Through the Looking Glass – Episode I – Goals

It’s August 7^th and it’s a blistering hot day in the Baja desert. We’re traveling across a desert plateau that’s smack in the middle of Baja California. The day prior was filled with uphill climbs so we’re hoping for flatter terrain ahead. So far so good until we reach a sign saying “Reparación de 1000 metros”. Thus far in our travels through Mexico this has never been good. It’s a telltale sign that we’ll soon see the currently cracked road turn to bumpy gravel and dust. Sure enough the road turns from bad to worse. Who knows how long this road work, where we usually find nobody working on the road, will go on for? Well there’s nowhere to go but forward so we start tackling the jarring bumps and quicksand like dust. As cars and trucks pass they create large dust trails that only make matters worse. We watch the vehicles go far into the distance with their dust trails still following; there’s no end in sight to this dirt road. It looks like we’re in this one for the long haul.

Not long into our ordeal I hear Kevin up ahead cursing at the road. I start laughing. Why is he getting angry at the road? This is to be expected when cycling: sometimes the roads are good and other times they are bad. Getting angry isn’t going to solve anything and will just add to the frustration. I start to ponder. Why is Kevin so frustrated and I’m taking it in stride? After all we’re both facing the same obstacles, we’re both feeling the same bone rattling bumps, and we’re both eating sand from the dust trails. So it’s not a physical difference; it must be in our heads. We’re somehow approaching this obstacle differently. How?

Well, if I know Kevin he’s got a goal in mind: we need to do at least 150km per day. This bumpy road is obviously going to make reaching that goal less likely as we’ve slowed to a snail’s pace. To him this means that to reach at least 150km we need to cycle longer or cut down our break times. Both of which are unrealistic. We can’t cycle longer than 12 hours since it’ll get dark and we can’t cycle in the dark—that’s suicide. We can’t reduce our break times as that’ll end up slowing us down in the long run (we’ll just get tired and slow down even more). So now he’s unknowingly just compounded his original goal with two more goals: cycle for 12 hours and don’t reduce the number of breaks we usually take. The only way to reach his original goal of 150km is to cycle through the dirt road at the same speed we usually cycle on a paved road. That just adds to the frustration since cycling faster over bumps just makes them all that more jarring. You can’t cycle fast on a bumpy road; it just doesn’t work. He’s created a collection of goals that are impossible to accomplish. Achieving one goal automatically means that he’s failed one of his other two goals. That’s why Kevin is so frustrated: his goals have clashed with reality and he’s unwilling to change in the face of the unforeseen obstacles.

I started the day with the same goal as Kevin did but upon seeing the road conditions change I rearranged my goals to something more realistic. I know this bumpy road will end eventually so my new short-term goal is to get through this bumpy section of the road without falling and my bike still in good working order. I’ve also dropped the distance goal and replaced it with a time-based goal: end the day after cycling (including breaks) for 8 to 12 hours. However many kilometers we rack up during that time no longer matters. By adjusting my goals I’ve lessened the power this bumpy road has on my goals no matter how long the section of road ends up being. It has no effect on my time-based goal. If the road goes on for 200km and we only get through 10km after 12 hours then so be it. We stop after 12 hours and continue onward tomorrow. The road, though, still affects my short-term goal since the longer the bumpy road the higher the chances of me falling or somehow damaging my bicycle. However, I can actually do something about this. If I just take it slow and use my skill at finding the best route through all the bumps and sand then I can somewhat control the condition my bicycle emerges at the other end. Viewing it this way sort of turns the road into a game: how can I best get through the obstacle course. If I happen to fail and my bicycle gets damaged then I just rearrange my goals again: fix the bicycle or get a lift to someone who can fix the bicycle.

Setting goals is good as long as you realize they aren’t hammered in stone. Face it; life will throw unexpected obstacles at you all the time. No matter how much you plan and try to avoid these obstacles some will find you. When these obstacles do come your way then adapt your goals rather than torturing yourself trying to make the impossible happen.