Only the bike is really alone. The rider depends on others.

Yesterday I took a day to say “Hooray!” that rehabilitation from the bike accident is going well. That is a personal triumph.

But being honest with yourself about any personal triumph means you must place it in its proper context. That means acknowledging the people who helped you get there.

This isn’t easy for some people to do. I think of the workplace and a particular editor at a newspaper where I worked who never, ever praised his writers. His success was entirely dependent on their effort, yet he refused to give them any credit, much less a kind word. If you walked through the editorial department at that time and issued a compliment to a member of the writing staff, they’d flinch.

Complimentary ways

The newspaper industry was originally renowned for its tough stance on quality, and that editor upheld the tradition perhaps in respect for the industry in which he worked. Ultimately he realized, however, that a broken-down staff cannot meet its production deadlines or do good work, and he moderated his ways. He learned to acknowledge the work and contributions of others. It did not compromise the quality of the newspaper, although newspaper people are learning they need to stick together for different reasons.

That would be survival. Former arch rivals in the newspaper industry are now working together. The Chicago Tribune and other larger newspapers now handle the print products for their former competitors. No one’s so worried anymore about stealing scoops or beating competitors to the story. The Internet and 24/7 media took care of all that. Now newspapers are more worried about working together to help each other protect revenue and sustain the business model. There’s a lesson in that for all of us.

Start with one, carry on with the help of many

It’s the same way with our personal goals in running and riding. We all have people who support us, even if it isn’t evident on the surface. The people who attended to me at that Wisconsin campsite following the accident were kind and insightful.

Then my best friend’s wife, a registered nurse, drove me straight from Wisconsin to the emergency room back home. She had worked there and walked me through the registration process and counseling with the ER physician, who delivered the challenging news that surgery was recommended. A thousand things went through my head at that moment, especially the question as to whether I could type while wearing a sling, because my work depended on it. She literally held my hand as the swirling mix of emotions nearly brought the tears on. It all worked out.

My wife and I gave her a token of our appreciation for her help. “Thanks for being Chris’s faux wife,” we wrote on the card. Because my wife at the time was facing a health challenge of her own that day. We all need help at times.

Running into maturity

Having been a runner since the age of 5, when I first timed myself with a stopwatch around the side yard, there have been many times when individual effort is the call of the day. Yet even solo sports like running and riding depend on team work quite a bit. Your teammates drive you to excel through training. Your coaches map out the strategy and workouts. Your friends and relatives show up to cheer you on. Even strangers offering bits of advice or a note of encouragement fill in the gaps.

When all that adds up to a major accomplishment, like qualifying for a national meet or better yet, placing in one like we did as a team in college, you really must look around in wonder at how human beings, social creatures that we are, find ways to work together.

Loving your enemies may be the best way to win

We must also give credit to the people we quantify as our enemies. When Earvin “Magic” Johnson recently appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he credited his opponents Larry Bird and the Celtics for driving him and his Lakers team to the greatest heights in basketball. Ultimately Magic and Bird became friends. Sharing lunch at Bird’s house between seasons taught both athletes respect for each other even though, as Magic admitted, “I loved nothing better than kicking Larry Bird’s ass.”

Respect for opponents parallels what Jesus tells us to do in the Bible. “Love your enemies,” we are told. That is the most difficult yet most strict directive in all the Bible. It is also what most people are unable to do, particularly in the realm of religion and politics, or both. If current day Republicans and Democrats found ways to “love their enemies” they might realize that their opponents actually make them better by pointing out their flaws, refining their purpose and forcing compromise that produces better legislation for the nation. But we are nowhere near that mark right now, and too many people vilify their political leaders for loving their enemies. This used to be called bi-partisanship, and great politicians, acting as both legislators and statesmen (and women) helped make the country great.

So it is in our best interests as individuals and as a collective society to acknowledge those who help us, even our enemies.

It’s never to late to say thanks

A few months back I was reading through some material collecting information for an article and stumbled upon a photograph of myself with a competitor from another college. He had kind of a geeky demeanor in those days; thick black glasses and a splay-footed running style. Glancing through the results of the meets in which we competed, I realized he was not just my equal, but defeated me more often than not. It was a revelation–the opposite, you might note, of reveling in one’s own success.

So I looked him up on LinkedIn and wrote a note to him. Told him that I had never realized what a good runner he was, and that our rivalry was actually a fun thing. He agreed, and then related that his biggest triumph was being part of a track team that broke our winning streak of 17 consecutive conference titles. I forgave him this last competitive dig, realizing that my own instincts were not so pure, and thanked him for writing back.

Individually yours

These experiences in work and running and cycling have indeed tempered my personal instincts in many ways. All it takes is one group ride on a road bike to make you realize how dependent you are on the effort of others. Try to ride off the front and you’ll be pulled back within minutes unless you are so strong you can outride the group entirely. But if that is the case, you owe it to your riding partners to put in long pulls and make the overall ride a better experience.

Training partners. Competitors. Co-workers. It all makes for an interesting, subtle mix of motivations and response. But the ultimate truth is that personal triumph is almost never the result of individual effort alone. We depend on the world to make us better at everything we do.

And that’s a good thing.