28-Nov-2022 | Mon

“No seriously. It’ll change your life.”

“Dude”

“I’m being serious”

“It’ll change your life.”

“Dude.”

“Try it”

“I’m serious”

In the span of a week I must’ve heard that phrase 10 times over.

“It’ll chance your life”.

I told him it was bullshit and there was no way. He doubled down insisting that it did indeed… change his life.

Our 2 other roommates laughed in his face. It had literally only been 1 day since he started. There was simply no way. He wouldn’t give it up “Seriously! It’ll change your life!”

It was hard to take him seriously when he had literally bought the bike yesterday, so the phrase is now an inside joke in our household. Nevertheless, we were stoked that he was so passionate and had found a new hobby.

Bit of a Drama Queen

My roommate Rex is quite the character. He’s incredibly good at dreaming about the future. He paints a picture and it’s hard not to be seduced by the vision. He’s a fantastic story teller and knows how to move people (he’s really strong so he can pick people up very easily)

He loves making people feel good and is quite good at swaying a crowed. I swear you could people-watch him, and him alone, for hours. Quite the interesting little bugger.

Somewhere around 2 months ago, he went out on a limb and bought a road bike. He was perusing Facebook Marketplace (hell yea) and got a banging deal on it. Next stop was the local bike shop, he tuned it up, grabbed his shoes and was well on his way. New commute to work? Booyah.

It wasn’t 24 hours after purchasing his bike that he paraded in wearing his biker’s onesie and clipless biker shoes convincing (what felt like the entire neighborhood) everyone that biking to work will indeed “change your life”.

Myself and our other 2 roommates couldn’t help but laugh out of exasperation. After living with him for 3 months, we’ve started to pick up on his, uhh, exaggeration. We saw right through his bullshit.

Rex has been known to embellish the details just a pinch.

He had been biking all of one day and felt the need to insist that it would change our lives.

Not only had the 15 mile round trip supposedly altered his reality, but it it would alter the course of our lives – or so he claimed.

Here’s the Funny Thing Though

Fast forward 2 months, and all 4 of us (roommates) now own road bikes. We’re planning on doing a 100 mile bike race (also Rex’s idea) in a few weeks. Seth currently bikes to work, and I now too, am planning on biking to work on a regular basis. (Edit: I have been biking to work consistently and got a flat tire 2 days ago :'(

Point being – What Rex said made an impact. His enthusiasm for biking got us on board and his charisma put us over the edge. We all now own road bikes. It’s part of what I admire – Rex’s ability to corral people. He has a way with people and has a way to sway a crowd. He shares pieces of his life, embraces the attention, tells stories, thrills the crowd, and creates an environment where everyone is having a good time. The whole crowd is on board.

Biking hasn’t quite changed my life… But maybe it doesn’t have to. Rex was able to create enough flare and excitement around the idea of biking that he was able to convince all 3 of us that we should too.

We all when he first pitched the idea, but he kept at it. He persisted. He kept selling the idea. He got us to believe. Even if just for a moment, we all entertained the idea that road biking, a totally new hobby, might be fun. Maybe not change our lives but Rex created enough excitement around the idea that it was hard to say no.

We all just said…maybe.

And I guess that’s what I’m starting to realize.

Life’s all about the maybe’s.

Originally this article was going to be about how biking could change your life. But as I’m writing and reading and editing, I’m starting to realize that’s not the point at all. It’s about taking a chance a trying something new.

Advocate for yourself and if there’s something you genuinely care about – Care about it!

I’ve been biking for a few weeks now. It certainly isn’t earth shattering, but it feels good. It starts the day off with the juices flowing, and you knock out a small work out early in the day. It’s certainly an improvement. It’s a nice touch.

So take a chance.
Say yes to maybe.

It just might change your life.

Related Resources

Don’t take my word for it. One of the most popular financial blogs ‘Mr. Money Moustache’ wrote a fantastical article “Get Rich With… Bikes” detailing the numbers. It’s inspiring.



*Note – Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist are your friend

If it sounds expensive, well all I can say is to kick rocks. This guy biked 4,000 miles starting on a bike that cost 100 British pounds. His story is pretty incredible.