Snakes, date scones, and young gentleman (minus the penguins)

 

While I would like to say I am fresh from the Kelly Cycle Coaching December Camp held in Bright, the term December may be a bit deceiving; we arrived home about two weeks ago.  And my legs definitely aren’t too fresh after riding around Sydney town this morning on what my friend termed ‘undulations’. Is there a adjective we can put in front of that, such as extreme/long/nemesis producing/glad I am sitting down right now undulations (suggestions welcome).

Anyway, back to the KCC camp in Bright. Another awesome, adventure filled, caffeine-high week. The theme of the camp was “Possible” backed up by the song “Ain’t no mountain high enough”. Already we were onto some winning combinations. The first official evening of the camp saw Captain Bob ask the group “What do you consider impossible in cycling?”. While the group was quite canny, with the first answer being “nothing is impossible”, when we got down to the nitty gritty of it all, responses such as “climbing”, “training AND having a social life”, “getting frost bite under a carbon leg”, or “self-doubt/negative self talk” were all discussed. Funny that only one individual in the room had the carbon leg issues and put their hand up when asked if they found this a big challenge. 

Then came out the big marker, and below is a take of what we had on the board

It was very interesting how the prominent difficulties we all faced were the mental or psychological ones. The self-doubt, self worth, or overcoming disappointment/setbacks were all ranked as our Darth Vadars. A prominent theme of this blog is all about our self talk, how we can be happier, and remove some of the limiting beliefs we place on ourselves. The first step to combat some of these limiting beliefs is awareness – when do we start putting ourselves down, doubting our ability to climb the next mountain, question our value as an individual? When we can recognise our patterns and triggers, we can start to put strategies in place to combat our negative thought processes. Affirmations are extremely powerful, as is focusing on what is happening right now and what is in our control. Warm date scones from the Beechworth Bakery also help to soothe 14% gradient hills, a few hours of riding in the saddle, and provide motivation for the ride back to Bright.

And so the phrase “it is possible” worked it’s way into the camp. I loved the fact that when riding up Towanga Gap, I was pulled up after my comment “my power to weight ratio up this hill is bloody ridiculous” by Mikey H with “Han, it’s possible that we can make it awesome*”. A rendition of “Listen baby, ain’t no mountain high…” proceeded soon afterwards and the climb seemed to fly by.

During the camp, I found it to be an absolute privilege to be surrounded by such a wonderful group of young individuals. I am sure we have all felt that certain values, etiquette and genuine concern for others has been slowly eroding in our society. It makes me sad to see pregnant women forced to stand on trains, the elderly shipped off to homes never to be thought of again, and the fact that it makes a difference how you acquired your disability as to what type of support you get from the government (yep – that one could be another article but I will keep it positive in this post!).

Seeing the KCC group work together as a team up hills, have guys carry a few legs if I had my hands full (I get a mental picture/song of the seven dwarves and ‘Hi Ho’ – just replace a pick with a leg), or watching Carols support team of Coops and Cam during river walking wobble probably more than she did. The display of genuinely caring about other people, willing to lend a hand, and having a ‘it’s possible’ attitude, really made the KCC December camp a complete success. 

 

The girls with a man on either side; something I could get used too!

Naturally it took a lot of people to put the whole show together, so if you could indulge me a little, I would like to give a shout of thanks to –

Michael and all his family at Bright Chalet for hosting us again – I think it never ceases to amaze them how much food the boys can consume...

Dee Jennings for all your core and recovery sessions, knowledge and support

Café Velo for the greatly needed post-ride coffee

Bright Berry Farm for all the delicious antioxidants

Essendon Skoda for the support vehicles

Carley for stitching me up, your amazing driving, and your joint efforts with Ed for putting together the KCC December Camp ‘Ain’t no mountain high enough’ rendition plus slide show (great work guys)

CC (otherwise known as Carol Cooke) for being my riding buddy and sharing the secret of the Beechworth Gorge

And lastly, to the amazing duo of Bob and Helen. You guys run an awesome program and I know that sometimes you feel like pulling your hair out (I think Bob is evidence of this!), but your patience, support, and guidance is greatly appreciated.

