Persistence

The key to success at hill climbing, rock climbing, career building--virtually anything--is sticking to it.  We get nowhere in life or on our rides unless we persist.  Although often painful at first, like running a piece of barbed wire through our thighs, we find that after a time, the pain recedes and serves as an almost pleasant reminder that we are not suffering but living, tapping into something elemental, essential.   The oak featured above has been at its job for many years, caring not one wit for the strand of wire stapled to its trunk.  If you can't shake something, make it part of your couture!  We hit the road early today, and I finally got the photo of this tree that reminds me of an important philosophy every time I grind by in the low- to mid-single digit speeds.  Persist...