Building Habits on Good Advice - Randonneurs - Maha Sarakam.

Setting a Goal is Good,
Reaching it feels Great,
but Building a Habit from Good Advice... That's really what to aim for!

Since moving to Thailand in August 2009, I have always used buses and trains as my main modes of transportation.  If it could be done by train, I always took it, but anywhere else, or for short distance... well I definitely know a few bus routes through Thailand.  Several times I've rented a motorcycle for 3-4 days in order to explore some out of the way roads, traveling in and around this country - but for 3 years here I never had my own vehicle.  Of any kind.  Reducing my 'carbon footprint' was a small reason, I might not actively think about it but yes it is definitely something we should think about, but I really did this as much to save money as anything.  I have the time, I am happy to open myself to new experiences along the way - needing someone else to provide transportation for us can lead to great and unexpected things, not least of all new friends!  Not usually the case, but that someone else may happen to be a bus driver, but I am mainly talking about either someone who picks you up as you're hitch-hiking, or someone you already know giving you a lift... all of them can make memories, but I did actually become friends with a few bus drivers... I got a lot of benefits from these friendships as well!

Talking about time though, makes me think of something here - Many people comment on how they wish they could travel like I do, and when I inquire further, their usual excuse is 'not enough time.'  For my the limitation is not time, but money, but I do notice that I am just about at the point in life where this is changing -

A very interesting and meaningful conversation I have with my father, several times over the past 10 years, this argument between Time and Money.  He always says, "Have fun now while you take all these 18-hour train rides/bus trips just to save 9$, and enjoy the memories to the max!  I did it too, making a pillow from a water bottle on a bus station floor, it builds character and I know that for sure!  Eventually though, the balance will swing the other way, and you will be totally convinced that Time is the much more valuable... and you will find yourself staying in hotels, and shelling out the extra few dollars to bump up to 2nd class, maybe 1st class if you're lucky... Its just how it goes."

I definitely enjoyed the bus rides, the train rides, I definitely saved a lot of money a little bit at at a time - but a few years ago I decided that wanted a way to explore Thailand even more.  I debated between a motorbike or a push bike for several months, and eventually decided to enjoy the fitness, slower pace, and energy efficiency that a bicycle would bring (by no means my energy haha, I mean energy as in not having to fill something with petrol every week :) ).  I had never been able to cycle in Kenya, as a little kid I loved to ride around, but Kenya was just too dangerous... So from the age of 5 after leaving Nigeria, the next time I rode a bike over red dirt turned out to be at age 24.  I purchased a Taiwan-made Merida S-100 Cross Bike for 14,900B (475$), intending to use it for every possible trip that I could, and it was definitely a life-changing move.

For me, the fitness I have gained from riding my bike has been awesome, it improves the quality of my life in huge ways, but the muscles and metabolism are just a big bonus.  Being able to really get to know my surroundings, to be able to navigate where I am going not just by street names and road numbers but by directions like "oh, that's the way to that awesome rice field ride," "that's where I found 10 kilos of wild mangoes that one day," or "oh down that road live those people who gave me water that day when it was 40C, my phone died and I was a bit lost...," it is for experiences like these that I happily continue to use my bicycle as my only means of transportation.

Living in a city now, it does mean that I really need to put in the km's on certain days, running errands, heading between different buildings on campus, but its great!  Once everyone knows that you only have a bike, they don't rush you as much, and while you are forced to leave a few minutes early wherever you go (or hours depending on how often you ride to the next province to catch a plane flight*), life is improved in almost every way I can think of!  I am completely happy with my decision to buy a bicycle instead of a motorcycle (the choice here was definitely only between these two vehicles, the average single person should not even consider purchasing a car in Thailand).

*guess I cheated there didn't I :) the plane flights take me to Bangkok, exactly 500km away, BUT in my defense, the one time that I did have the 3 days of free time it would take to get there, I did ride it!  And I have also previously commuted 4 days to get to an English Camp in Lampang!  I can honestly call it a commute because after working there for 2 weeks I rode back as well, great trip.

Chance encounters, new experiences with kids and adults alike, all the awesome local fruits and food, time alone in nature, and then the personal fitness - these are my reasons for cycling 18,000km in 2015. 

