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Pam came along and picked me up. She appropriately chastised me for allowing the gap between me at the end of the front of the group as it made it difficult for the crew to appropriately support everyone. With the heat and the need to keep everyone with water, she was right. Nonetheless, I was glad I took the call, as a major part of my motivation for doing this ride is to inspire others to recover from setbacks and move on with their lives, and that is hard to do if others don't know about my story. So, I gracefully accepted her message but was happy I made the choice.
Since I was now about 20 miles away from the front of the pack, Pam drove me mile after mile forward. When we reached the 3rd SAG, she asked me if I wanted to ride more. Well, doing a century was no longer possible, and looking at the route profile, I saw a LOT of climbing ahead, so opted just to ride the van to the motel.
With seven days of riding left after today, and having long past let go the idea that I would ride the entire way across the country, I was now just thinking about how I can maximize the rest of the trip in terms of improving my conditioning. Completely exhausting myself each day would neither make it enjoyable nor do much for my conditioning, so making this a light training day sounded good. Pretty good rationalization, huh? :)
To tell the truth, I am beginning to look forward to finishing this adventure. Talking with a few others, they too are ready for us to be done, as their tired bodies rebel as the guys push ahead with the full routes day after day. But, I have 7 more training days ahead of me to take advantage of. :)
Since I was now about 20 miles away from the front of the pack, Pam drove me mile after mile forward. When we reached the 3rd SAG, she asked me if I wanted to ride more. Well, doing a century was no longer possible, and looking at the route profile, I saw a LOT of climbing ahead, so opted just to ride the van to the motel.
With seven days of riding left after today, and having long past let go the idea that I would ride the entire way across the country, I was now just thinking about how I can maximize the rest of the trip in terms of improving my conditioning. Completely exhausting myself each day would neither make it enjoyable nor do much for my conditioning, so making this a light training day sounded good. Pretty good rationalization, huh? :)
To tell the truth, I am beginning to look forward to finishing this adventure. Talking with a few others, they too are ready for us to be done, as their tired bodies rebel as the guys push ahead with the full routes day after day. But, I have 7 more training days ahead of me to take advantage of. :)
Life is full of choices, and the results we have in our lives are primarily determined by the choices we make, not luck or lack thereof. And sometimes, our choices involve tradeoffs, good and bad.
While Judy was giving me the bump up, she asked me, "Why did you choose to ride this ride?" Well, I responded, "The number of days fit my schedule, when I committed to do this last May, I had 10 months to train, I read that a 76 year old had done it a few years before, so I should be able to do it, and it sounded like a great challenge. Easy goals are not motivating and I thought I could do it, being an optimist."
I recalled listening to a audio tape years ago which reported the results of an extensive survey which found that high achievers liked to accept challenges with the odds slightly against them, if they think their personal efforts can allow them to succeed anyway. High achievers do not like "sure things" or "slam dunks". Well, in many of my past efforts, that formula had worked for me, so accepting this challenge appeared to make sense. I haven't done as well as I expected, but I don't regard this effort as a failure at all, as I have described before.
While Judy was giving me the bump up, she asked me, "Why did you choose to ride this ride?" Well, I responded, "The number of days fit my schedule, when I committed to do this last May, I had 10 months to train, I read that a 76 year old had done it a few years before, so I should be able to do it, and it sounded like a great challenge. Easy goals are not motivating and I thought I could do it, being an optimist."
I recalled listening to a audio tape years ago which reported the results of an extensive survey which found that high achievers liked to accept challenges with the odds slightly against them, if they think their personal efforts can allow them to succeed anyway. High achievers do not like "sure things" or "slam dunks". Well, in many of my past efforts, that formula had worked for me, so accepting this challenge appeared to make sense. I haven't done as well as I expected, but I don't regard this effort as a failure at all, as I have described before.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
(a Holocaust surviver)
Great quote from a great book.
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