Fit for Life: When You Crash …

Fit for Life: When You Crash …

I was in the woods on my mountain bike for the first time in almost a month, and I was having the time of my life. When you miss out on something you love doing, it feels like so much fun when you get back to doing it.

The thing about riding in the trails is that you need to be focused and always thinking ahead to your next move. Unlike road riding, where you can just zone out and focus on your cadence, mountain biking in the trails requires laser-like focus, or you will crash and burn.

Just like in real life.

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So, I started thinking of other ways mountain biking is like real life, and it gave me enough content to write this article, so here it goes.

How a mountain bike ride in the trails, compares to real-life situations.

As mentioned earlier, you need to be laser-focused, and always be thinking of your next move. When on the bike, it is advised that you focus on the trail 10 -15 feet in front of you so you can navigate obstacles quickly.

If you look too far ahead, things could change by the time you get there. If you look too short, or at your front tire,

you will not have enough time to make a reaction. If you look back and admire your work too long, you will likely crash.

Compare that to your life. Yes, it’s good to set long-term goals, however, don’t be too set in stone with those goals because life can change in a second. If you are “just living for today”, and have no future plans, you are just winging it, and are probably not prepared for any obstacles that come your way.

I like to set 90-day goals because it doesn’t take a lot of time, effort, and energy to map them out, and if something changes, it’s easier to course correct them without a lot of emotional baggage that comes with not achieving the goal you intended to accomplish.

Only look back briefly, celebrate, and move on.

When you jump a big log or rock, it is instinctive to look back and admire your work. Look back too long, and you lose focus on what’s ahead.

The same goes for your life’s accomplishments. Look back, celebrate, then focus back on what’s in front of you. Too many people get hung up on the things they did great last week, month, year, or even years ago.

You know that person that “used to be” a great athlete, salesman, business owner etc. Who cares?

Now they are floundering around, out of shape, and scrambling to make ends meet.

Get out of the past, and look at the road in front of you, staying stuck there will not help you grow.

You need to be able to course-correct. Sometimes the weather will knock a tree down across the trail and block your path and leave you with a decision to make. Do you go over the obstacle or around it?

The same decisions we need to make on a daily basis. There will be obstacles that block our path every day, so we need to be ready to make a decision and course correct quickly. When you face a roadblock, you can either quit and make excuses, or you can find a solution and keep riding.

Attack the hills with speed and consistency. When you are on a bike, you need to accelerate at just the right time to attack a hill. Start pedaling too fast too soon, and you will burn yourself out before you hit the top. Go into it too slow, and you will not have enough momentum to propel you up the hill. You need to time it, so you attack at the right time.

When I did The Project in 2019 (a 3-day military-style program) we were pushed to “attack the hills” every day. Literally. When we were doing our daily beatdowns, the instructors would push us to run and attack every hill, carrying logs, gear, and 5-gallon water jugs to prepare us for life’s daily ambushes.

The same goes for everyday routines. Attack the hills but do it methodically. Don’t start running too early, and don’t lumber your way through it. If you are studying to take a test, you wouldn’t start too soon, or you will either forget everything or burn yourself out. You wouldn’t start too late, because you wouldn’t retain anything, you need to start at just the right time, and go all out!!

Get up when you crash. I have done this many times, and it doesn’t feel good. Sometimes the damage is a few scrapes and bruises, and sometimes it’s a separated shoulder. Either way, you need to get up, and can’t just lay there feeling sorry for yourself. Sometimes it’s in the middle of your ride, so you need to endure the pain until you get back to the car.

Through 2020, many businesses, like mine, crashed. We were in pain for a while, however, we never just laid on the ground and wallowed in self-pity. We got up, brushed ourselves off, and endured the long recovery. (We are still going through it but getting better and growing every day.) If we would have stayed down and cried victim, we would have never recovered.

Regardless of when and where you crash (because you will), you need to get back up, brush yourself, and move on. It’s ok to lay there and assess the situation before you get up, but you need to get up as fast as you physically and mentally can.

The last comparison is that sometimes I experience breakdowns & flat tires and need to walk out of the woods carrying my bike. Sometimes you are a 1/2 mile away, sometimes you are 3. This is the worst. You are wearing cycle shoes, carrying your bike, and walking on rough terrain. Not fun at all.

In life, we also experience breakdowns. They can be communication, mental or physical breakdowns, that will force us to walk out of the woods through rough terrain.

Just remember that you will eventually get to where you are going, it will just take a little longer.

We all get discouraged at different points in our lives when things don’t go as planned, however, we need to stay focused on the task at hand, even when it takes longer than planned.

In business, you encounter situations where technology breaks down or misfires, in life, we have breakups, injuries, and sickness. All situations of this nature resemble your bike breaking down deep in the woods.

You keep trudging through the mud wondering when this tough road will end, however you know deep down that you will eventually get back on track and things will be back to normal again.

It gets tiring, but you know you have no other options and need to keep pushing forward.

Quitting is never an option!!

So, here is my thought process during my last Sunday ride.

Everything in life that results in something good, has a difficult flip side.

We need to be prepared and able to pivot and change directions when something unexpected comes our way.

Both life and mountain biking can be a lot of fun, you just need to be realistic and know that both are physically and mentally tough.

Go into both prepared and ready for battle every day.

Don’t seek problems and look for adversity, just be ready for it.

 

Committed to your success,

Matt