During a nine hour solo unsupported ride, you have a lot of time to think about things.  Often I think about "The Why"... and it's a subject I talked about at a talk I gave to the University cycling team recently.  Sound bites about The Why show up in my story and my racer bio.  The interesting thing about The Why is that the answer is both simple and complex. Like the colorful shifting crystals in a kaleidoscope, the answers can seem very different and complex, but in reality they are just shuffled orientations of the same simple crystals.   

These ideals form a nexus.  For me this nexus is about developing the courage, the character, and the skill set to take what at first seems outrageous, and allows us to redefine it as audacious, then purposefully learn, plan, prepare, and execute. We make it straight forward. Straight forward is not simple. Straight forward is far from easy. Straight forward is not about the result, or how others perceive our accomplishment or failure.  Straight forward is what we make it with composure and comportment along the way.  Developing the ability to take the outrageous and make it straight forward is empowering.  It can lead to great athletic triumphs, significant career achievements, and rewarding family accomplishments.  In a crisis, these skills can even save your life.

I enjoy finding inspiration in unlikely places and different perspectives.   One of the views through this kaleidoscope starts with a famous football quote, often attributed to the great Vince Lombardi:

Most often, the quote is used in reference to excessive celebration on the football field, after a touchdown, and may go back to a Travis Williams touchdown celebratory dance back in 1967.  Humility, respect, and dignity were important to Coach Lombardi.  There is true class watching old videos of Barry Sanders or John Riggins score, and just flip or hand the ball back to the referee. Garrett Griffin's touchdown in the Saints vs. Ram's playoff game this year was such a show of class. Did you notice he kept the ball?  It was his first NFL touchdown and in a major playoff game, after playing on the Saints practice squad for two years.  Even though he really had not been there before, he had the class, composure, and respect that would have made Vince Lombardi proud.

But there is so much more in these seven simple words.  We do not forge paths from outrageous to straight forward in any endeavor without acting like we have been there before.  It's about much more than composure and humility while celebrating a victory along the way.  As athletes, spend hours training, preparing both our bodies and our minds not only for competition, but for the challenges in everyday life.  We train thousands of hours.  Training builds confidence in ability.  We prepare detailed plans.  Planning lays a foundation of familiarly.  Both are essential.  For RAW, we have a spare of nearly everything. We have studied the route.  I have memorized the turns on the unsupported 24 mile starting segment.  I know the McDonalds in Camp Verde closes at midnight, and that the likely looking spot to pull off 21.7 miles out of Parker is really a sandy wash. I know the average high temperature in June in Congress, and that the Bullshifters will have a refreshing pool waiting at Time Station 6.  I know the last 2.2 miles up to Fort Lewis College climbs 360' so that it will not surprise or discourage me.  ​All of this planning builds a foundation of familiarity that will help us to act like we have been there before.