Everything I Needed to Learn About Life...

...I learned from the Tour de Donut (or any "distance" bike ride)

First, many of my biking pictures have me wearing the same looking orange mesh shirt. This is not my lucky shirt or anything. I have three of these shirts. They were left over from a recent golf outing.

A number of things came to mind during my ride. While these things related to today's race, they can also relate to life. One of the things I thought about were goals. I initially thought it would be interesting to try and eat a dozen donuts (total) during the ride. I realized this was not realistic after eating my first donut. I adjusted my goal to four donuts. I ended up eating three.

Goals, in life, are important. We should "shoot for the stars." We need to accept we may need to adjust our goals to something more "attainable" though. It is great to hold ourselves to high standards. We should not label unsuccessful attempts as failures. Instead these attempts should be viewed as learning experiences.

Another thing I thought about dealt with pacing myself during the ride. The bike ride was a race. I simply wanted to focus on doing my best though. I did not pay attention to how many riders passed me or how many people I passed. That is not where my focus was. I focused on finding a pedaling rhythm that felt comfortable. I was alone for much of the ride. In some ways that was very peaceful...almost transcendental.

I believe in the same approach to life. It is important for each person to find his/her own unique rhythm. In essence, we need to "march to our own drummer." It is easy to focus on what others are doing or on what others think we should or should not do. Placing too much emphasis on these things can cause us to lose track of who we are as individuals though.

Another thing was striking about the race. Many age ranges, body types and ethnicities were represented. There were competitive riders, novice riders and everything in-between. Some of the bikes may have only cost $100.00; I am sure
there were numerous bikes that cost $5,000+. We all completed the same course though. In that respect, anyone that completed the course was an equal.