I have been doing a lot of online reading lately, learning a lot, but also loving my rides as much as ever!  All the time for the mind to digest what I read is great, I am lucky to have a period of so much free time.  Hope I'm making good use of my time... Each day this week I have overheard people at the university, students and professors alike, talking about every different new pill or program to get fit.  All the quickest exercises, even more than that just straight up gimmicks and tricks, anything to look good for the least amount of effort.  I say least effort and not at all least price, because me riding my bicycle a few hours a day is definitely cheaper (and way more fun) than some of the plans that these people are discussing...

Lovely feeling, riding with a steady tail-wind and gentle
early-morning sunshine.  Doesn't get much better!

None of this is new of course, but it still never ceases to have me shaking my head in disbelief.  I do have a college degree in Philosophy, and while I will be the first to say really how little this actually means, I do at least appreciate the real-life benefits such a field of study has (maybe the only benefits :) ? but actually this in itself is a fine goal if you have the time!  It does indeed greatly improve my mental enjoyment of life...)  All of this reading, I am not just looking for statistics and numbers, but looking to find a few people who provide real stories of endurance.  People who may or may not even call themselves athletes, but are really out there doing things which even most 'athletes' stop and admire - some of these people are called Randonneurs (male version) and Randonneusses (female).  They enjoy riding for the sake of the ride, statistics are a bonus, fitness a huge plus, but I think I see that the real goal of it all is to push personal limits in enjoyable ways (usually :) ).  I guess I have been in this mindset from day 1, I just didn't know it, but I love this style, love the attitudes of all those I've met, and I am very looking forward to participating in some actual events here!


A new friend of mine, I know him thanks to the awesome free fitness app Strava, racks up more cycling-event-related km's in a year than I can believe - I'm just now starting to understand, just now able to really comprehend his dedication.  Everything comes in stages, everything really is just perspective, in cycling, in all sports, and in all of life... I guess for me cycling is the vehicle through which I'll learn these lessons!  He shared with me the kind of advice I like the most, a sentence applicable both in the present, but also useful in a broad sense, I think he put something perfectly and concisely when he told me,

"Warning, each ride is unique... No ride is ever exactly the same, so go for the unique experience each ride and life event will present you." 

Awesome trees in a Protected Area near
Nam Nao, Petchabun, North-Central Thailand.

This friend, an extremely accomplished randonneur, has welcomed me into the ranks, and I do feel quite honored!  Sometimes we may think we know something, might agree with someone else before they even speak - your thoughts and feelings just haven't made the transition from wordless concepts into actual spoken words - but when they say it, you agree, almost as if you have said it already!  They nailed it with the right words, but you understand them already.  I love that feeling.

Words have power, there is a concreteness about something which comes just from saying it aloud - try it sometime, even talking to yourself can boost confidence, bring a resoluteness to something that was before just a thought.  Even if the difference is minute (speaking aloud to yourself, or just thinking it to yourself), its still there, the statement has still been said, and if you happen to go from there and choose to share those words with another then they are forever out in the open!  Others to benefit from the wisdom your words may bring... and therefore we must also choose words more carefully than many are known to do :)

Just as youth gains courage when knowing their actions are accepted by elders, don't be afraid to (as youth) thank your elders for the encouragement they give!

(Mr. Ken, I use the word 'elder' very respectfully, and in the more traditional sense, a holder of wisdom as well as one who has been in the world for many years - Definitely not just another word for old, haha!  I know that if anyone of any age ever thought to call you 'old,' you could challenge them, outrun them, out-distance them, out arm-wrestle them, and laugh without breaking a sweat while graciously asking how old they may be feeling :)  Thank you very much for all your input and advice, and even though I may never meet you, I definitely appreciate your willingness to teach and share your experiences with me through Strava, for me it has produced very tangible results, a bit in the numbers, but mostly in my attitude, and that has been something very real!  It has been a treat to follow you this year, to get encouragement from you even if it is often just through maps, numbers, or race results, and I'm looking forward to another year of it as well!)

Total time of 15 hours 25 minutes.
Too much time spent off the bike
for this time to be competitive,
but a great learning experience!

