Religious folk say suffering is good for the soul. I don’t know about that but I know that the suffering you take on yourself is good for the mind. Sometimes it’s called type 2 fun.
Sometimes it’s like this: life is hard and so you make yourself suffer on purpose so the hard things don’t hurt quite so much. Put succinctly by a friend looking for some intentional suffering, it’s this feeling: “I need to fuggin wreck myself”.
So we did.
I got up at 3am to eat, dress, hang my bike on my car with a rack I’ve never used before and did not trust and drive 2.5 hours to reach the Testimonial Gateway in the Mohonk Preserve by sunrise.
We pedaled 5.86 miles uphill in a total time of about 2 hours. I’m not sure how this math works out because the trail was supposed to be 9.5 miles out and back so it’s possible we got lost. In the end we arrived at the Mohonk Mountain House Hotel which is one of the most spectacular sights I have ever seen and we stashed our bikes against a tree in the parking lot.
Then we walked/scrambled/climbed around the mountain house, through the Labyrinth Trail, and up the Lemon Squeeze to reach Sky Top Tower. There we had lunch and 360 degree views of one of our favorite places in the world. It was perfect.
And then we had to scramble/walk/bike all the way back down. The end tally was 12 miles of moving and by the time we were down, my butt hurts, my knees ache, I am exhausted and facing a 2.5 hour drive home. But the suffering is done, I have accomplished this stupid thing and no one can take that resilience or perseverance from me.
This is the value of suffering on purpose, you find depths of strength and will power you aren’t sure that you have until you have to use them. Then, when it comes time that you really need those things, you know where to find them.