Break Your Own Glass Ceiling
Whenever you do something, you want to do it well.
Peter and I do our best to ride well, commit to our kilometers and track our progress. We have been consistently keeping our pace of cycling 20 kilometers in one hour. Depending on the number of hills and the terrain, we can average that distance pretty consistently and meet our road crew at that mark almost on the nose.
The other day, we were cruising along, and I asked Peter if we had thought we could do 100 kilometers in under 4 hours. Looking at our track record, he thought it might be a bit hard for us, especially in the mountains, but I thought what the heck, let’s go for it. I wanted to do some research to see what the average is for other people, what the pros, triathletes, or those doing iron man are clocking in at, but we had no internet. In fact, we’ve had no internet for almost two weeks, so fact-checking was not an option. Peter said, “It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing, it only matters what we can do.”
With the goal in the back of our minds, we kept up our pace and continued our days. Of course, after almost a month of cycling, we are both stronger and faster. I can feel the ease of going up the hills that a few weeks ago was more difficult. I can tell when Peter has the bike in a higher gear and we are easily cruising. I can feel my thighs burning less and less as we ascend those massive inclines.
Yesterday, without obsessing or paying too much attention to the distance, we rode gloriously. The roads had a few major hills that required an effort, but then they would lay back with some long stretches and some good downhills into the mountain valleys that winded around the rivers and lakes. We kept a clipping pace as we enjoyed all the beauty nature provided with the rocky mountains, gurgling brooks, expansive valley beds, and rich raging rivers.
We had a 9 AM departure, with the goal to cycle 4 hours, stop for a 1-hour lunch, cycle 3 more hours, eat dinner, then do 2 more hours of cycling, which would yield us a great day. We did it with no problems and had 175 kilometers under our belt by 7 PM. With the glorious northern daylight extending well into 20 hours here in the Yukon, 7 PM felt like 3 PM. We could have continued but it was time to call it a day.
Before bedtime, Peter checked out stats and shared that we had done over 100 kilometers in our first 4 hours, and it took less than 4 hours! We broke the glass ceiling on our own time! Just talking about it prior and identifying what a goal made the goal materialize. We focused on the incremental improvements and before we knew it, what at one time seemed like a stretch became a reality. In fact, if we had stayed riding, according to the time, we would have done 200 kilometers in less than 8 hours! A full day of riding that the pros don’t even do!
Wherever your glass ceiling is, it can be shattered, but easier than you think. Stay focused, keep doing what YOU are doing, and don’t compare yourself to others, but work on your own skills. Challenge yourself and set incremental goals that will yield the result you seek. Don’t obsess over the goal, just work to improve yourself and your skills and you will most certainly get there.
Setting goals matters. The mind and the body will always respond to what we ask of it, yet too often we give it permission to give up way too soon. Of course, it is hard and requires you to push through the resistance. Resistance is just the mind’s way of asking you how serious you are about reaching your goal. As soon as you push through that, it’s smooth sailing to reach what it is you desire.
Next goal, 200 kilometers in under 8 hours!
XOXO