And to all the KCC team and all other loyal blog post readers still with me – I would like to wish you all a magical Christmas filled with an abundance of happiness, laughter and glorious food. May 2013 bring lots of new adventures and be full of exciting possibilities.

Until next time,

Ride safe, ride with a smile, and ride in the moment

Han 

 

CC at the 100km mark on the longest ride she has now done - 119km!

The secret Beechworth Gorge - feel the serenity

A special concert at the Bright Chalet

Delicious recovery food at Cafe Velo

Doing what we do best

Core work with Dee

* This may not be the exact quote, but something along these lines... 

Did you take the express train today?

 

Has anyone else noticed a slight increase in the pace of life and stress levels leading into Christmas? I find myself looking for an extra few hours each day to cram a little bit more in, get a few items ticked off the ‘To Do’ list, make sure I catch up with as many friends as possible before Christmas (over coffee and breakfast of course), start ordering presents online (is a pair of socks OK dad?), make sure I do pilates everyday (so I can start to resemble ???), and don’t even get me started on Christmas cards….

Just by writing the above I can feel an increase in my body tension. And this is where some mindfulness training conducted by Craig Hassed, GP and Lecturer at Monash University, has refreshed the importance of taking time out each day – otherwise we may end up looking like:

And I know we all want to look that sexy during the day right?!!!

My interpretation of mindfulness is paying attention in a particular way – your attention needs to be purposeful, in the present moment, and made in a nonjudgmental fashion. Within our current 24/7 society where we constantly train ourselves to ‘multi-task’, decrease our attention span by the year, and cram as much as possible into our daily existence, our ability to come back to the present moment is significantly decreasing.

But why the need to bring ourselves back to the moment? There are a whole heap of reasons!! These range from effective treatment of depression, improving our mental health, increasing sporting performance (athletes refer may be more familiar with the term ‘flow’ or ‘in the zone’ as opposed to mindfulness), and our overall wellbeing. Am you starting to get excited about mindfulness?!!!

Craig used a fantastic train metaphor in relation to mindfulness and our thoughts. Imagine you are standing on a train platform (feel free to use Platform 9 ¾ and add in Harry – I did) observing trains (with the trains being a metaphor for our thoughts; anyone else feel like they are at Grand Central station with how many thoughts we have whizzing around?). Now the trick is to observe our thoughts/trains without getting invested in them or jumping on board the train. A personal example that I found applicable was how for the past two years during my hip drama saga people are constantly asking, “How does your hip feel?”. All well and good. But it has resulted in constantly checking in to that area, and thereby, making the neural pathways and connections super sensitive and aware. Now I habitually check-in, and if I have a slight twinge of pain (no matter how minor), I found I was started to buy into my stories and jump on my hip drama train – “Crap, my hip is sore… I will have to ice when I get back… make sure I do my pilates… it will probably impact training tomorrow… dam my next physio and massage isn’t till next week so I won’t get any relief till then… shit I will need surgery again… the world is ending….”

And that was the thought pattern. Not too healthy right. Mindfulness is the ability for me to observe that my hip may be sore and go “OK, how does it feel right now?”, and then not jump on my story train. And it is taking some practice (they recommend about 30-40mins per day of mindfulness training for the treatment of severe depression and to change ingrained habits). Then we need to transfer this into our daily activities. Maybe taking a moment to listen to sounds in the distance, sounds close by use, listening to our breath. And if thoughts do arise, being curious and inquisitive but nonjudgmental.

And like everything else in life? If you want to be good at mindfulness, you need to practice! You aren’t going to become the Mahatma Gandhi overnight and be a spiritual leader by tomorrow; they don’t offer those type of courses found discounted by 75% on Scoopon. We can’t swallow a pill to make our thoughts melt away. We need to practice. Indeed, corny as it may be, the express train to mindfulness is closed, but the stairs are always open!

 

Till next time,

Ride safe, ride with a smile, ride in the moment,

Han