When I first became interested in the idea of long-distance cycling, I had good luck when I randomly chose to follow two superhero bike riders who have turned out to be sources of awesome inspiration.  Definitely not just talking about cycling either!  Even though I only follow them digitally, a relationship is still there, just as one feels a connection with an author who may have passed away years ago.  Awesomely these two guys are still alive, and even write back to me!, in that way better than an author!  The words are on a screen, on a page, whether you know the person in 'real' life may be something else entirely - written words can have an honesty that is long-lasting.  I am now laughing to myself imagining a non-athlete reading my words, wondering why I am speaking so grandly about something like a 'kudo,' a digital "Thumbs Up," a small comment here or there, and then just a bunch of numbers recalling average speed, distance traveled, GPS locations, and the time it took to get there...

But!!  If you are someone who is out and riding your bicycle in the cold, in the rain, running around your neighbourhood at all dark hours of the morning and night, you understand :)  Whether its a feeling of camaraderie or whether the spirit is more competitive, there is something in the understanding between people dedicated to exploring the outdoors that holds real power for inspiration.  When you find another person who views the world in a way that you respect, in a way that you know you can trust, its a situation which brings little bits of wisdom your way, its something to be thankful for!

So...

My usual fuel for rides of any length - Thailand
has some of the best fruit one could dream of...
And no I don't arrange it like this every day :) but
I do think that fruit is one of the most beautiful
things in Creation!  Here you see Watermelon, Apple
Guava, Passion Fruit, and Jujube

2 years and 3 months - Lots of Learning, a little Training, but mostly Fitness-building Fun!  On Saturday, I rode 300km in a day for the first time.  Here's to many more!

After reading that short recap of my current mindset, I challenge you to beat my training time!  For an already fit individual, it would definitely be possible to ride a bike for 6 months, and then just go out one day and ride until you either faint or meet with success - Riding, resting, pedaling on and on, just gritting it out until the 300km mark has been reached.  Patting oneself on the back, and then limping home to sleep for 4 days, in that way, yes, 300km is really not soooo much.  Who knows, maybe even a non-athlete could do it with some iron willpower.  But what would happen the next day?

Reaching it systematically, doing a 300 in a way that I was still ok to ride my bike the next morning without pain - that training time is what I am talking about, and that is what has taken me 27 months (ok, my knees were definitely sore, but not more sore than any of the 150km rides I did in the hills of Northern Thailand last summer).  Helping me too was the fact that I have not gone from non-athlete to person-obsessed-with-his-bicycle out averaging 100km a day some weeks over the past few months - I had a base level of fitness built up from being first a runner, and then starting a habit of daily exercise* at age 22...  By some small chance that I offer inspiration to you as far as in terms of personal ability or fitness, remember that I am totally normal in the sense of average height, average weight, average build, I am a Caucasian who grew up in Kenya, not Kenyan.  I am not a Kalenjin, able to competitively run a 10k from the age of 5 :).

I had to work to build up to this 300km (about 185 miles), never working too hard, but always working consistently, trying to build from my base fitness in order to ride these distances on a regular basis.  I have now done a 100-mile ride at least once a week for 12 of the past 13 weeks (yes I am ever-thankful for weather that rarely hinders me from riding any day I choose).  Base fitness level is something which is hugely important when starting any new sport or training schedule!

A few of the young stars I admire in cycling today (mountain and road) are only in their early 20's, have only been cycling for 2-3 years, but if you investigate a bit you will more than likely see that any one of them has been seriously into at least one other sport from a very early age.  Building the base fitness is very important, but not just for athletes!!  I saw a very powerfully titled article this morning, "Sitting is the new Smoking," and I just have to agree. In only 5 short years as a teacher in Thailand, an increase in the number of large kids per class is plain for me to see.

Scientists recommending 30-minutes a day of exercise as the best and cheapest way to prevent most of the sicknesses that come with age these days, I have to say that I see personal experience as something just as important a thing to track as is paying attention to "what they say," or "doctors proved that..."  Sure 30 minutes is a great benchmark, if you have time to do more then great, but don't make excuses if you can't reach some number, and then go on to let those excuses play into a negative feeling which dampens your experience.  Building a habit is much better than setting a goal, and a better way to influence positive change in one's lifestyle.  Setting a goal, something that stands alone, .  I am making this article quite lengthy now, I will cut myself off by writing something that I tell my coworkers all the time - "Pick something that you love, physical activity of any kind is fine, don't be afraid to keep trying things until you find the one that you like!  In the great and simple words of Solomon - 'There is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in [your] work...these pleasures are from the hand of God.'"

