When I teach a class, I’m leading riders forward with words and directions I hope will be inspiring. While a stationary bike limits your movements—the pedals move in a prescribed circle, and you don’t even move forward in space—a path unfolds before us, guiding us forward. We’re on the bike alone, but we ride together. Every day, I see people grow physically, emotionally, and mentally taking that journey. I hope that’s how you feel opening this book.xc
Speak is how I was able to find my voice, but it is also about the movement I have felt guided to create for others, using five key pillars:
Surrender
Power
Empathy
Authenticity
Knowledge
These five words have kept me strong and vulnerable, caring and tough, curious and ready. These are the qualities that keep me moving forward, on flat ground, and up hills, even when it looks like I’m staying in one place. They have carried me through all the stories I will share in this book—times of great sorrow and heartbreak, change, triumph, and joy.
Every day, when I teach, I see regular people push themselves out of their comfort zones. I see them reach out to each other. I see them connect and grow. These are my stories, but I hope you see yourself in them or that they resonate with you. I have faith that they will, because I think we’re all the same. We feel the same grief, joy, hope, and have the same capacity to create change for ourselves and others.
You might pick up this book because you’ve taken my class, or follow me on social media. Maybe a friend will give it to you, or you’ll spot it unexpectedly in a bookstore and pick it up. No matter how we meet, I will do my best to give you a reason to move forward, in whatever ways we can. The beauty of uncertainty, after all, is infinite possibility.
This book is dedicated to the ones I’ve lost. In losing you I stepped into the greatest version of myself.
