The trick of moving out of your Comfort Zone – Comfortably
In his comfort zone
Tight rope walking 6,000 feet up
I have always wanted to go to Yosemite national park and when I finally got the chance this summer I witnessed something amazing. My friend Lynn and I decided to hike up to Yosemite falls to burn off some of last night’s beer and hot dogs. While heading up we kept running into other hiker looking up. “Have you seen the guys at the top?” they would say in awed voices pointing to a cleft at the peak were the falls were gushing out 6,000 feet above. “Some guys are tight rope walking up there, can you see the line?” In what seemed like miles above us I could make out a tooth floss thin line spanning the rapids. Geez! I thought what kind of person would want to do that?? Read more…
Going with the flow in a beatiful natural hotsprings
Canada is cold!
As most of you know I am riding my bicycle halfway across the world. Originally I was supposed to go to Alaska but thing got cut short ¾ of the way after I lost my place to stay. No problem, I changed my destination and decided to continue across beautiful Canada being fully aware that the weather could cut my trip short any day.
And it did
While passing a beautiful area of natural hot springs near the city of Nakusp Canada. I heard from a local that the snow was sticking in the mountains and there was no way I could still bicycle to Calgary. I was very disappointed and not really sure what to do. Maybe my trip was already at its end? I was not sure if this made me sad. Read more…
The magic of getting things done through a little destruction
Burning a bridge is not necessarily a bad thing!
Fat Tom
Tom a good friend of mine was about 50 pounds overweight, which he justified by lifting weights and being a “big guy.” He disguised his weight with baggy muscle shirts and an inflated ego but deep down it shook him up, especially since his daughter was following his example. When at work Tom used to ask me non-stop questions about weight loss and nutrition. I would pour this information out like organic soy milk but Tom’s cup had holes. He didn’t really want to act on any of my advice, he wanted to keep his present habits and have me supply a magic nugget of knowledge to thinness. Read more…
Setting goals – How flexibility helps us accomplish what we truly desire
Don't be inflexible over goals
Changing destinations
As some of you know I am on my way to Alaska on a bicycle. The original plan was to bike up as far as I could and visit my friends father’s house then rent a car and drive home. This seemed like a reasonable outline for my travels but something happened as it always does. A long-term friendship disintegrated while I was on the road and I am no longer able to visit Ketchikan. What do I do? I am on Vancouver Island about ¾ of the way there but I no longer have a destination. I don’t really care about seeing the city of Ketchikan or spending the extra hundreds it will take just to say I made it, so what now? Read more…
The kindness of strangers, trusting in a “dangerous” world
Trust
Kindness in Honduras
I went to Honduras excited and nervous, it was my first trip out of the country. I was on my way to do some scuba diving on a beautiful Island called Utila about 100 miles off the coast. Since the island was small we had to land in Honduras and catch another plane to the island. My friend arrived first and had already left, because of bad winds my plane arrived late and I missed my flight by 30 minutes. I was young and fortunately didn’t have many negative stories yet about being stranded in a foreign country. I stood in the small luggage area smiling at the balmy weather not yet aware that I didn’t have a place to sleep that night. Read more…
A deep apology, letting go of ego and rightness
My best friend Ben
Two emails between me and my closest friend in Japan.
We had some trouble the last time I visited. So much so that Ben said he no longer wanted to speak to me. At the time I felt it was very unfair and I figured things would just blow over. They didn’t, it took nearly a year for me to remove my ego from the equation and apologize to Ben and I am so happy I did.
Ben’s response to my apology Read more…
You are going the wrong way! Positives of non-conformity
Is non-conformity the Wrong way?
Are you stupid?
He looked at me as if I were a complete idiot. I was a bit confused since I was friendly when I asked, “Where are you headed?” He turned, exposing an unpleasant pair of bike shorts and a surly mid 40’s face. “San Fran, you?” “Biking up to Alaska” I grinned like the moron he took me for. “You’re going the wrong way,” he said effectively extinguishing my smile. “Well, I have already gone a 1000 miles without much of a problem.” “Well your gonna have a problem soon” I felt like he was the loose bike shorts Yakuza and I owed a finger. I about-faced and escaped, enjoying his personality as much as a cycling induced hemorrhoid. Was I wrong? The negative Nancys were convinced of it and I was starting to feel a bit… stupid? Read more…
A fun trick to creating unbreakable good habits
Good habits are a choice
Its 5:30 in the morning, I make the motions to roll out of bed to slap at my alarm when I realize, I am not in bed. The realization hits for the tenth time this month and I groggily push off my sleeping bag. I think 5:30? Who gets up at 5:30?? I would like to keep sleeping in my damp cheese smelling sleeping bag if I didn’t have to get on the road by six. I skip breakfast and pack up early, not because I am sadistic but because I am trying to beat the wind. Apparently there is a pretty consistent southern blowing wind all along the coast. Did you know that?? I certainly didn’t! It starts around 1-2 in the afternoon so I try to get all of my biking done before that. This particular morning I am a little slow… “crap!” I say as I look at my watch, it’s 6:05 I keep Read more…
Three grumpy men, the importance of protecting your happiness
It really was beautiful!
It’s all about Perception
I stayed two days in the Bodega bay state campgrounds. It was a very pretty campground so close to the beach that you could hear the Sea Lions barking all night. The campground was composed mostly of dunes so all the sites had a ring of pleasant grass with a some sand in the middle. When I first entered the campground I was excited by how nice it looked. However, the camp designated for hike and bikers was a filthy sand pit. I could barely get my bike and trailer into the camp area and the filthy grit was cementing to my sweaty bike shoes. I could feel my mood slipping but fortunately I caught it, “Mike! enjoy this place!” and gave myself a mental slap in the face. Five minutes later a couple biking from Alaska took one look and decided to spring for a hotel but I held firm this was a good place and I would make it so. Read more…
Modern nutrition stinks and I am getting thin on snickers
Health food?
The junk food diet
I woke up at 5:30 this morning to the same darkness I fell asleep to. My stomach was already rumbling demanding sustenance even though I had eaten a tremendous amount the night before. After packing up my tent and punching my sleeping bag into a much too small stuff sac I went foraging for food. The first thing I found was a banana, brown and scared from a bouncy journey in my bag. I forced it down hardly bothering to chew, next was a granola bar since last night’s snickers didn’t escape. Read more…
