The Great Scottish Hill Climb...with a bike

"Its not the mountain we conquer but ourselves"

I recently did a sponsored cycle across Scotland in order to raise funds for Christians Against Poverty. I initially signed up to this on a bit of whim. I hadn't cycled in years and didn't own a bike. In the end I borrowed my brothers bike which he got when he was about 10 years old, had it serviced and when out on weekends to do a few miles along the Transpennine Trail. The Transpennine Trail where I live is relatively flat and undemanding but I thought "it's fine, I'll just push myself for those 2 days in Scotland and it'll be hard but doable" much to the amusement of my brother who thought I was nuts.

Well, I would like to say with hindsight, there was fun, laughter and a sense of achievement in pushing myself and my body to its limits. At the time though it was so hard. It turns out that over the weekend we climbed 8000 feet. On day 2 of the cycle most of it was spent pushing the bike up the hill and I must have spent about an hour of that 8 hour day actually on the bike. The terrain was rocky and muddy (My feet and the bike got stuck in mud and I had to climb under a fallen tree at one point). It rained for the majority of the weekend and by the end of day 2 I was soaked through, freezing and shivering.

There are much harder challenges out there and I know 2 days of cycling isn't actually that bad but it really was a challenge for me. I've been denying for some time now that I have asthma but there was no denying it there. I was at the inhaler constantly, struggling for breath. Quite a few times I had to fight back tears, I was in agony. My legs, my back, my chest. I kept thinking I was pathetic and couldn't do it.

And that's where our amazing God steps in. I kept praying that He would move the mountain. I couldn't take any more hills! I chanted, "Be bold, be strong, for the Lord your God is with you" and often just repeated "Jesus" over and over. I had this image of God alongside me cheering me on, saying "You can do it". It is an astounding place to be where you have no choice but to completely rely on God. You have nothing and everything all at the same time. A few days later as I was thinking about turning the corners and seeing more hills with no end in sight I thought of Jesus carrying the cross to Calvary. Now I am not for one second saying a bike ride is like carrying your own execution equipment after several beatings but it just made me think of his exhaustion both mentally and physically. When you just can't see the purpose or the reason for the pain. He kept going though. It was him and God and all so that we could know freedom. So that we could experience his love and have a real relationship with our heavenly father. In the midst of hurt and pain, it is often hard to see the bigger picture. The bike ride resulted in sponsorship which can go to CAP clients who are in real need and that was the ultimate goal but it wasn't always easy to see on those hills. When Jesus cries out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" perhaps it was the same - hard to see the purpose through the pain. The result those is that we can be reunited with our creator.

We might not always see the purpose through the pain but God does and he is right there with us, keeping us going until we see it too.