Most of you know I ride.  Sorta obsessively.  I was out yesterday riding Centennial which rings Horsetooth Reservoir.  This ride has lots of climbing; but that means sweet swooping runs down the other side.  This is pretty much my default, backyard ride.  It’s short and fast for when I am pressed for time, the views are magnificent, the traffic minimal. 

The Parks Department has been doing repair work along Centennial, including repaving long stretches of roadway and parking areas.  Repaving often means lots of gravel and tar and a scattering of both yesterday made my ride just a wee bit more challenging than I had anticipated.

I was flying down a long descent when I realized that up ahead was a puddle of spilled gravel – when riding through gravel on a road bike it’s easy to lose your balance and end up kissing concrete.  I didn’t hear any cars behind me but I hate to swerve into a traffic lane without a look and I didn’t want to take my eyes off the road.   So I thought “pick a line” and headed through the gravel, surfing the puddle a bit as I went along.

Picking a line in mountain bike terms means to look ahead of where you are and plan a path for your bike to take – in mountain biking its crucial to look ahead of where you are given the rapidly changing terrain and obstacles. (That and rocks really hurt when you fall on them.)  On a road bike – for me anyway – picking a line means focusing on where I want to go to the exclusion of where I don’t want to go, especially when avoiding obstacles.  Your wheels tend to follow your eyes so looking where you don’t want to go has a pretty significant downside.  In simple terms – don’t look at obstacles, follow the path around them with your eyes and most likely your wheels will follow.

Which means you have to focus – notice I said “to the exclusion of where I don’t want to go”.  You can’t really focus on two things at once, so focus only on what you want to do; where you want to go.  Let everything else fade away so you can concentrate on staying upright on your bike.

And of course the last bit – Go.  You have to get moving.  You won’t get anywhere if you don’t start moving.

So to apply this to technology.

1) Pick your path.  Figure out what you need to do and then pick a way to do it.  I am struck by how often folks get stuck analyzing all the options (okay, you have to do some of that) but really the important thing is to pick something.   Identify your options, make your selection, then move on.

2) Focus on where you want to go.  Don’t look at the obstacles!  Okay yes review the overall terrain and be aware of the big rocks, downed trees, and overflowing riverbeds, but knowing obstacles are there is different from focusing on them.  Focus on your path – focus your time, your energy, your attention to your chosen path.  Focusing on the outcome makes it easier to achieve.

3) Go – Start moving. Gain momentum.  Stay in motion.  Energy is the fuel.  There is nothing else.

So Pick. Focus. Go.

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Blog by Joyce