One of my friends who runs around in the wonderfully-outdoorsman friendly state of Colorado commented, "Hey, what's with all the mileage these past few months man?  Training for [something big]?"  Yes I did have a goal of eventually seeing the number '300' rolling around on the screen of my iPhone tracker, but all of the build-up was only build-up while I was riding the actual day of the 300.  On all the other days, it was just fun increasing my endurance, testing where I could go and what I could see, just the bike and me on any given day.  Also, an awesome habit that developed was the habit of waking up an hour earlier each day, which caused me to be a bit more mindful of my nightly activities, in other words spending (wasting) a lot less time on the computer.

Enjoying to the fullest, the act and privilege of gaining just loads of experiences along the way, definitely a full half of them not related to the bicycle at all!  The bike was a big factor in making them possible, putting me in the position to have these things come up, but there is an entire aspect of life (nothing to do with sports here) too when someone goes out alone into the world with an open mind, and some positive energy, whether you're traveling or just taking care of errands around your hometown, whether walking or running, whether riding on a bike or in a car.

So cool to see how visiting new/old friends after my trip to Phrae, my friendship with the Laos family in Camp Sone, Petchabun, all the small but lovely trips riding around the fields with my original biking group in Chumpuang, Korat, they just flat out would not have happened if I wasn't able to ride down the roads that led me past their homes in the first place.

Speaking of, the last link there, that was my first article mentioning bike riding, and after re-reading that I am just smiling remembering how truly proud of myself I was to have finished a 50km ride... my first good ride where I was not last in the group!  Now I find myself actually disappointed if I have to head home having done less than 50km in a morning session... haha.  The past 2 years of being addicted to my bike-time have been awesome, and I am so thankful to be as healthy and strong as ever, definitely ready for this next year, 2 more years, many more years (and countries) to come!

Ok, I am done with this article for now, off for another day of helping some great 4th-year students learn how to write a resume in English!

**My daily exercise, even on days when I cycle at 430AM.  Morning fitness routine, but it works well too to warm up my neck and back before morning rides, and these are very important body areas to care for - that's for everyone, not just cyclists.

-At least 2 sets of 50 push-ups, you just need space on the (hopefully clean) floor,
-At least 1 set of Tricep presses, using the edge of a bed or chair, put your legs up on something to increase resistance, or just hold one leg up in the air if you have nothing within reach,
-Then either 8 pull-ups on anything available or 50 sit-ups, depending on the day.

Can be done in 15 minutes, and I can not find any excuse in my occasionally lazy self to rationalize my way out of this very basic routine :) doing just these 3 simple exercises has brought me massive benefits over the past 7 years, and for months at a time these were really my only exercise.  I am very satisfied to have firmly developed this habit, and if you want to read something incredible, check out the world record holder for consecutive push-ups... 46,001 in a 24-hour period, Charles Servizio!!  Haha, he just had to make it 46,000 and 1 for good measure, he hadn't done quite enough...

When traveling, one may not be able to find something convenient to use for pull-ups, so do sit-ups instead.  Anything besides this is optional, on some really quick days, even the sit-ups are optional, but the 100 push-ups a day absolutely not!!  At times I was even doing 10 sets of 50 push-ups a day (trying to reach 1,000 per day, but cycling definitely replaced the free time for that! so now I am back to 100-200 a day), but it has literally amazed me how just the 100 push-ups a day keeps a good half of the body's major muscle groups satisfactorily firm.

Maybe I was pre-disposed to liking the push-up/press-up motion after watching so many Push-Up Lizards in Liberia as a Toddler.  It is nearly impossible to rid one's house of these, but they are really quite helpful in eating smaller, more annoying bugs, hey I have tons in my house in Thailand as well and I still quite like them to this day :)

Finally, there is also a book titled 100 Push-Ups a Day (I read the .pdf file), which names the Push-Up/Press-Up as the single most beneficial exercise we can do.  I whole-heartedly agree.