TOP 3 LESSONS FROM A 10.5 HOUR BIKE RACE 🚴🏼

If you didn't know, this past weekend I road tripped down to Pratt, KS (1.5 hours west of Wichita) and did a 121.5 mile gravel (actually it's more sand than gravel down there) bike race. It was my 2023 physical challenge goal, something I’d commit to and train for this year to gain a new skill and some new perspectives. I came to appreciate riding in the country on gravel roads and not being buzzed by cars going 60 on a blacktop as well as the endurance your buttcheeks need to sit in the saddle for that long.

Here are 3 lessons I learned during that 10.5 hours. ⬇️

Progress is progress, no matter how slow

This is a theme that has been constantly presenting itself in my life in the last couple of months leading up to this bike race. While we’d all love to get instant results from the work we put in, rarely is the payoff as quick as our hopes. My schedule isn’t totally full of people to help at the office (you can help this by referring a friend 😉), my garden plants aren't ready to harvest two weeks after I planted them, I can't finish a book the first time I sit down to read, and I certainly can't improve my squat strength after 2 workouts.

These are all things that take dedication, commitment, hard work, and consistency to build. In James Clear’s book Atomic Habits (my current read), he writes an entire chapter on the power of small improvements and progress. Statistically, if you make a 1% improvement each day, at the end of the year you’ll be 37x better than you were at the beginning of that year. That's a massive difference with only a minute change occurring on a consistent basis. 

This is the same way I eventually came to view getting through this 121 mile race, one mile at a time, one turn of the pedals, one hill after another.

The end of the race was a 8-9 mile straightaway stretch on a loose sandy road pushing straight into a 25-30mph headwind. It was absolutely demoralizing and exhausting. After 2.5 miles of going 7mph I found myself in a blind rage, angry with the wind as another rider came up to pass me, he offered 3 short words as encouragement that immediately snapped me from my episode of self-pity and despair, “Keep Chipping Away!”. 

I’d seen this play out earlier in the race as I’d crest a hill and see other racers turning a corner miles and multiple climbs away and thinking to myself “I wish I were up there” and before I’d know it I was turning that same corner, but at that moment my blind rage for the wind had clouded this memory out.

This theme also presents itself in patients' rehab as well. Progress is often slower than we’d like (ideally you'd have never been in pain in the first place, right?) But after a few short weeks, looking back on the state in which they first came to see me, they are in a completely different spot because they committed to their home exercises, healthy habits, and follow ups.

So no matter what your end goal is, keep chipping away and know that slow progress is still progress!

Sometimes it's nice to commiserate with others

Riding for 10.5 hours gave me the opportunity to have some rolling conversations with a handful of cool people from around the country. It's a nice way to distract yourself from the fact that you're hungry, sunburnt, and sore. I’ve definitely already recognized this fact which is part of the reason why I love CrossFit and working out in a group environment. It raises my level of competitiveness, and gives me someone to commiserate with. Misery loves company.

While others may be able to turn inward and suffer silently for a 100+ mile ride, I find myself to be more social and crave even a slight bit of interaction with those suffering alongside me so I initiated many brief conversations, interspersed with heavy breathing while climbing hills.

This can be related to rehab as well, many of my patients have been told, or thought it was in their best interest to discontinue the activities that they get physical AND social satisfaction from. This may be necessary for some injuries for a very short period of time, but not nearly as long as many think and there are always ways we can find workarounds so that, while you may miss out on most of the physical outlet you get from an activity, you can still reap the benefits of that activity, socially.

I have had tennis players with injured elbows show up and shag balls for their friends, runners riding bikes beside their training partners during long runs, crossfitters heavily modifying workouts so they can show up to their usual class time and socialize, and highschool athletes doing rehab exercises during practice, all in the name of maintaining social connections they get from specific physical activities. 

There is always a way to get some social outlet during your physical activities, even if you aren't able to participate 100% physically!

It's more of a mental battle than a physical one

David Goggins, Jocko Willink, and Cam Hanes are 3 top performers who speak, write, podcast, and generally make content about being mentally and physically tough. They have all 3 referenced this (possibly credible 🤷🏼‍♂️) statistic that when your mind is telling you to slow down, stop, or give up, you still have about 40% left in the tank.

There is another name for this called the “Central Governor Theory'' which basically says that your brain will subconsciously override your body so that it doesn't fatigue, overheat, muscles and tissues don't tear and you don't die well before it’s actual capacity. Many think you can override this subconscious process consciously which is probably where the 40% claim is derived from.

I experienced this on that 9 mile homestretch that I mentioned earlier that nearly broke me both physically and mentally — I thought I would be crawling across the finish line with little to no strength in my legs and no breath in my lungs. But lo and behold, as I approached town and saw the blacktop (a much smoother, less resistant surface to ride on) I found an extra gear that I (just 20 minutes earlier) didn't think I had. I was back to riding fast again and feeling good knowing that the finish line, and a cold beer 🍺, were less than 2 miles away.

If the physiological energy and muscle output was there all along, why couldn't I seem to find it grinding through the sand, before I'd reached the blacktop? I believe that it's because my mind, subconsciously or consciously, was overriding my body and sulking in the difficult riding conditions — I couldn't tell you if I had 40% left or not, but I did have far more than I would have anticipated in those “dark times”.

So whatever battles you're struggling with, physically, mentally, emotionally, know that while you may feel completely exhausted and at your end in the moment, there is always some left in the tank for a kick to get you over the next wall and through the finish line.  

I learned a lot from riding a bike for 10+ hours; invest in a good pair of bike shorts, eat and drink plenty, and bring headphones are just a few bonuses. I'm not sure if it's something I’ll ever do again or not, certainly not any time soon, but it was a valuable experience in many ways. I hope you can take some of the lessons I've learned and find value from them in your own life.