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Last week while in Colorado my friends decided to mountain bike a trail that was rated as an expert level. This trail consisted of a long grueling uphill climb to get to a short 30 minute downhill section. The trail was about 12 miles in total, with 8 miles of it going up and 4 miles of it going down. The total elevation climb was 2400 feet.
So why am I writing about a mountain biking trip? It's because that during this long day, I had alot of time to think.
What I see on the forum are many people who can endure lots of physical stress. People on this forum workout for hours, stay on strict diets, put in time to get ripped etc... All this time put in for a fitness goal seems easy to most. But when it comes time to put in work for a financial goal, many people seem to lose their way.
We parked at the trailhead at 12pm. According to the map, we had a 3 mile climb on a dirt road with a steady incline. This climb wasn't bad, most of us pedaled at a steady pace, talking to each other. We were getting tired, but it wasn't that hard. We expected this road to be relatively easy anyway.
In business, this is how most of us are when we start a new project. It's fun, but not super easy, yet it's not really that hard. It's just tough enough that you know you are working. We were all looking forward to this awesome downhill that was 9 miles away.
After an hour of riding and arriving mile 3, the road began to become steeper. It was harder to pedal and we took many breaks and pushed our bikes for the next mile until the singletrack trail started. Once the singletrack started, the trail began to go straight up. We carried on for another 1/2 mile and at this point, I was pretty tired and I remember thinking, I could just cruise back down the road we just rode up and I would be happy. Maybe the downhill from the top is not really that great. Is it worth all this climbing?
When you hit your first bump in business and things don't go your way, you begin think about quitting. You tell yourself that you've done enough, you've learned enough, maybe stop and try a different business. Your mind also makes question your goal's value.
But, none of my other friends had hinted of going back. They are all tired, like me, but they kept pushing their bikes up the hill. If I was doing this trail by myself, I probably would have quit right here.
Have partners or people who push on will keep you going. I didn't want to be the only guy who turned back. Later on I learned that two of my friends had the same thought about turning around and taking the road back down. I guess it's good that none of us said anything.
So we trudged on, pushing our bikes 100 feet and resting for 5 minutes. We were at 10,000 feet and the air was very thin. It would take forever to get there. During these times, a 1/4 mile seemed so far, let alone the thought that we had 5 more miles to go. Sometimes we rested for 20 minutes, took pictures and ate.
It was at this point that I thought about writing this post. I remember sitting down and resting and thinking about how this climb correlates to business. We knew we had a long way to go. We just did it 100 feet at a time. This part of our ride is like everyday business. You slowly move forward toward your goal. Yes, you are tired, but you do it because that's what you do to succeed. Mentally we all knew that we could do it.
But we all knew that we had much more distance to cover. The goal was so far and everyone was in great spirits. At this point there was no turning back. At this juncture it would have been farther to do so.
Why it was so easy for us to keep going? The answer is because we had to. When you are 5 miles from your car and you are tired, you have no choice but to ride the 5 miles. But if you are at the gym in a spinning class, you can just get off and quit. You can't make it that easy to quit. My friend told me what she likes about mountain biking is that she has to finish. This is were the posts about burning bridges or moving to a different city come in. You have to do something so that quitting your business is not an option. This forces you to carry on.
Thunder and dark clouds start to appear. We put on our rain jackets. But the rain never came...
Just more obstacles making it difficult to reach your goal. We were prepared.
At the 3 hour mark, we make it close to the top of the mountain and enter into the trees. One of my friends said that she was exhausted and so tired. We couldn't rest in the trees because the mosquitoes were everywhere and seemed to ignore any bug repellent. What is amazing is that you think you are so tired and can't move at all, until something makes you move. Once you start getting bit by mosquitoes, you realize how much energy you really do have left. We were able to ride out of the trees in record time. This just shows you how much of being tired is mental.
Sometimes you just need a kick in your butt to get you going again. You just need to realize that your barriers are mostly mental. Your body can do alot, it's your brain that stops you.
At 3 1/2 hours we finally make it to the top where we get this great view. All that work for this expert downhill trail. Then begins the long downhill. I'll spare you the downhill details, except that it was very fun, we had a bunch of falls and crashes, crossed a freezing cold stream and all made it back to the car in one piece. We reached the car 5 hours after we had left it.
