This week’s blog post about living one pedal stroke at a time inspired me to share this bonus post, which is an excerpt from my unfinished, unpublished manuscript and the origin story of my previous blog and coaching practice. The lessons still apply.

It’s Just Wind: A Mindset Intervention for Living with No Regrets

By Sheri E. Barnes

Introduction: It’s Just Wind

On a hot, windy afternoon in Holton, Kansas in June 2002, I encountered my friend David Blair walking among the bags that had been unloaded from the luggage truck in our last overnight town on the annual Biking Across Kansas (BAK) tour. Wind is not uncommon in Kansas, but the 2002 tour had been extraordinarily windy, and I was coming down with a cold after seven days of battling the gusty south wind. We greeted each other and compared notes from our ride that day. Beaten up by the elements, I complained bitterly about the wind, acting as miserable as I felt. David listened quietly and then shrugged and said, gently and matter-of-factly, “It’s just wind.”

Something about the way he said it really struck a chord with me. It was such a simple, casual statement, but it felt profound and full of truth. In an instant, I knew he was right. I was on my fourth BAK, a ride that I loved. It occurred to me that, if all life’s problems were as simple as fighting wind for 60 or 80 or even 100 miles on a ride that I had chosen to take, then I would be extremely fortunate. While I recognized the veracity of his words, I had no idea at the time how profoundly the outlook they evoked in me would change my life.

I began to view life through a different lens. I realized that, not only could I acknowledge how minor an issue a windy bike ride really was in the big picture, but I could choose to see the rest of life’s challenges as “wind” and strive to take them in stride, just as David had taught me to do with the Kansas wind. In 2002 I didn’t have the terminology to understand what had happened when I heard David’s powerful sentence. I just knew it was important.

Although David uttered the words years ago, I still remind myself often, when dealing with tough issues, that, in the big picture, most of my challenges are “wind.” Living in Kansas, there is no shortage of wind on the bike. Sometimes I am fighting it head on, and it takes tremendous effort. It can even feel like I am being pushed backwards. Other times, it is a crosswind that threatens to buck me into traffic or push me off the road. Times like these, it can be exhausting to hold my line. My hands and arms get worn out from the effort of staying upright in the vicious crosswind. It can be treacherous at times. My best bet for handling it is to remain calm, use caution and determine the best strategy for staying safe. Sometimes that is tucking low and trying to minimize my contact with the wind. If I am in the hills, I often feel safer and steadier if I sit up and take more of the crosswind but slow my descent. I am not a fearless descender under any conditions, especially in squirrelly crosswind, but staying calm and reading the conditions allows me to respond as effectively and safely as possible.

These experiences and techniques for managing the wind on my bike serve as informative metaphors for handling what life throws at me. David’s response to my complaining was a wake-up call, and it has contributed to my growth as both a cyclist and a human. Years later I recognize the casual sentence, “It’s just wind,” as a mindset intervention, a concept I will explore in more depth in upcoming pages. When I learned about mindset interventions in Kelly McGonigal’s terrific book, The Upside of Stress: Why Stress is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It, I described the book as “life changing.” Putting the two experiences together—hearing David’s words and reading McGonigal’s book—truly has changed my life, and I want to teach you what I have learned, through applying these concepts in my life, so that you can achieve similar benefits.

My short conversation with David was the beginning of my recognition of the ways that cycling’s lessons could apply to the bigger picture of my life. Cycling became more than a physical challenge; it became a foundation for growth and a source of deep joy. Not every moment on the bike is bliss, but I am now grateful for all of them and for the countless gifts they give me. I am stronger both on and off the bike because I have learned to accept the wind for what it is and deal with it calmly and confidently.