I hit the road yesterday to get a few miles in the saddle after work.Â
Everything was perfect – the weather, my legs, and even my bike tires were magically already at 105 psi.
The only problem it seemed was that I got a late start. I stayed late at work (a wonderfully stressful day), got home late, and spent a little extra time to find the chamois cream I had already opened.
I headed out and all was back as it should be. My lungs – great. Legs – super, back – felt fresh.
My training plan was for an easy 25, so I pedalled away down through Almaden Valley and up past Calero reservoir. I kept glancing down at my computer, which kept saying 22 mph, 23 mph, and even 19 mph going up the hill. I was relaxed and feeling good, and even pushed past the 12.5 mile mark to finish the hill I was on…
And then I turned around.
As I started rolling back down the hill and slid my bottle back into the cage after taking a sip of water with a smile on my face, I noticed a peculiar thing – the orange disk in the sky was now a semi-circle…
The sun was setting!
Shit…. hmmm…. ok…
My mind started racing: Do I have my phone to call someone to pick me up? yep. cool. Did I bring my headlight? Nope. damn. Will I make it back before dark?
“Let’s see” I thought as I started to do the math in my head. 13 miles @ 20mph average… uhhhh lemme round up - so 15 miles at 20mph is 45 minutes and if 10 miles at 20mph is 30 minutes, then I’m looking at around 40 minutes. I am guessing I have about 10-15 minutes of sun left… ummm.. how long is twilight..
I came to the quick conclusion of two things -
#1 – don’t try to do math in your head when going 42 mph downhill.
#2 – the sun was going to set on me… I am on a country road.. and I don’t want to call for help.
So at this point, my relaxing spin became something different.  Very different.
I think I may have misled you today with my blog entry title – because this sunset was not a sunset of my motivation, but rather finding my motivation in a sunset.
I pedalled harder and with more force than I think I have in a very long time. I luckily have done this same ride many times, and I know how long it takes me to get from the top of that hill to my house – 45 minutes pushing hard, 55 easy. Now there is some aspect of stoplights that also plays into it, but I found myself barrelling home and every time I looked down now I saw 22 mph,  24mph, 27 mph.  27 mph!!!
As I reached the 2 miles to go point and knew I was going to make it home before dark, I began thinking to mysef – could I have done this so easily without the motivation (fear) to get home before dark today?
I still haven’t answered that question, but I did reinforce in my mind the importance of motivation in taking performance to the “next level”.
Whatever ceiling you have, whatever threshold you haven’t broken, I believe that just repetition is not enough. Whether they be manufactured, accidental, or intentional, creating opportunities to heighten your motivation will ultimately lead you to break through barriers and continue improvements.
Yesterday, I got home faster from the top of the hill than I ever have. What’s great is that I now know that’s possible… so I will go out and repeat it.
Whatever your training level, I hope you will find opportunities in the next week to create your own motivational sunset… even in the middle of the day - if you’re out on a ride or run think to yourself – what if I only had 45 minutes to get home before dark… and do it!