Mind over matter...

How attractive is this photo? Well this is me and my husband after our 60km bike ride on Saturday. It was tough and I was buggered afterwards!! 



We are practicing for our Cambodia trip which is coming up in February where we are riding 415km over 10 days  for charity with the last two days being back to back 100km rides each day...just thinking about it freaks me out!


I know the power the mind has over us and whether we think we can complete something or not but this ride made me realise how important it really is. We rode to Moonee Ponds where we had lunch at a lovely café in Queens Park. It is about 30km or 2 hours to ride one way. So this leg of the ride I was okay as we had done it before a couple of weeks earlier with some good friends of ours. After our lunch we sat in the park for a bit, me stretching my legs and mentally preparing myself for the ride back, which is a lot steeper than the ride there so I knew it was going to be tough.

I'm not one who usually rides bikes let alone 60km in one day but I knew that it was going to be a mental challenge for me more so than a physical challenge. To be honest when the going gets tough I tend to have a little mental melt down where I let my ego get in my head very loud and very clear saying "STOP, you can't do this it is too hard". Sure enough at the 45km mark my ego popped up and took over my thoughts, it was not a pretty sight and there were tears. 


My legs were tired, the sun was hot and any other excuse I could think of was spilling out of my mouth in between the tears. My poor husband, he is so patient with me!


When this occurs, I know I just need a moment to let these feelings and tears out and then I compose myself and get back on with the job at hand. This is something that I am becoming better with as I get older, thank goodness! 


Once I shut my ego up, I managed to get through the last 15km with no other upsets. We live on a hill so of course that is the last thing that I wanted to be doing and I did say "I don't know if I can ride up there, I'm struggling" but some how and some way I did do it and rode all the way up the hill back to our place. 


It was such a good feeling to have accomplished something I never thought I would or could do. I was able to do it because of positive thinking and telling my ego to shut up and keep going even when my bum was sore and my legs were exhausted. 


It is so important to take charge of your thoughts and when that horrible ego of yours comes into your head it is important to shut the door on him or her because you can do it and you will do it if you truly believe you can! 




Be happy & healthy,