The very first hill I spotted made me want to turn around and quit before I started. It looked so BIG.

"I'll never get to the top of that."

Life lesson No. 1: No negative thinking. This is extremely difficult for me.

But I downshifted, found a nice, albeit slow, rhythm and kept plugging away, a variation on the "Finding Nemo" song repeating in my head: "Just keep pedaling, just keep pedaling."

Life lesson No. 2: Take it bit by bit, break the overwhelming into manageable pieces.

Usually, when you get to the top of a hill, you get to go downhill a bit -- or at least level out -- and recover so you're ready for the next hill when it comes.

Life lesson No. 3: Sometimes in life, you have to coast so you can store up energy for the next climb. This does not mean you are not moving forward or making progress.

Sometimes though, you're hammered with one climb after another and you just want to quit because it looks like it never gets better. And life -- like a ride -- that's all uphill doesn't leave much time for enjoying the journey -- or the scenery.

Life lesson No. 4: You never know what is around the next bend or past the next hilltop. You can try to be prepared, but ultimately, you have no control. You must take each fork as it comes.

So you downshift -- and if you still can't keep going, you -- GULP -- get off the bike and walk a bit until it gets better.

At first, this appears to be failure. You think you will have to walk for miles and thus ruin your chances of ever getting to a better place. But then you realize that it's kind of nice to stretch your back and your legs and move in a different way. And you see some cool bugs and flowers along the side of the road that you wouldn't notice had you been focused on pedaling.

Life lesson No. 5: Take time to notice the bugs and the flowers and appreciate where you are.

Then there are the good parts: the downhill coasts. They seem few and far between, and so must be treasured and thoroughly enjoyed. Their infrequency makes you appreciate them all the more.

Life lesson No. 6: When a downhill comes, stop pedaling and enjoy the rush.

On one downhill, I got so wrapped up in coasting and being thankful for the break that I almost forgot to start pedaling so I could use the momentum to help me up the next hill.

Life lesson No. 7: You can't coast forever. After all, you get out of life what you put into it.

When you put in your best, you can't help but get at least a few good things back in return, even if it's not perfect.

By the time you get to the end, you're tired, yes, but you realize you didn't do it to get here, you did it for the journey, the ride.

Life lesson No. 8: Enjoy the ride.