Switchbacks for Life
The sound of tires squeeling and the faint smell of a clutch wasn’t exactly “French” but here I was, pedaling up Alpe d’Huez and all of its 21 switchbacks with a vehicular soundtrack provided by my wife!
The Alpe d’Huez is a famous mountain that is featured in many versions of the Tour de France. A trip up the Alpe is epic for any rider, but being in the tour and riding up this beast with fans inches from your arms and legs has to be such a memorable experience and life changing. I didn’t quite have that feeling but it was still awesome to ride up all 8.8 miles at an average gradient of 8 percent. We visited this area of France just a few days before a big race I was to do, but the allure of riding up this mountain was so strong I didn’t want to miss the chance to check it out!
Jan followed in our rental car, a Volkswagen Golf complete with a manual transmission. She was not a stranger to rowing her own gears in a manual-transmission vehicle but she was more of a Jeep or truck driver than a small, European, tiny 4-cylinder driver. The clutch and engine worked a wee bit different than she was used to so there were a few miles of adjustment. Every time I pedaled around a switchback I eventually heard a windup of the engine, followed by a tire chirp, and then I saw the Volkswagon reappear as I rounded another switchback. We played this game most of the way up the mountain, I would pedal through a turn, I’d hear the car slow down, gears being changed and then the gentle bark of a tire to let me know she was coming! She would stop for a photo or to check out a touristy-site and I would keep pedaling and imagining what it would be like to ride the road with fans yelling and cheering. We had different modes of transportation to get to the top and different experiences but we were both seeking the same endpoint. With every turn I could see my wife coming along in the car but I’d also see a crazy illusion of crooked road weaving and winding down the mountain. We were getting to the top in the most random and twisty way possible.
That’s the funny thing about switchbacks. They show you where you have come from but they are often hiding the future from sight. I couldn’t see all of the switchbacks on the ol’ Alpe as I pedaled but when Jan and I finally reconnected at the top and enjoyed some coffee and lunch we could see all of the twists and turns we had traveled. When we were at the bottom we had no idea how many tight turns and gentle turns would take over the next 9 miles…we simply couldn’t see them from our vantage point at the beginning.
A giant mountain in France is not the only switchback-equipped mountain we’ve traversed as a family. It seems like we find ourselves on roads that barely pass as roads and are traveling more vertically than horizontal on many vacation and journeys. We’ve tackled many four-wheel drive trails that head towards heaven, or at least as high as man can build a road, and it’s rarely ever a straight road that leads to the summit. There are countless switchbacks that eventually get us to the destination…sometimes it even takes us a few tries to get through a tough turn. Often times a straight road wouldn’t even be an option to get to the top due to the terrain, the steepness, or quite simply…the mountain wasn’t built that way!
These switchbacks do a good job of keeping the destination out of sight. Our curiosity and hope of a mountaintop experience keeps us going however. Each little straight section is a time to settle in and keep going. When a switchback shows up it usually kicks up steeply and reverses your direction. But that reversal does show you where you’ve been, which creates a bit of a shock because it’s so much more impressive than a boring, straight section of road or trail. The road might be steep and the turns might be plentiful but those glances back show just how far you’ve come when you keep your head looking up.
I am guilty of seeking out switchbacks on trails and roads because they are fun to travel. I am also guilty of wanting life to go much more in a straight-line! It would be fantastic for things to make sense and go according to plan. Or logic. Or to my routine. But they don’t and they won’t and that’s by design. We might want life to work that way but if it did we wouldn’t have faith. And God is on the mountaintop, calling us by our name to follow Him. He’s happy to draw us close to Him and prove to us that He can be trusted…while keeping the road of the future a bit vague or out of sight! Just keep going and trusting…
We can hear that voice and feel that presence and it’s a great statement to say we are on the road with God! But did you know that road will have switchbacks? It will be twisty. Rocky. There will be turns and places where you’ll be white-knuckling it like you were driving on a narrow shelf road in the Rockies! But when you look back and down and see how all of those twists and turns has lead to the here and now…well that’s quite the testimony. It’s also fuel to keep going because while you might not see the top of the mountain or the way the road goes to get there you know it’s worth the trek. When you believe the road has purpose and place then you keep going; and switchbacks provide the perfect balance of showing you how far you’ve come and hiding what’s ahead
