Why Mountain Biking Makes You a Better Leader

Getting out of home before the sunrise for a hard, sweaty off road ride is not as glamorous as some people might make you believe. But the feeling you get, when the cool morning breeze touches your face, the fresh air full of oxygen, the smell of morning dew on the wild grass, makes it well worth it. I picked up mountain biking as a hobby few years ago.  There are many things I have learnt while biking, huffing and puffing, sweating and just getting tired. The clarity of mind and thoughts you get when you are outside, helps you analyse and learn from things happening around you. I have listed a few below, and what I have learned from them.

Prepare before you leave

No worse feeling than getting a punctured tire and not carrying extra tube or a repair kit. You have limited options in the middle of the jungle / mountain track. A broken chain or a loose part on the bike can ruin your day. Walking while carrying or dragging the bike for many miles to the closest repair possibility is never fun. You always need to prepare before hand. You learn the hard way that before you ride, you check for the repair kits, the portable pump, the toolset etc. Even planning your hydration or energy bars is as important.

Bringing the lesson back to Leadership or Business, it is key to prepare. Key to look into most possibilities and make plans / preparations how to tackle those. You can never prepare for everything, things may go wrong. You may get a second puncture on the same ride. When that happens, make the best of the resources available to you. As a leader in such situations you try to find solutions to achieve best possible outcomes. 

You fall, you get up

Every off road rider has at a certain time, hit a rock at the wrong angle, braked at the wrong time or lost control of the bike. Everybody falls. After a “few” falls you learn how to fall. How to make sure you are minimising harm to your body. You will have scratches and bruises, even occasional injuries.

But, after the fall, you have no option but to get up, get back on the bike and pedal on till the end.

Leaders in business face many tricky situations, mistakes are made and damage is done. Important is to understand and focus on how to minimise the impact of such “falls”. And once it is done, you get up and lead your teams forward. 

You Push on downhills (when things are easy)

Mountain biking is a continuous cycle of downhills and uphills. It is in our nature to push hard on the uphills, where it is tough to peddle, and go easy on the downhills, where gravity is doing most of the work. It was after many outings that I realised that it is utmost important to put in power and hard work while going downhill, so that you gain speed and momentum to be able to make your next uphill easier. 

It is paramount for leaders to understand that in times, when things are under control and teams are in cruise-control mode, these are the times to push for improvements and sharpening the saw. 

You change gears before uphills start - anticipate

Mountain Biking is an activity of constant gear changes. Unlike road biking where you may go on for significant distances on one gear, when you are off road you need to alternate between different gear settings all the time. You go to a lower gear to climb easily. It is important to be on the right gear before the gruelling uphill starts. If you change the gear too late, and when you are already on the uphill, it takes a lot of effort and push to keep going. When you are already pushing very hard, there is a lot of tension in your bicycle chain. Trying to change gears at that time is much more difficult and inefficient. 

Leaders need to follow the same principle in business. Leaders need to anticipate the upcoming issues, difficulties and challenges beforehand. They need to make sure that they themselves, their teams and organisations have prepared themselves in advance. The uphill will become much easier if you hit it prepared and in the right gear.

You find ways where none exists

Sometimes you take a wrong turn, sometime you want to explore an unexplored part of the jungle, sometimes you want to go where not many have gone before. You end up in situations that there is no clear path in front, no track exists where you want to go. You don’t turn back. You don’t give up. You look for any possibility to move forwards. You end up looking for ways through bush or over the rocks etc., just to keep moving forward and come out on the other side. Sometimes moving some stones and breaking some branches give you a much faster way ahead than you originally thought.

Leaders find themselves in such situations very often. They have set out to achieve some goals, try a new strategy or explore new business possibilities. But they don’t find the way ahead. There is no clear path to success. The obstacles are so in-your-face that they don’t let you see what lies ahead. Those are the times, where leaders in business, as mountain bikers, need to explore the possibilities, especially the non-obvious ones, analyse the situation and make their own path. Often we will find that once you create your own path, things are not as difficult as they seem.

