I completed a five-hundred-mile bicycle ride from the Wyoming border to the New Mexico border through the Colorado mountains. The most difficult leg of that trip was an eighty-three-mile day from Buena Vista, Colorado over Monarch Pass (11,350 feet) to Gunnison. It was a grueling trek, and the last twenty miles were especially difficult. Pulling up alongside my son somewhere near Gunnison, he turned to me and said “Gunnison is just round that bluff.” I desperately wanted to believe him. I so wanted that to be true. My muscles ached, sitting in the saddle was becoming quite painful, and I just wanted to be done with the day. I could envision a cold drink and a warm cigar in my hand. And at the same time, I kept telling myself not to believe him. I didn’t want to create an expectation that we were so close and have it not play out that way. Over and over, I told myself not to believe him. And at the same time my mind kept telling me that he had been in this part of the state far more than I had and he must know, he must be right. It was a tremendous battle in my mind between hope and reality. Many miles later, and around many more bluffs, we rolled into Gunnison.

The very next day, we were riding from Gunnison to Lake City. The last several miles of that fifty-three-mile day, we were riding in a river canyon. Visually, the road appeared to be going downhill. There was even a tail wind. And yet, I was struggling to turn the pedals over in second or third gear. For far too long, this continued. I kept checking to see if I had a flat tire or if my brakes were rubbing. It wasn’t until near the end that I became conscious of the direction in which the stream was flowing. While the road visually appeared to be going downhill, the stream told a different story. My eyes couldn’t be believed. We were going uphill. And had been for miles.

So often in life, I latch on to what I hear and what I see as the truth (or what I want to hear and see). Be it from hope, laziness, mislaid trust or whatever, I take what I sense at face value. And yet, my experience on the bicycle served as a great reminder of something my coach told me one time: “Believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see.” Investigate, explore, find out for yourself, keep an open mind to a different perspective—keep an open mind to a different reality so that you aren’t misled or taking action on false information.

I love the practical lessons that life teaches.