Thoughts of Quitting? What to do with them.
The last two weekends I’ve been riding my bike. Not a surprise, but with hours on the road, it gives me time to think.
A week ago Sunday, I was in Asheville, NC riding a 96.5-mile race with 4 timed sections called a Grand Fondo.?
Asheville is a beautiful place and rolling hills and mountains to climb and descend. With the lower than Colorado altitude, it was easy to breathe, but added humidity, very different.
The last timed section on this race course was 7.1 miles long with an average grade of 10.5%. That’s what I call an adult hill and not for the faint of heart or tired legs.
My riding partner had a leaky rear tire for half the ride and in the middle of that climb, the part of the bicycle drive train that moves the chain over the rear sprockets came loose. She had ample excuses or reasons to quit, but she kept riding (after a mobile technician fixed her shifting issue) and we finished together.
Saturday, we were in Idaho Springs for the annual Book Cook Memorial Hill Climb. Hill is a misnomer as this climb starts around 7,500 ft. and the finish is at the top of Mt. Evans at 14,270 ft. We rode together the first 13ish miles and I bid her a farewell and best of success with the remainder of her race up Mt. Evans.?
Not entered in the race I rode up a mountain pass and down about 80% of the other side of the pass, turning around to climb back up. We’re doing a race in about 3 weeks which begins with that climb, so this was my reason for becoming reacquainted with it. I last rode this climb about two years ago, so refreshing my memory of how long it was will be helpful come August 21st.
As I was turning pedals, I stopped to take in some of the views and they are breathtaking. Thoughts began hammering my brain asking me ‘why are you doing this?’ and ‘you can quit anytime'.
Have you ever had thoughts like this when attempting something outside of your comfort zone?
Full disclosure, unlike my riding partner who loves to climb, I’d rather ride twice the distance on rolling hills than climb mountain passes on my bicycle. For me, it’s a means to an end with some pretty scenery and amazingly fast descents.
Pushing the thoughts of quitting aside the climb was behind me and I enjoyed the descent. What keeps me going is to focus on the end of the road I can see as that is my goal. It may not be the top, but reaching what I can see get’s me closer to my goal.
When I met my riding partner, she told me that she achieved her personal best time on the climb by 10 minutes. Way to go! I’m thrilled for her, but not surprised as she is a powerful climber. She too had thoughts of just bagging the race but didn’t. She received motivation in two other female riders she decided to catch and beat to the finish.
Stay focused on your goal and when adversity knocks you down or is telling you to quit, keep getting up and refocus on your goal.?
Yes, you are worthy of achieving that goal.
You are not crazy but driven to be the person who achieves that goal.
Take one more step. Write one more email. Make one more phone call. Post one more story on social media. Attend that networking mixer and meet your ideal client.
Be well and keep on moving forward