It’s February 27. There are 2 more days left of the month (yes, it’s leap year!) And I just got my first ride in. I’m already a month ahead of where I was last year. And last year was a really good year. Here’s my last ride of the year, and my last ride, really, until today.
This was a big ride for me. Not so much that I climbed 1,200 feet in an hour, or not so much that it was about 35 degrees outside. It was a big ride for me because I finally hit my goals of 2,000 miles, and 200,000 feet climbed for the year. That wasn’t an easy goal. It took work, patience, diligence, and long-suffering, but I did it.
I remember a pivotal moment of the year in the first part of September. I was sitting in the dentist chair and pulled up my Strava stats. I had only climbed 100,000 feet. Dr. Murdock came to drill on me and noticed a look of concern on my face. “How are you doing?”
“Not great.” Are things really ever going good if you’re sitting in a dentist’s chair? But today was even different. Today was about soul searching. Today was about Strava. “I set a goal of 200,000 feet this year, and I’m only at 110,000.”
“You climbed 110,000 feet on your bike? That’s incredible. I’d say that’s pretty good!”
“Yeah, but my goal was 200,000 feet.”
I remember well the look on his face. “Doesn’t look too good. Maybe next year! But 110,000 feet is pretty dang good.”
It was pretty dang good. But it was only half of my goal.
This was my moment of truth. Was 110,000 feet good enough? It was a good year. But it wasn’t good enough for me!
I went over the stats in my head. I had started biking seriously in April. April through August = 5 months. I realistically only had 2 ½ months left. The last couple of years froze on December 1. I had had a pretty good year, and there were plenty of very good excuses: school was starting, daylight savings was ending, it was getting cold, nobody really even knew about my goal but me, and it was probably a crazy goal anyway. This was my moment of truth. Was 110,000 feet good enough? It was a good year. But it wasn’t good enough for me!
I determined right there in the dentist’s chair that I was going to go for it. I was going to get my goal, no matter what. From that first part of September through December 10, I doubled down and I hit my goal. Yeah, I only got one Kudos for that ride. But that’s because Strava doesn’t allow you to give yourself a Kudos. And that’s the most important Kudos to me. I made a very tough goal, and I accomplished my goal. And I even got a PR and a couple of other achievements on the ride to boot.
So yeah, Dr. Murdock was right. I’d had a pretty good year through September. But that wasn’t good enough.
What was good enough was that I was true to myself, and I hit my goal. And that matters. Big time. To me.
2,000 miles. 200,000 feet. Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!