I first met my gremlin during the Cascade 1200 in 2006. It was just about 100 miles from the finish that I decided to give in to his incessant rant and quit pedaling. Had it not been for a bit of rest in the shade, a diet coke, a handful of chocolate chip cookies, and some time to reflect on a series of penetrating questions put to me by a RAAM veteran and a PBP ancien, I might have quit altogether. Instead, I got back on that bike and I finished the Cascade 1200. It was the ride of my life, and I knew it, and that’s what kept me going.

Entering the Cascade 1200 wasn’t a logical next step in a progression of longer and longer rides. It was a quantum leap. It was more than an adventure. It was a transformational experience that changed my perspectives on many areas of my life, not just cycling.

In the years that I have been riding long and writing about it, I have met many sport-rec riders who want to get into endurance cycling. Most don’t start because they don’t think they are capable for one reason or another. It was for them – as much as for myself – that I decided to write a book about the role the mind  plays in a successful ride. The focus of my concern are riders like me, who never raced a bicycle, but want to use it as a means of realizing a greater sense of fulfillment, happiness and health by accomplishing big, hairy, audacious goals in long distance cycling.

On Thursday, January 8, that goal became a reality with the release of a new eBook called, The Ride of Your Life: aligning heart and mind for success in long distance cycling.

Extensive information about the book, including a free, downloadable preview edition, is available at the online eBookstore at RoadBikeRider.com.

The Ride of Your Life is a departure from cycling training books on the market today. Rather than focusing on physical fitness, I focus on the mental preparation that will ultimately make or break a your commitment to a training program, or to completing a challenging event. It is based on a structured, eight-step program that will compliment any cycling regimen, and increase the likelihood you will stick with it.

For inspiration, I interviewed six sport-recreational cyclists who accomplished remarkable goals on the bike. So many of the stories we read today are about the accomplishments of professional athletes. Their efforts are awesome, but don’t necessarily build our personal self-confidence. The interviews in this book feature the stories of riders who have completed some of the most challenging event rides in the world as a passion, not a profession.

You can view the 34-page preview edition here, download it for free, and share it. 

As it is with my riding, writing is a passionate pursuit. It is an instrument for helping others, rather than a means of creating income. And so it is with The Ride of Your Life. Our expectations for sales of the eBook are modest. We will retain enough revenue to cover all of the current and some of the future expenses of our fledgling online publishing business.

The rest will be “paid forward” to charities, particularly those that offer assistance to people in need of food, shelter, clothing, and medical attention in Oregon. We plan to focus our contributions on a few charitieswhere we can have the greatest impact. At the top of our list is Loaves & Fishes - a private non-profit that delivers hot meals to homebound seniors throughout Portland.  

If you decide to buy the book, we thought you would like to know where the money is going. So, we will keep you up to date about charities we select to receive funds on the More Info page.

I want to take a moment to thank the six riders who participated in interviews, and whose personal accounts of the rides of their lives serve as great inspiration. Kitty Goursolle, Jill Homer, Gregory Paley, Kent Peterson, Del Scharffenberg, and John Spurgeon waited patiently for two years to see the fruits of their labor. If you read the book and benefit from their stories, please let them know.

We will be introducing a page dedicated to the book soon. It will be available from a new tab at the top of the home page. Until then, we hope you will visit RoadBikeRider.com’s web site to read more about the book, including what some of cycling’s most respected riders and journalists are saying about The Ride of Your Life.

Keep the pedals turnin’, road riders.

Tags: Cycling Goals, Loaves & Fishes, Mental Preparation, RoadBikeRider.com, The Ride Of Your Life

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