From Business ….. to Beginner Again In my early twenties, I entered a world that I was told would reward me for hard work, competence, and initiative. At seventy-two, I seem to be entering a world that asks me to grow beyond what I’ve learned, and step into each day as a beginner. Lately, I've been wondering what being a senior is really meant to look like. And I fondly remember the fresh feeling of being in my first bike shop in the late ‘70s. The front door was finally locked. Dennis, Tim,...
17 days ago • 2 min read
Quiet Courageous Acts That Saved Lives “It wasn’t just the Nazis,” Mieke said. “It was the people you knew. That’s what made it terrifying.” My friends, Durk and Mieke Schaap, now in their mid-90s, lived through the Second World War not as soldiers or resistance leaders, but as children in a small Dutch village. Resistors and Sympathizers “My own father was a good man; quiet and hardworking. But during the war he was doing more than I realized.” Mieke knows that in her home there were...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Durk & Mieke; “Doing What Had To Be Done” Bread Delivery Boy In 1944, Durk was only thirteen when he said goodbye to his parents and worked as an apprentice baker in the village, Echtenerbrug Netherlands.. At 4:30 AM, he stumbled out of his warm bed to gather the wood for the oven. There was no electricity, so all the mixing and kneading for 300 loaves was done by hand. The baker would sometimes tell him, “Take an extra five loaves on your bicycle to that house. They will need it this week.”...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
The Pace of Friendship. Last week, two friends challenged my need to always be better, be stronger, and to ride at a fast pace. I had traded my office, emails, and writing posts for 320 kms of remote and wild cycle trails. The hardest part of the trip wasn't finding a line through another rock fall. Or fjording up the trail, when the potholes turned into ponds. The biggest test was allowing myself to be a learner of what my friends could teach me about my pace of living. Setting intentions...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
What Near-Death Failed to Teach Me. I came so close to dying that day. Cycling to the Rocky Mountain office, 30kph, and suddenly I was airborne. Time compressed in those milliseconds. What hit me? I’ve got a bike show next week! Then a strange thought: This is an amazing airshow! Everything went black. I lay there, knowing nothing. Minutes later, my rattled brain started to wake. Confused, I looked up into the pale-blue morning sky, and a startled face, peering down. The big guy radiated...
2 months ago • 2 min read
“You Don’t Believe it, Grayson, Do you?” Allen has a confrontative, angry view that no one else searches as he does. “Everyone thinks it’s garbage. You don’t believe it, Grayson, do you?” My brother has become one of those weird mystical people that seem intent on trying to understand things that feel like bottomless mysteries. He’s a confusing brother to love. I’m disturbed by the dissonance of emotions I feel around Allen. I remember the potential Allen had, and yet in his present...
3 months ago • 2 min read
My Brother, the Mystic “Good morning Allen, today I’m leaving for Vancouver.” Allen stares, not recognizing me. He mumbles, “I don't know what you're talking about.” I didn’t try further to make him understand. It's best to let him talk about what he wants, usually circular, with a few words on the same topic. “I'm getting broken with my PPA*.” “Hmm.” “It's not possible for me to use my brain, so I'm getting into my soul.” “Into your soul…” I affirm what he’s said. “It's a pushing thing, like...
3 months ago • 2 min read
I Went on CBC to Talk About Bikes… and Ended Up Defending My Fertility “Live in fifteen seconds.” In 1995 a CBC producer called, inviting me to join Vicki Gabereau in her studio. I asked how I could prepare, and the producer told me not to worry. “She’ll just focus on Rocky Mountain and your success with mountain bikes.” An assistant got me seated at the table in front of the mike, carefully positioning my headphones. I was relaxed, I had done this many times. As the interview went on, she...
3 months ago • 1 min read
The Self-Help Trap: When Improving Keeps You Stuck In the late 1990’s our RaceFace manager and I went out for a beer after the Eurobike show in Germany. He was very self-focused, a disciplined leader with a very competitive view of the world. I’ll never forget his response when I asked him, “Do you treat all your business and social relationships as competition?” "It’s the only way.” he responded, with just an off-hand wave. “It’s a contest in which I intend to succeed. Others will inevitably...
3 months ago • 3 min read