A rewarding visit from my friend

My friend Kian Joo, came from Prague to visit meet in Grenoble two weeks ago. When I first received his message about his visit, I actually didn't know what to plan for the weekend. I mean there is practically nothing much to visit in Grenoble besides Bastille and Vizille, and skiing, but winter is not here yet. Grenoble isn't a touristic town strictly speaking. So I was a little worried, worried that he would be bored and nothing much I could offer, feeling guilty for being a bad host. 

But to my surprise, Kian Joo actually wanted to do some sportive stuffs. Two days of his stay, he wanted to do a hiking on a day and cycling uphill on another. Surprise because normally when people visit a town, they don't normally want to this kind of stuffs. His suggestion suits me well indeed. And so I planned a hike on to Bastille and further up to Mont Jalla, and then cycling up to Revel. 

Bringing people up to Bastille is not new to me. Instead, it is almost like a yearly ritual to hike up the Bastille, the senior Grenoblois bringing those who just move to Grenoble, to visit Bastille. But bringing other people along with me to cycle uphill, cycle out of Grenoble to the country side, is totally the first time for me. Never before had ever people wanted to follow me cycle that far, especially doing a climb on bicycle.

I don't consider the cycling trip we did together very tough. It was a 35km ride, with 600m elevation and the climb is around 7 - 8% . It was tough enough for the first-timer, but achievable. We came back and he straight went to sleep after a quick bath. I knew it would be very tiring for him. And that evening, we watched some documentaries of Tour de France and Lance Armstrong. I think I was explaining alot of cycling stuffs to him very passionately and he was listening most of the time, studiously. 

Kian Joo and our bikes, and Grenoble far behind at the background

Me at the first 5km mark, with Isère beside me

I got to admit that I feel really happy when someone finally understand how tough those competitions I did in the last few months. When people say to me : "Wow! You actually finished a triathlon?! Wow, you cycled up a 25% slope to Bastille?!", I don't feel like they really know how tough those events are. Those people had never swam in an open water, never cycled over 10km, never cycled uphill before, how could possibly they understand the difficulties that lie behind. 

But this time is different with Kian Joo. He once told me that I am crazy man, after the 35km cycling trip and he added that doing the Tour de France would be insane. I can be sure for this time that his words are sincere because he went through what I had been through. He tasted the bitterness of the hard work that lies behind whatever I did. It is a strange to put it this way but during the cycling trip, seeing him suffering was my greatest pleasure. The more exhausted he was, the more my pride grew. At the same time, there were almost tears in my heart, because all those pain during the training I felt for the last few months, all those determination and perseverance, all was felt by Kian Joo. It was a sense of empathy, and I was the one being empathized.

"That's the thing about pain, it demands to be felt."

John Green, The Fault In Our Stars

And then on my birthday, Kian Joo posted my Facebook wall, "happy birthday bro... you are my inspiration... thinking of getting a bike..." This is the best birthday gift I have ever received in years. A great gift doesn't have to be expensive financially. Simple, honest words can be of the greatest value. My happiness isn't because of the fact that he remembered my birthday or whatever. But the fact that I actually inspire him to work out and to buy a bike?! That is just insane to think about. I really appreciate his birthday wish. His words just send me to cloud nine.