Enjoying, or for that matter, just completing a bicycle ride from one coast to the other requires a strong mind and a positive attitude. If you lack either quality coming in, you can expect to fail unless you develop these attributes as you go, especially as you deal with the people that will be an inevitable and crucially important part of your ride.
Transecting the continent is also an opportunity to learn about the inner workings of success as they apply to any endeavor because that is what a completed coast-to-coast bike ride will have taught you. So, now that I've given you a limited overview of the kind of person you will need to be (if you're not already), let's see what's required in order for you to show up that way when you begin your ride.
Because the challenge of making a TransAm bike crossing will likely produce an audience of instant naysayers, getting and then staying positive and mentally strong are a lot more difficult than you would first allow yourself to think. Sprinkled through out the chapters ahead, then, I will also suggest books that you can use to ward off the negativity of the world. In addition, in learning to be able to overcome the disapproving tone that such contradictory people and their words can avail, we, as TransAm cyclists and Greenway builders (really, everyone in a perfect world) need to be on a PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) program. It's just not enough to say, 'think positive' because my every achievement, for example, has shown me that keeping one's 'chin up'; staying upbeat in difficult situations, is a very tenuous science -- a most tedious balancing act. As a path, it is all too easy to fall off of if we don't know how to protect the steps we take along its way.
If you're wondering why being positive is such an important part of TransAm success, here are a few examples. You will need to have the right attitude when it's approaching dusk and the next campground is still ten miles away, you're tired and you've been ready for a shower for the last few hours. And then when you finally get to that shower, you find out there is no hot water left. Or when you get a flat tire on a mountain pass, it's boiling hot, the flies are biting your arms as you mend the puncture and you still have 3,000 feet of climbing before you even reach the summit. Or when a motorist (Tip: never trust a car driver for road condition or mileage) gives you directions for a road that is filled with one rolling wall (read steep hills) after another where you had been led to believe there was only a small amount of climbing and your destination was 'just a little ways down the road'.
Be forewarned that a bike ride across the US is filled with surprises like these. No matter how experienced you are, you can always expect the unexpected. Our purpose, here, however, is to help you ward off a lot of the faux pas that you otherwise would have made while making you better prepared for ones that will still show up.
Success teachers in every field of endeavor long have coached the importance of repetition in cultivating the correct attitude for the task at hand. This principle has its basis at the very root of thought itself, our subconscious. In making our base thought forms work for us as they relate to a successful TransAm crossing, then, we can make use of a simple, yet powerful tool that won't let us forget this new mindset we are trying to develop: Affirmations. Here are some examples:|
I ride strong, confident and with purpose My Summer of 2000 TransAm goes easy and smooth Expect the Best Look for Good I always make my mistakes work for me I Laugh at Myself I am getting stronger and more fit every day |
I suggest that you take some of these sample pronouncements and conspicuously locate them in areas that regularly get your attention such as on light switches, handlebars, mirrors, refrigerator doors, computer monitors, etc. Make up your own for whatever mountains you may need to climb in your own life whether on the bike or off. Designing your own is easy. Just follow these guidelines: Never state what you don't what to happen -- state what you want to happen in positive terms. Keep them short and always write them in first person. Put them on little slips of paper that will be big enough to get your attention and yet small enough so that they are not intrusive.
I hope you can see by now that in developing a proper mental attitude, the only difference between successful people and those who do not make it to the winner's circle is that those who come away victorious simply did what unsuccessful people didn't want to do. Unsuccessful would be TransAm cyclists, for example, pack it in after two or three days of headwinds where their road speed never climbs above ten miles an hour. Those who reach the other side of the continent, however, expect the next day to be a better one or the one after that, etc, until things do change for the better. They always know to take the bad with the good.
There are as many excuses for a failed TransAm as there are successes in this undertaking. When asked the question "How bad did you want it?", one can see that there is no one to blame but oneself if failure should result. Any finger pointing, then, when honestly scrutinized always brings one back to mindset and thought forms.
Winners in this game know always to "Press on" in the face of adversity. They know the truth of Calvin Coolidge's famous words:
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Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will Not; Unrewarded Genius is almost a Proverb. Education will Not; The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and Determination Alone are Omnipotent |
One issue that many of us will have to overcome in getting to the starting line for any long distance trek we may envision is fear. Even now, many of you are still bombarded with doubt. Can I do it? What would happen if my body just said no more? What will my friends think? My co-workers? My Family? What about a job when I come back? Will I be able to find one upon my return? Will they keep my existing one open for me? What If I didn't train enough? Will I have enough money? How can I create the time, the money (we will talk about this last issue in a later chapter)? Etc, etc, etc........
If this describes you, brainwash yourself with the following affirmations:
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Either phrase, when made a habit knit part of your life, will turn you into a mountain mover beyond compare.
In moving beyond the crippling indecision of fear, one can also expect any journey of this magnitude to bring one closer to his or her True Self. As an inquisition, then, most any long distance bike tour will teach you to become your own best friend. It will teach you to learn how to trust yourself - to be able to count on yourself, to know what you're capable of and what your limits are. In so doing, you will learn that your deepest inner self comes from the one place that is shared by all, that of the God/Goddess that all of us are. And as our TransAm shows you that we are all Creator Gods, spiritual beings merely having a human or physical experience, TransAming the US will give you a working understanding of the famous words Nelson Mandella borrowed from Marianne Williamson:
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(Marianne Williamson in a "Return to Love") Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure about you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. |
If you're not hamstrung by fear, even if you really do know yourself, and you still are not sure if our ride makes sense for you, maybe your level of commitment needs to be examined. An inability to commit (perhaps not just to our ride but anything for that matter) is another stumbling block which undermines many a would be TransAm cyclist. If your level of commitment lacks the fire it will need, then, here are RR Murray's words that powered me into my last 1986 crossing. You might try posting them in a place where you will see them regularly:
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THE CHANCE TO DRAW BACK, ALWAYS INEFFECTIVENESS. CONCERNING ALL ACTS OF INITIATIVE AND CREATION, THERE IS ONE ELEMENTARY TRUTH, THE IGNORANCE OF WHICH KILLS COUNTLESS IDEAS AND PLANS: THAT THE MOMENT ONE DEFINITELY COMMITS ONESELF, THEN PROVIDENCE MOVES TOO. ALL SORTS OF THINGS OCCUR TO HELP ONE THAT WOULD OTHERWISE NEVER HAVE OCCURRED. A WHOLE STREAM OF EVENTS ISSUES FROM THE DECISION, RAISING IN ONE'S FAVOR ALL MANNER OF UNFORESEEN INCIDENTS AND MEETINGS AND MATERIAL ASSISTANCE, WHICH NO MAN COULD HAVE DREAMT WOULD HAVE COME HIS WAY. I HAVE LEARNED A DEEP RESPECT FOR ONE OF GOETHE'S COUPLETS: WHATEVER YOU CAN DO, |
And once I finally hit the road, the tricks my mind had fun playing on me, all melted into the road never to be considered ever again. I now understand the meaning of:
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And you will too!
I hope, by now, you have no doubt that you're 'gonna make your TransAm happen and you're 'gonna make it happen Strong!!!
A Few Recommended Attitude Books:
"How to Win Friends and Influence People", Dale Carnegie
"Success through a Positive Mental Attitude", W. Clement Stone
"Real Magic", Wayne Dyer
"How to Manifest your Destiny", Wayne Dyer
