Final Reflection

It would take a few days to sink in but this thing that I did is something no one can ever take away and a feeling that I will never feel again.  Sure I might do it again, or something like it but it won’t ever be the FIRST time. There won’t ever be that doubt that I had to overcome and self-awareness that I found out there on the road.  The only way to really understand yourself and what you can do is to test yourself.  To push yourself beyond what you think you can do.  If you know you can do something there is no challenge to push yourself any harder than necessary to do that task.  But if you set a goal to do something that deep down you don’t know if you can do, then push yourself to your limit, work beyond what you feel is your capacity.  That is the achievement that sticks with you…  The achievement that changes your life.  It allows you to know the true value of dedication and persistence and to not be overwhelmed by a task but just bite off a little at a time.  You teach yourself not to give in to pain, hardship, sadness or even joy.  All these things are voices trying to sidetrack you from your goal.  But when you listen to yourself and that one voice that just keeps saying “go on” then you can accomplish anything.

The human body is an amazing thing.  It can accomplish much more than what your mind says it can.  It’s as if the mind has a built in governor that shuts you down at a predetermined maximum.  Your mind tells you “no I can’t do that it’s to hard” but it’s the minds ability to shut off this filter and go past this maximum that tells you what you are capable off.  Each person is different and not everyone can do ten centuries in a row.  Maybe for you its 20 miles or 40 or even your first century?  But the task and the work to get there is the same for each person no matter what their skill level is.  Believe in yourself and know that you can do MORE than you think you can.  This ride changed my life in so many ways by removing some of these barriers I had built.  Knock them down and see what you can accomplish too.

It took 306,907 pedal strokes to make it around Lake Michigan, an amount that seems overwhelming when looking at it as one big number.  Completing this ride or any other is all done the same way… one pedal stroke at a time.  If only everything in life were so simple….