Just do the skinny bits 🚴 ⛰🌄🏔
In 2009 I needed to prove to myself I could ride the length of New Zealand, on a bike. Why? Because! I thought it was impossible. Whenever I think things are impossible I am usually WRONG. Most people are. When I got off my bike at Cape Reinga after 6 weeks of cycling, I felt amazing. I felt on top of the world. OK, well near the bottom of the world but at the top of New Zealand!
In 2010 I started a new journey and impossible challenge to start a $100M venture and to become a category leader for an industry, from New Zealand. Why? Because! People said it was impossible. It was during the GFC and everyone was crying that the sky was falling and startups everywhere were all going to die. I thought “you are wrong” because I just did something impossible and so I am going to do this too. It was always my dream, ever since playing with a computer my mother bought me when I was 10, to start my own software company and take it global.
In 2011 I stopped drinking alcohol for a year then the year after that I ran 1,000km. I got into the habit of doing impossible things. Then I set a goal to learn to sing and get paid to sing in front of 100 people.
I like to do impossible things because more often than not things are not as impossible as you think. Here is my TEDx talk about doing impossible things.
But it had been a while since I completed my last challenge last year and I was starting to stress about what to do next? I had some ideas, I usually have a short list of cool but crazy things to do. Some were big and epic and probably needed more time than I could commit right now so I saved them for another year when I could really go big. I was stuck without an impossible thing to do and it was already July. Then one day a friend of mine, Scottie, sent me a message on Facebook Messenger.
Well I didn’t even click on the link. 4 days cycling over the southern alps sounded great and I was in. Say yes then figure out how to do it later.
Great I had a challenge.
But it was in 2017.
Why I jumped straight to Scotties challenge was because I have never stopped raving about my cycle the length of New Zealand since I did it in 2009. I always said I would do it again in a heartbeat. Cycling over the Southern Alps sounded like a mean challenge. I got super excited about this idea. But I would need to get cycle fit before then. I needed to go for some big rides.
After 7 years going hard at Vend, I had two months off coming up. I stepped out of the CEO role to free myself up a bit. I thought about doing a lot of cycling during that time, but I knew I needed to set a big goal to work towards. That’s how my brain works. If I tell myself to run every day, my brain goes “meh, whatever” but if I say “Hey, run 1,000km!” my brain goes “Hmm, dare me not to!”. I am big or nothing at times. Then I was talking with my girlfriend Zoe about where I could cycle and what a big goal could be to prepare for that race. Perhaps go cycling in France or something like that, but it didn’t feel epic enough.
Then Zoe said, “Ride around the world”.
And I said, “How could I ride around the world, in 60 days? It took me 40 days to cycle just the length of New Zealand.”
Then Zoe said “Just ride the skinny bits”.
So how do you cycle around the world in only 60 days?
Just cycle across the skinny bits.
Starting in Cape Town then cycling across Africa, across Tasmania Australia, through the middle of New Zealand, and then Chile to Argentina ending up in Buenos Aires.
Sure a lot of it is water, but there would still be around 4,000km of cycling solo and if I go hard I can fit into 7 or 8 weeks of cycling.
Sometimes solving an impossible challenge just requires you to change how you look at it. Cycling around the world through the Northern Hemisphere would take a year or more. Going through the skinny bits in the Southern Hemisphere makes it much quicker, more like 7 weeks.
So, September, 2016, like in 6 weeks time from today, a bag, a bike, and a bit of a mapped plan and then let’s see if I can circumnavigate the world solo on my bike. Then I can ride with Scottie over the Southern Alps in February.
If you happen to be anywhere along the orange line in September or October then let me know, and I will swing by to say hi. The best parts of cycling long trips are the people you meet. And if you have a couch spare, I would love to collapse on it on the way round.
This post was originally published on http://www.8degrees.co.nz/