Business musings by a mountain biker… Part 1

I recently took part in the most prestigious endurance mountain bike race on the planet - the Absa Cape Epic. Established in 2004 this annual 8-day race takes place in the Western Cape of South Africa and is career defining for XCM pro mountain bikers. Racing across 8 stages, covering a distance of 700km and 17000m of vertical climbing, traversing mountain ranges and battling the elements it really is a race that measures all.

I’ve raced XC mountain bikes for more than 25 years, yet many an Average Joe measured my success or failure as mountain biker by way of participation in the Cape Epic. If you’ve taken part, you’re a MTB’er; if not, then interest wanes really quickly. Regardless of what my dreams were, the projection is real. It’s the race that measures all and in South Africa people know it. They also know that if you’re a serious mountain biker you’re likely to have done it. I hadn’t once done it and sometimes doubted that I had what it took – the pressure was real. I was a mountain biker, yet for some I didn’t measure up to the expectation of what a mountain biker must do. Race the Cape Epic.

That got me thinking - what is it that I measure my success as a mountain biker by? I no longer compete to win races - I tried and didn’t succeed, so don’t expect grand athletic ambitions.

Joy. 

Pure joy. 

The more joy, the better the reward. That’s true, but it’s also bullshit. There is great reward in suffering to achieve the goal. Those rewards are micro stations of success.

Now, does that joy come easily? Well, yes and no. It’s entirely dependent on the goals we set for ourselves. The harder I train (mentally, bike handling skills and fitness) the more I suffer, the more I enjoy it. Yes, it’s that complicated. There is this dichotomy in that it’s really simple and really hard at the same. 

You get on your bike, ride down the street and smile. Attempt a wheelie and fall on your back. Ride up a steep mountain pass and curse the hardship; it’s joyous, yet hard to get there. 

Greg LeMond famously said: “It never gets easier, you just go faster.” 

Richard Virenque laid bare the dichotomy in this great quote: “You can say that climbers suffer the same as the other riders, but they suffer in a different way. You feel the pain, but you’re glad to be there.” Achieving success means we need to lay bare our innermost fears to ourselves, be honest with ourselves and be prepared to work hard to achieve success.

However, I don’t just ride for joy. I ride to free my mind and get a ton of value from it in life generally, but also specifically in my role as a professional person.

Mountain bike races can be hard, excruciating and dangerous. Just as life can be. Just as business can be. There’s no place to hide.

Life and business require many skills and fitness to navigate successfully. So, what then is it that I have learned from MTB that I apply in my life as professional person?

For the next couple of weeks, I’ll share anecdotal tales from the saddle and relate them to business. No, I won’t teach you how to bunny hop over the printer, nor wheelie to the coffee machine (we can do a 101 of those too 😉), instead, it will go a little deeper. Perhaps to areas that may be of value to you. 

Patience and planning

It was 2015, I was about to embark on a planned near five-year semi-hiatus from MTB. 

Why, you may ask, if you seem to like MTB so much? Life isn’t all downhill…

Simple really, goals and ambitions.

Master’s degree (life goals man…). Babies (nappies, need I say more…). Major projects (sleepless nights, long days, pressure, lack of sleep, setbacks…).Start up my own company - you name it they were all in there. 

Yet, the one thing which I’d done all my life to give me a buzz was missing - riding my bike. My 6-day-a-week endorphin shot. My buzz. All but gone for the rare occasion. 

These were all well thought through choices mind you; not your average get-out-of-bed, knee-jerk type choices – ones that were heftier than the odd new year’s resolution that lasted all of January and died a sudden death as summer had its final sunset. This is not about complaining about those choices I’d made. It’s not a tell-it-all about how good or bad it was. Remember it’s about patience and planning after all…gosh.

These were the choices I’d made, all while realising that it would severely impact something that partially defines me. Being on a mountain bike in the high mountains, revelling in the beauty of the Lord’s creation partially defines me, I’ve done it since I was young kid growing up in the high mountains. Why then did I let that defining element go? Well, I didn’t - I had goals and objectives and that meant that I had to be patient and lay aside a part of me for a while there in order to achieve those goals and meet my objectives.

Was it worth it? Heck, yes! That first 300k race a year ago left me feeling like a hero. No, not that! Did I achieve my goals? Yes, I did and no, unfortunately I didn’t (dealing with failure will come…). 

I had to be patient though. 

• I completed my Master’s degree (eventually). 
• We have two beautiful daughters that I love and adore, who think I’m Superdad (bad dad jokes comes with the territory unfortunately). 
• I successfully completed one major project (read hell of the east).
• I successfully led many other projects and helped in my small part to save people’s lives during a global pandemic (Yes that really happened!).
• I ran a company (now I’m back to planning and grand ambitions again). 

But, importantly I applied lessons from years of MTB: Patience and planning. 

With the little things. 

With the larger things. 

With simple things.

With complex things

With dreams. 

With ambitions.

How? you may ask, has this anything to do with MTB? Simple really. In order to race you have to train, a lot. As in a lot-a lot, hours-and-hours, week-after-week, month-in and month-out, season-in, season-out. This takes a ton of patience, in a world of instant gratification, where we want to be fit right now, be strong right now, have great skills right now it doesn’t fit it. It doesn’t work like that (life probably doesn’t work like that?), any athlete will tell you that you don’t achieve much without patience and planning. Getting up daily and getting out there doing the hard yards, following a plan to achieve your goal, building up, resting, building up, resting, building up and chipping away at it. Until you get there. Until you get to the race. It may be your first 5k, it may be a marathon, it may be Ironman, it may be doing the Cape Epic - whatever the goal was; you had to start with a dream, plan it and be patient in the process to bring that dream to fruition. Those races don’t choose themselves; athletes don’t appear on the cross the finish by luck. It takes patience and planning.

I had to be patient to race the Cape Epic – for many years I simply couldn’t get an entry, I had to be patient and let it be, never letting go of the dream. Then the call came. I only had 8 weeks to prepare for the greatest race of my life; my great friend Robert Barnard threw me a lifeline and invited me to take part as his partner in the 2022 edition.

Like any good PM I have a list. Be sure to stay tune for the ride.