MTB, The Odds are Against You (which is good!) this is my second piece this year on how fear is good.
When you were young were taught to seek a sensible, well paying career? Did you grow up hearing that thousands of hopeful actors go to Hollywood and never make it? Told that these actors end up waiting tables or heading home with their tail between their legs? This is the SADDEST advice! Everything worth doing in life the odds are against you! It’s called challenge and competition which will always occur when there are more people who want something than there is supply of that something. That is actually a good thing as it forces us to learn, grow and bring our “A game” if we want to succeed. Our “A game” is when we are happiest and having the most fun! Just getting by stinks! Time seems to just crawl when you are doing just enough to survive but not doing your best. When you are forced to perform right at the edge of your ability level time flies and you feel a great sense of accomplishment when you achieve your goal.
Riding King Kong scares the $&ap out of me every time I ride it! The feeling of being “in the moment” and the sense of accomplishment afterward are why I face that fear. I know I have developed the skills to ride Kong but anything less than my A game will spell disaster, forcing me into the “flow” state!
As a mountain biker you may be afraid of a certain trail feature or an entire riding area. A few years ago I met a couple in Winter Park who said they had been wanting to do one of my downhill camps but the only dh camps that fit their schedule were always at Bootleg Canyon and they had heard that Bootleg is gnarly so they kept chickening out on taking the camp. This fear held them back from two really important and fun things for three years! First, Bootleg does have some gnarly trails but it also has many fun trails that flow really well, so they were missing out on super fun trails for three years. Second, they were having less fun and feeling more fear than they should have on every ride for three years! Had they used that fear as a catalyst to learn and grow they could of called me and learned they I don’t teach on those gnarly trails and they would of gotten more enjoyment out of every ride for three years!
Use your fear to challenge yourself to learn, grow and become your best. I realize, if you could take a little magic bill that instantly gave you the skills of the best mountain bikers in the world you probably would, but what is the fun in that? All mountain bikers would be great riders and there would be no challenge left, after a few weeks or months of riding at the level of the best riders in the world you would probably take it for granted, start riding less and seek out a new challenge that gave you a sense of accomplishment.
Fear is good when it keeps us safe and when it challenges us to grow. Fear is bad when you let it hold you back from being the best you can be. Really, really want to make it as an actor? Take acting classes, practice deliberately and keep facing the fear of rejection at auditions until you make it. Will everyone that follows that recipe make it as an actor? Of course not, again simply too big a pool of talent and too few roles. You will however become the best actor you can be, learn a great deal about yourself, learn a lot about the business side of acting and possibly discover something similar (directing, coaching, producing, filming (maybe you are better behind the camera than in front of it) and most importantly you won’t die wondering (what if I had followed my heart and tried to make it as an actor?)!
I owe my fortunate life to fear! I was afraid to die wondering! I had quite a few role models who had given up their dreams to be “practical” and they seemed really unhappy to me. Not unhappy on a day to day basis, they smiled, laughed and enjoyed their lives, but deep down I could sense this feeling of disappointment that life had not turned out as they had hoped. That fear (of feeling disappointed on how my life turned out) scared me much more than the fear of failure scared me.
My life turned out a lot like an actor who didn’t quite make it but learned that he was good behind the camera and then learned he was even better at directing. Right after college I wanted to make it as a pro snowboarder, along the way I received some terrible coaching and thought, “I could do a better job of that”. While snowboarding competitively I started mountain biking in the summer as cross training and to have fun. After my “career” as a snowboarder ended I was offered my dream job, coaching the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Snowboard Team! In Steamboat I really learned and grew as a coach as they paid for me to go coaching schools and I was able to practice coaching five to seven days a week. My love for coaching and mountain biking grew as my love for snowboarding started to fade so I decided I was going to take what I had learned about structured, drilled based coaching to mountain biking. That was 1999 and the transition to mountain biking coaching was another big fear as no one was doing what I wanted to do at the time and I was openly laughed at for attempting it. It took years of hard work and living at the poverty level but now I have my dream job/business! All because I choose to dive into my fears instead of hide from them.
Face your fears! The odds are against you but your heart will thank you.
NOTE: I did not say that you should ride a trail that scares you nor attempt a trail feature that scares you. It likely scares you because you don’t have the skill to do it. Use your fear to inspire you to learn and become your best!
I relaxed, saw the line I wanted to take, found my balance and went through the section very controlled – it was great!
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