The Speed of Frustration

So, can you exercise out your frustration? Can you turn your anger into adrenaline, which in turn makes you faster? Can you achieve speeds that you have never achieved before using the power of emotion?

Well, here's the perfect experiment.

Let me first explain what's got me all cranked up. I applied for a job at east middle school in Plymouth, MI. The job was math teacher, replacing the teacher I student-taught with last fall, and replaced for the remainder of the year this past spring. Nobody complained about the work I did, and in fact, I got rave reviews from the parents of my students and quite a bit of compliments from the school principal.

So anyway, even though I spent a year at the school, did a good job, and wouldn't require much training or familiarization to start in the fall, the hiring committee passed on me. I suspect two things: (1) Confident older male vs. an all-female hiring committee and (2) In-fighting between the committee members. My mentor teacher was very high on me. The other teachers didn't get along with her - thus they didn't hire me to stick it to her.

Let's add insult to injury. I did a simple Google search on the unknown person they ended up hiring (Fendrick). One site that rates teachers mentions her previous job in the Farmington district. A rating in early May asks why she was fired from the high school job. Why would a student think that their teacher was fired? hmmm. Next, a post on Xanga.com - "I remember being in stats class with Ms. (who was fired cause she made out with a student)" hmmm. OK, so not only did they pick someone out of the air just because they didn't want to hire me, but they didn't call the previous school. That'll get the adrenaline going.

So I decided I needed to get out and relieve the tensions of the news today. I went out for a club ride in the evening. I joked with the riders on the AABTS ride tonight that I was going to break the chain riding. Emotion and frustration produce adrenaline, which stimulates the muscles, which pull on the handlebars and push on the pedals, which makes the bike go faster.

So I hit the small hill at Wilcox Lake on Hines Drive with an attack up under the railroad truss. 18-20-25-28 over the crest. I sat down to change gears and spin down the hill...28-30-33...Not good enough. Out of gears, I stood up and ran the cadence as fast as I could spin it. 33-35-36...Sit and spin...38-39-40! Now the adrenaline ran out, the legs started burning, and I calmed down into a nice quick pace. The chain wasn't broken, but the frustration started working itself out. Let the record show that this disappointing day was rated at 40mph.