The Impact of Goals

These days, most of my riding buddies are a little burnt out on racing. After 4 or 5 years of spending a summer doing a race every other weekend or so, most of us have decided that this summer we just want to have fun riding. It's not uncommon: bike racing is grueling. Of all the sports I've done in my life, bike racing is by far the hardest. Quite frequently people race for a few years and then quit. They don't quit riding, they just graduate from racing.

A couple of my riding buddies have also noticed that without a racing schedule to prepare for, they have no obvious fitness goals, and subsequently their fitness has suffered. What will get them out riding when the weather is foul or when relatives are in town?

Enter my friend Mark. Mark decided that he needed a goal that would ensure he would be as fast on a bike as he was in the good old days, way back before he turned 40. Mark had heard me rave about the Laramie Enduro in summers past, and decided that this one 75-mile monster of a race would be the focus of his training this spring and summer. For most mortals, it's less of a race and more just a personal challenge: it will take me about 8 hours of hard riding to finish - if I'm able. Two weeks ago, Mark committed to racing the Laramie Enduro at the end of July.

I too needed a goal for the summer. I've been eating more and exercising less, and I needed some motivation to turn that around. And, I'll be damned if I will let my riding buddy do my favorite race without me. I really had no choice but to also commit to riding in the Enduro.

Other riding friends were apparently in similar situations. In a plainly evident snowball effect, John, Liam, Sasha, Jim, Steve have all now also registered.

Here's where it gets really cool: we're all friends, and most of us have ridden together quite a bit. Since we all committed a couple of weeks ago, we've had Laramie on our mind, and we've been talking about our training, and been getting out on more and longer training rides. Without the goal, there surely would have been less training and more excuses to not ride. The BHAG has been clearly motivating and focusing for all of us.

Thanks, Mark, for being a leader and helping us to adopt a worthy goal. It's been focusing and motivating.

I wonder what other personal and professional goals I should adopt.