Cycling
Discipline. I’ve been having an internal battle with what that word requires and it goes something like this: “give me a try, Kim”, “you know you want to live a disciplined lifestyle…actually nah you’re good, try again tomorrow” while I press snooze on my 5 am alarm from the 7th time.
I’ve always enjoyed cycling, but trust me I am not by any means the person who loves treating herself to a numb butt from riding for hours. However, I do enjoy the comrade of a team and a finished ride. People high-fiving. The instructor yelling out “great job everyone!” while playing Beyoncé as the cool down. Looking at how much you sweated and how many bottles of water you drank.
I’m a sucker for team hype, chants, and inspirational slogans. Scenes from Nike commercials play through my head with the words ‘“Just Do It”. I’m also likely addicted to the feeling of accomplishment. Actually…I’m most definitely addicted to the feeling of accomplishment. There is nothing like it!
So when I saw the Obliteride race was on August 11th which was coincidentally my 29th birthday I took it as a sign and told my cycling buddy that I would do it with her this year. I would finally do the bike race which would require me to practice discipline. Cycling became a forcing mechanism for me to be disciplined. And the mechanism for making sure I actually did the race? Telling my friend.
I can’t lie the 25 miles wiped me out. I finished in a little over 2 hours with a bit of energy remaining. I haven’t been on a bike since, but I will be back soon!
I trained for this race, in what should have been 90 days in a little under 45. Ha! While I don’t recommend training so late for a bike race if you aren’t already working out the race, although challenging, was exhilarating. It was so energizing to be on the road with hundreds of cyclist all riding to eradicate cancer. It was the largest team I’d ever been on and the fact that it was connected to sports was the icing on the cake. Told you…I’m a sucker for a team.
Between falling face forward off the bike, scraping my hands and knees on group rides and learning how to fix a broken bike chain on solo rides aka training for the race I found parallels between cycling and life:
- Preparation is the most time-consuming and expensive part — but if done incorrectly it can set you back — > Research for a project, preparing for a move, preparing a life change is often the part we want to skip, but don’t because it will cost you (time, energy and money) in the end.
- Being on the road alone is pure bliss — > Again, I was on the road with others, but giving yourself the space to be alone even if just briefly cleared out my mind. It’s the same in life — alone time can help clear up your mind from unnecessary distractions and center you.
- You, alone, cannot possibly see all blind spots for cars & trucks (aka death) — > When you’re cycling with a group the last rider yells out “car back” to notify the cyclist ahead that a vehicle is creeping up on their blind side. Just like in our every day I’ve there’s always something in our blind spot and it helps to have others looking out for you.
- Train with others, train by yourself and then trust the process —> When it comes time to execution -whether if it’s working out, launching a brand, practicing a presentation — don’t overthink it. Rely on your training and trust the process.
I’m very happy that I chose not to put off the race for another year. Racing on my birthday was the right thing at the right time. It formally introduced discipline into my routine and gave me a sense of accomplishment and helped raise funds for cancer research. It was a Win-Win-Win.
I could go on, but first I need to start cycling again. What am I waiting for? The urge to go back to a disciplined routine.
-Kim Hill
