. You must put forth an effort in any endeavor to reap the rewards. The ingredients are the easy parts – all you need is a little effort.

If you want to find happiness…………..you gotta pedal!


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