Scare yourself and shake the cage

Don't let fear stop you from doing anything

It didn't occur to me until today, how much of a baby I am starting to become. Is it old age? I went mountain biking today and at the start, I didn't want to hurt myself, and I seemed to be letting fear stop me from experiencing the true rush and gratification of the moment

So I'm telling myself this - Do at least one thing every couple of months which will take myself out of my fear comfort zone. Be the George Gordon Byron mad bad and dangerous.

Woodhill in New Zealand is pretty amazing. Mountain bike trails in a beautiful pine forest. In fact, they were filming Yogi Bear the movie today. The tracks were pretty tricky - jumps, tree roots, drops, sand, sharp turns, fierce downhills. At the start of the day, I kept pressing the brakes, afraid to fall off, afraid to go hard, afraid to hurt myself. What a baby!

It wasn't until I had to slap myself, learn the stable lean back position, fall off a couple of times and ignore my fear that I really started to enjoy the experience. It was a fantastic rush.

It was apparent that its so easy for me to just want to keep into this little world of mine, and not push the boundaries. I can imagine the people that get held back by fear, and it stops them from achieving great things. In fact, we were talking about it today, it seems the best in the world in mountain biking, skate boarding, surfing, gymnastics, whatever, are the ones who are able to master themselves and can overcome their fears.

D was flying down the mountains and popping jumps - it looked sweet! He was recollecting it, saying he was going too fast but told himself "don't panic, don't panic", he hit the jump with too much weight back, "don't panic, don't panic", and pop - huge air time and he sticked the landing. DON'T PANIC. He also did a tricky course which involved riding over two overlapping seesaws - while he was able to explain the theory of not slowing down, getting in the right gear - he just couldn't do it. He just didn't have the boldness to manage the fear and trust it will work out. Instead of continuing to peddle, he stalled and after 2 attempts, he also ended up smashing his derailleur. Good effort though

After the session, I felt different. It was similar feeling to a saturday morning on my road bike - I was a little weary but feeling pumped from a solid ride, with a full weekend of relaxation ahead of me. This time round, there was another level - I was buzzing. It was the adrenaline which road riding doesn't give to the same extent. Awesome!

So lessons
- overcome your fear and be bold to experience the best of the situation
- throw out the preconceived ideas and just do it - don't be afraid to eat some dirt