344 Miles On A Bike

In the heart of the Midwest winter, my good friend Todd Hamer reached out to see if I wanted to join him on a bike ride from Cincinnati to Cleveland called The Ohio to Erie Trail. Todd is a pretty fit guy who does a big ride each year. My comfort is exercise in a gym with iron. I knew this would be a great chance to challenge my body physically and mentally. I also knew that we would stop at great coffee shops in the morning and end the day with great drinks. One of the biggest things missing in our culture is people—especially men doing challenging tasks with their friends. This ride was to be done over 5 days, which would give us an average of 67 miles a day. My furthest ride up to now was 50 miles…3 years ago. Todd said maybe the most positive thing the night before we left. “We have nothing to do tomorrow, but ride bikes.” This helped me realize, there is no rush or deadline. In today’s world it’s easy to speed up and freak out about the imaginary timelines. That statement took that feeling away. During this ride, there were moments of regret I signed up, chaffing, and repeating thoughts that kept popping up. Let’s look at these thoughts in the order they were introduced to me.

People’s Mind Breaks Down Before Their Body

I had been training at Westside Barbell for about two months when Louie Simmons said this to me. We were over by the reverse hypers because he was watching me do my 100 reps before I left the gym. I was trying to keep my breakfast down after another brutal training session, and I asked him why people leave the gym. Being a member at Westside Barbell meant the best coaching in the world, best equipment, training partners, and innovative training ideas. It’s an environment that is impossible to fail in. This thought kept popping up into my head pedaling up the hills of amish country. Much like lifting a heavy weight, I kept reminding myself that you can make forward progress if you just keep applying pressure. When we pulled into Cleveland, his statement was confirmed as I hopped off the bike and realized I could keep riding if I wanted to (I didn’t want to). Todd told me a similar story of one of his friends with a similar tone. Our body can handle a higher capacity than we think, we just need to train our mind to adapt to the new capacity. ‍

When you Ride Alone, Your Wheel is Always in Front

This is a Gregg Glassman quote that was shared with me by Chris Cooper when I joined Two Brain Business. The quote paints the picture that if we always do things on our own, we’ll never be challenged to increase our ability. There was a group of six of us on the ride, and honestly, Todd was the only person that I know who trains on a regular basis. To see some of the guys cruising down the path helped to push on. Everyone had their struggles along the ride, but seeing the others in the group was motivating and it let me know that it’s possible if I just keep going on. We don’t have to be in front or be the best to make progress, but we do have to keep trying.

Endurance Training is Stress Tolerance

Simon Parini said this to me after his 5am workout one morning, and it stuck with me. He was leaving his workout to go on a long distance run. The mileage was 6-8 miles which is a lot of running post workout. When he said that, I realized that he was right. Endurance training isn’t a max output, it’s a tolerance test to keep negative thoughts out. Simon wasn’t trying to say a T-Shirt worthy slogan, but it was imprinted in my brain. The truth about riding a bike for up to 80 miles a day, it sucks. Your legs are sore and your ass is numb while your resting heart rate just keeps climbing. If you’re trying to bike or run a little bit more, just keep telling yourself “one more first mile to go, then I can stop“.

When it was all done, this was one of the most positive experiences of my life. It slowed the world down, allowed me to exercise, and have laughs and lessons with some good people. When we look at what most people need more to live a better life, it’s all the things this bike ride achieved. I had a lot of people ask me leading up to this event why I was doing it. I would follow up by asking when was the last time that they did something physically challenging that scared them, and they weren’t sure if they could complete it. Life happens fast and we forget to take breaks like these to enjoy and test. Whether its a long ride, run, swim, or hike, I think it’s a critical part to someone‘s growth to unlock a new level of ability.

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