Just got off the phone with one of the toughest guys I know.  I am not making this up, I have known this guy for over thirty years and he is one of the most unstoppable dudes out there. I have ridden motorcycles, bikes and played football with this guy. He is always out front pushing the pace and the limits of what he can and cannot do.

He is the first guy to drop off the cornice when snowboarding or hit the big jump at the MX track.  Yes, he is a little crazy, but he is also very aware of his limitations and his abilities. 

He also has three qualities that many of us strive to have.  He has the desire to improve, the mindset that failure is not an option and then pushes himself through the discomfort of repeated practice. 

Last summer, for the first time, at the age of forty-one, my friend decided to start racing motorcycles.  No he did not return from a layoff, race when he was a kid nor has he ever raced before. He decided that racing would improve his overall riding skills and give him a chance to quantifiably measure his success or failure.  Since he made that decision, he has drastically improved his riding skills and consistently made faster lap times. 

His mindset was to push himself into a challenge to force improvement. Racing would also keep him riding and practicing during the winter. For his first race, he did not even mention to his friends that he was signing up because he didn’t even know if he would have the guts to race.  After the race, he said he learned more in one day at the races than he learned in his previous years of riding alone.

The point of the story is not the racing or the results of the first race.  It is what happened on a cold, windy practice day this winter.  It is about overcoming the little inconveniences that get in the way of our goals and desires. 

My friend was telling me the story of his latest and best track day ever and how it almost never happened.  He told me how hard it was to get to the track and even when he was there how he sat in his truck for twenty minutes before he decided to unload his bike, gear and ride. 

 I understand we all have our hardships but to hear this guy talking about little obstacles and how they affected him was something I thought just never happened to some guys.  It is funny, even the tough guys have to force themselves through inconvenience to get to where they want to be.

Remember, none of these inconveniences is life threatening or on most days even worried about. I am just pointing out that some of the things that make the tough guys tough are the small insignificant factors that they have to “overcome.”

 We laughed as we talked, he told me how weak he felt the morning he had to load his bike and gear.  He came home late from a business trip the night before and did not get much sleep.  He had to wake up well before dawn if he wanted to get out of work early. Clearly not motivated by the cold, dark morning air, he hit the snooze button twice, ended up being late for work but had his bike and the afternoon off.  It was the first, small battle to fight, but still it was victory number one.

 At work, he found that he was the only guy that was planning to ride in the afternoon and brought his bike.  Today was much colder and windy than expected, “Not today” was the answer he received when he asked if anybody was going to ride.  If he were going to ride it would be alone.  No problem, victory number two.

 After lunch the standard work problems arose, “Can you look at this? This will only take a minute.  Hey, I have something I want you to do this afternoon?”  It seems the work is always the easy stuff to make go away, victory number three.

Once in his car, you would think that the battle is over and it is time to ride. Think again, the cell phone rings.  It was work again, “What do you think of this?” His girlfriend, “Can we do this?” His mom, his whatever, he told me it took him twenty minutes to leave the parking lot.  It was getting later and later but he soon found himself at the track sitting in the parking lot.  Victory number four. 

So how was your ride? I asked.  “Dude, he said, I sat in my truck for a half hour.  It was a late, cold, windy Thursday and I was the only guy there.”  I could not help myself from laughing and neither could he, the toughest guy I know, the struggle to get to the track and nothing.  

Finally, he unloaded his gear and rode a couple of laps, warmed up and started having a great day.  He even said it was his best day at the track this season.   Turned out, it was not that windy and after getting warmed up it was not that cold.  He learned how to triple into and out of a rhythm section and triple into the whoops.  Lets call that, victory five, six, seven and eight.

After a few laps, he headed back to his truck to take a break.  In a truck parked right next to his, he found another guy sitting staring at the track.  “How is it out there?” The guy asked.  “Not too bad” my friend replied.  After a short break, my buddy was alone back out on the track.  

Twenty minutes later, the guy from the truck appeared and then another guy after that.  Not a bad day at the motocross track for a cold, windy Thursday afternoon. If you are still counting, victory nine and ten.