Everesting 2021 and a lesson in love.
Around the fourth and fifth climb, out of six that I did in my case, white lights began to appear with each blink of an eye and with them thoughts and emotions that traveled through places that only the head inhabits when the legs are alerting the entire body that it was enough, that that was it, that there was no point in going any further, that six times the Alto de las Palmas is a lot.
And it was then, under a sky that was reluctant to open its door to the sun or the rain, that I thought that maybe this is what eternal love is like. The kind that lasts a long time. Because at some point, I didn't know which one, I had already learned every curve, every wrinkle, her mounds, those moments when I was happy with her and when it was harder for us to be together. That's how it will be, I thought, when you love the same person for a long time or when you climb the same hill many times.
In my head's attempt to escape from my reality, it helped me to know that, like in a long-term love, I had to embrace every minute of happiness as if it were the last. To long for the moments when I reached the top and enjoy the negative gradient like a child. But at the same time, it helped me to find the courage that is required to leave my soul in a pedal stroke, the beauty of drawing crooked lines on a road and the tangible happiness that comes from the shouts, whistles, cheers and hugs of family and friends who accompanied me on the journey.
Everesting, that event of “brutish, but determined” cyclists, was a lesson for the heart. Through my legs and through the struggles of the other crazy people I had at my side at some point along the way. For example, that of Juanka “the fat man” who finished 11 climbs in the early morning, always leaving good energy in each greeting. Or that of Lina, who achieved her goal, always smiling, after midnight. Or even Claudia, who knew how to say “enough” in time to take care of her body when she adjusted 11 of the 13 summits she had planned to do. And that of Juan David, a seasoned cyclist who showed that there are days when the hero becomes human and that, without the usual powers, he can also save the day.
This is an event that taught me about the meaning of giving everything in every ride I make on the body of that love and learning to love every moment by his side. Because, just as it should happen between two people who have loved each other for a long time or a cyclist and a hill that they have seen many times, you have to find the moments of happiness, however small, that there are in each day or in each climb.
Let Everesting 2022 come and teach us its lesson. This time, I might tell you what goes through the mind of a cyclist who has completed more than six consecutive routes through the Alto de Las Palmas.
Cristian Marín - Alternating Current