You stay on the outer edge of your comfort zone

It is comfortable to take the easy route, repeat the things which you know or have mastered. Staying inside your limits, of knowledge (of path, bike setting etc) or your skills is very straightforward. Most of us are sane and logical people and we often try to play safe and stay inside the defined boundaries. While out in the nature and biking, you are constantly faced with situations that challenge you. There might be a drop, too big for you. Maybe there is a turn, you can’t hit in speed. But if you don’t take risks and don’t go out of your comfort zone, you will not have fun and you will not improve. Improvement comes from crossing your limits and doing it again and again till it becomes easy.

Once you try a jump, you were afraid of, or go through a corner, without braking, in the speeds you have been afraid of, you find out that by overcoming fear and breaking your self imposed limits you see what you can achieve. You learn that most of the time, it is easier than we had assumed. We find that we are capable of functioning at much higher level than we believed.

Leaders first need to learn and believe themselves that they are capable of crossing limits, and then they need to instil that belief in their teams and organisations. Teams operating at the outer edge of their comfort zones are the most productive. The feeling of accomplishment and achievement you get outside the comfort zone is in itself a reward.

Find the best lines - strategize

When faced with an area full of rocks or many roots etc., you need to find the best lines. You learn to look for the best possible way inside the difficult path. You learn to look for possible paths of least resistance in the real time. You need to select a line and commit to it to go through. No fun getting your bicycle tire stuck in a root or hit your pedal on a rock. Even when you find the right line, you need to ensure you put in power at the right times to ensure you have enough momentum as well as the right pedal positioning to have maximum clearance.

Leaders learn over the years to see the right path through the maze of business difficulties. They get their teams to commit to the best possible lines. Leaders make it a habit to quickly identify the best path for the most favorable outcomes and to pursue those.

Speed is your Friend

Faster is better. It takes a bit of effort to understand that. Rock Gardens are tricky things as all mountain bikers know. We learn after a long time that going very slow through a rock garden is never a good idea. You hit a small rock and you lose your balance. You are not able to cross over a slightly bigger rock, if you are slow. You need momentum to go over bumps, you need speed to keep your balance. In times of challenging circumstances, speed is your friend. 

It is never easy to learn this, it goes against your instinct. When faced with these situations, we tend to take the “safer route” of slowing down and take control. Without realising that the safer route not only slows one down but is actually the route to failure.

Successful Leaders act and move on higher speeds. When organisations move on higher speeds, a lot of small issues do not impede progress. Leaders push their teams forward and ensure that they create an environment where quick decision making and fast actions are the rule rather than exception.

You are your own most important competitor

I don’t take part in competitions, I am not a professional or not good enough. I do this as a hobby.

As a fairly regular off road biker, I get a constant drive to improve further. Mostly the benchmark is my own performance, either in the form of time taken for a specific sector or certain obstacles crossed.

This is an invaluable learning for leadership. If we see ourselves as the competition, and constantly strive to improve upon our own performances, we will create a spiral of over-achievement and instill a positive spirit in the team and organisation.

When you think you have given it your all, push even more

We all get tired and lose our breath, during the ride. We give it our best and push with all the energy we have. But most times after we have given our all, we still have not climbed to the top of the hill, or have not reached the end of the ride. At those very moments when we have no option but to push even more, we uncover the inner reserve of energy. Bikers, for that matter athletes in any category, find out that they have more energy in themselves than they think. Top pros routinely dig into these energy reserves for their high performances. 

Organisations also have similar deep reserves of energy and potential. Successful leaders learn how to bring this energy out. Leaders know that you never given in and especially not when you feel that there is no energy left. Successful leaders over time create teams which always are willing to overachieve and target higher and higher.

Sweaty, tired and out of breath but with a feeling of Achievement is much better than fresh and rested but without anything to show.

The opinions shared are my own and do not necessarily reflect my employer's view.

For further discussion and idea sharing, please connect with me on LinkedIn or write to me at [email protected], Meanwhile please leave your comments and thoughts on this topic.