By James Durand
Getting motivated to go faster, further, higher, is different for all of us, I’m sure.
Me? I just want to be faster and better, so it comes down to a need for improvement.
I have a friend who only rides fast enough to stay in front of his riding mates. I slow down, he slows down, but never as much as I do. If I speed up, he speeds up more. I’m pretty sure he would kill himself to stay out front, he just needs to win.
If I want my kids to ride something big, I just promise them ice cream. Easy-peasy!
In the end there is no right or wrong answer, and what drives people is interesting to me. I’m curious as to what pushes us to perform better, or challenge ourselves.
This has partly come up due to our Swicked Whistler adventure later this summer, where we’re taking a dozen riders over to Whistler to tackle a big epic ride up into the alpine. It’s a big challenge that will take months of prep.
I’m hoping to motivate, inspire, and encourage the entire group as a whole, while at the same time, avoid discouraging any one rider with the wrong approach. Tough challenge.
So … last month my wife and I went to California for a week of riding. Being that she and I have vastly different approaches to competition and challenges, it was the perfect experiment for my skills in coaching.
We left our campsite on the road bikes for a 30-ish km ride. Nothing too focussed, just a casual ride to spin the legs out after the long drive and get warmed up for the coming week.
Once we were into it and had a good pace going, I looked back and she was about 20 meters behind.
I slowed down just a touch so we could regroup and then pick up the pace. A few minutes later when I looked back, she was about 30 meters behind.
I slowed down just a touch so we could regroup and then pick up the pace. A few minutes later when I looked back, she was about 40 meters behind.
I slowed down just a touch so we could regroup and then pick up the pace. A few minutes later when I looked back, she was about 50 meters behind.
I couldn’t figure this out, BUT I had a theory, so I pulled over and stopped.
Chenoa rolled up beside me and asked, “Why’d you stop?”
I said, with a smile, “I thought if I stopped, you might actually start rolling backwards.”
Now at this point, three things really surprised me in this situation.
1 - She did not roll backwards at all. My knowledge of physics is a little rusty.
2 -This one may surprise you too. Despite my smile, she did not see the humour in my comment, not even a little bit.
3 - Apparently anger is very motivating to some people, because for the rest of the ride I couldn’t keep up with her, no matter how motivated I was to chase her down.
So, it turns out I can be very motivational, but my delivery might need some tweaking?
I’m James Durand and I’m Goin’ Ridin’…