Changing gear

Cycling seems really easy. Sit on a rather small looking saddle, point the handlebars and pedal. And keep pedalling. Often, as I tour the beautiful lanes around the Vale of York, this is all there is to it, a rhythmic pedalling. Only, when the environment changes does this basic and simple strategy stops working. For a while, I can keep pushing up the hill. There comes a point when the hill is too long or the gradient too steep or I am lacking the right level of energy and changes are needed. Or, I can be accelerating downwards, the wind scraping my hair back and making my eyes water. Suddenly, my legs are spinning out of control. My efforts have no impact on my speed and I just look a bit silly. It is at these moments when I reach down to the gear lever. With a subtle click, the lightly oiled chain clunks into a different gear.For a millisecond, I am caught in no mans land, then the chain settles with a satisfying noise and a felt connection. Once more I can apply power. This time, I am in a different gear, a gear suited to the new environment within and around me. Once more I am off hardly aware of the change I have made. Over time I have learnt to read the route ahead. Assessing the twists and turns, evaluating when I will need to make changes or when I can work using the gear I am in. Now I make these subtle changes unconciously. It is when I am with clients when I am aware that in the work they do, they have become stuck in one gear and the whole environment has changed. They just got used to pushing harder and gradually slowing.