It was a long day, the downhill was well worth the agonizing uphill. This is the kind of stuff we live for. What I like about mountain biking is that the only ones who get to experience the fun of this downhill are the ones who have worked hard in getting to the top of it.
So why am I writing about a mountain biking trip? It's because that during this long day, I had alot of time to think.
What I see on the forum are many people who can endure lots of physical stress. People on this forum workout for hours, stay on strict diets, put in time to get ripped etc... All this time put in for a fitness goal seems easy to most. But when it comes time to put in work for a financial goal, many people seem to lose their way.
We parked at the trailhead at 12pm. According to the map, we had a 3 mile climb on a dirt road with a steady incline. This climb wasn't bad, most of us pedaled at a steady pace, talking to each other. We were getting tired, but it wasn't that hard. We expected this road to be relatively easy anyway.
In business, this is how most of us are when we start a new project. It's fun, but not super easy, yet it's not really that hard. It's just tough enough that you know you are working. We were all looking forward to this awesome downhill that was 9 miles away.
After an hour of riding and arriving mile 3, the road began to become steeper. It was harder to pedal and we took many breaks and pushed our bikes for the next mile until the singletrack trail started. Once the singletrack started, the trail began to go straight up. We carried on for another 1/2 mile and at this point, I was pretty tired and I remember thinking, I could just cruise back down the road we just rode up and I would be happy. Maybe the downhill from the top is not really that great. Is it worth all this climbing?
When you hit your first bump in business and things don't go your way, you begin think about quitting. You tell yourself that you've done enough, you've learned enough, maybe stop and try a different business. Your mind also makes question your goal's value.
But, none of my other friends had hinted of going back. They are all tired, like me, but they kept pushing their bikes up the hill. If I was doing this trail by myself, I probably would have quit right here.
Have partners or people who push on will keep you going. I didn't want to be the only guy who turned back. Later on I learned that two of my friends had the same thought about turning around and taking the road back down. I guess it's good that none of us said anything.
So we trudged on, pushing our bikes 100 feet and resting for 5 minutes. We were at 10,000 feet and the air was very thin. It would take forever to get there. During these times, a 1/4 mile seemed so far, let alone the thought that we had 5 more miles to go. Sometimes we rested for 20 minutes, took pictures and ate.
It was at this point that I thought about writing this post. I remember sitting down and resting and thinking about how this climb correlates to business. We knew we had a long way to go. We just did it 100 feet at a time. This part of our ride is like everyday business. You slowly move forward toward your goal. Yes, you are tired, but you do it because that's what you do to succeed. Mentally we all knew that we could do it.
But we all knew that we had much more distance to cover. The goal was so far and everyone was in great spirits. At this point there was no turning back. At this juncture it would have been farther to do so.
Why it was so easy for us to keep going? The answer is because we had to. When you are 5 miles from your car and you are tired, you have no choice but to ride the 5 miles. But if you are at the gym in a spinning class, you can just get off and quit. You can't make it that easy to quit. My friend told me what she likes about mountain biking is that she has to finish. This is were the posts about burning bridges or moving to a different city come in. You have to do something so that quitting your business is not an option. This forces you to carry on.
Thunder and dark clouds start to appear. We put on our rain jackets. But the rain never came...
Just more obstacles making it difficult to reach your goal. We were prepared.
At the 3 hour mark, we make it close to the top of the mountain and enter into the trees. One of my friends said that she was exhausted and so tired. We couldn't rest in the trees because the mosquitoes were everywhere and seemed to ignore any bug repellent. What is amazing is that you think you are so tired and can't move at all, until something makes you move. Once you start getting bit by mosquitoes, you realize how much energy you really do have left. We were able to ride out of the trees in record time. This just shows you how much of being tired is mental.
Sometimes you just need a kick in your butt to get you going again. You just need to realize that your barriers are mostly mental. Your body can do alot, it's your brain that stops you.
At 3 1/2 hours we finally make it to the top where we get this great view. All that work for this expert downhill trail. Then begins the long downhill. I'll spare you the downhill details, except that it was very fun, we had a bunch of falls and crashes, crossed a freezing cold stream and all made it back to the car in one piece. We reached the car 5 hours after we had left it.
It was a long day, the downhill was well worth the agonizing uphill. This is the kind of stuff we live for. What I like about mountain biking is that the only ones who get to experience the fun of this downhill are the ones who have worked hard in getting to the top of it.
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