Life is Like Riding A Bicycle

In the summer of 2012, my family spent a couple of days at an inn located on a farm in rural Belgium. It was a beautiful area. The pastures were green and lush. The crops were maturing, and the environment was conducive for a walk, so one evening my wife and I did go for a walk. The evening was cool, and the air was still. We held hands and looked forward with anticipation of a new adventure with just the two of us.  

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As we walked past an old barn located on the property, we noticed that the door was open so we decided to walk inside. The  stalls were clean and ready for the cows the next morning. The floors were also clean, and the tools were neatly hung on the wall. Tacked to another  wall was a piece of paper with the following message written in English, “Life is like riding a bicycle. In order to keep your balance you must keep moving.”

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This message was simple yet impactful and resonated with me. Previous to this trip, my wife bought me a nice road bike for my birthday. It is a beautiful bike, lightweight, with the newest gears, and clip on pedals. I was excited and anxious to try it, but I realized that before riding it on the street, I needed to practice clipping my new bike shoes into and out of the pedals. So, I practiced over and over again until I could quickly to unclip my foot before stopping, otherwise I would lose my balance and tip over. Tipping over would not be a good thing. 

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Even so, on my first ride I carefully came to a stop at a stoplight, but forgot all about being clipped into the pedals, causing me to lose my balance, and tip over. Fortunately, all that was wounded was my dignity and even more fortunately there wasn’t anyone around to laugh at my clumsiness. 

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The sign in that old Belgian barn opened my eyes to an obvious life lesson i.e. we really must keep moving if we want to improve ourselves, otherwise we risk losing our momentum and balance in our personal growth and development. An athlete, a musician, a public speaker, or even a parent must continue to practice and keep moving and trying to improve their skills otherwise they stagnate and never become who they were meant to be or who they want to become.

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I believe that working with our children to help them find a balance in their lives is a self-improvement program that is foundational in our parental job description. Helping them learn to balance their life will help them in all aspects of living, in the present as well as the future.

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It’s a fact! Life really IS like riding a bicycle.

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Happy failing forward,

Calvert Cazier  


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