“It’s SOO Easy!” …until it isn’t

Verbier, Switzerland

On the surface, the Outside 365 goal appears so easy, so meager, that it almost seems entirely unimportant.

"You're telling me that all I have to do is go outside and walk at least one mile a day? Pshaw, that's nothing!! I can do a mile in 15 minutes, no problem!"

Tackling one mile per day is easy... until all of a sudden, something unexpected happens, and it's not nearly so easy anymore.

Blood Sacrifice

If you spend enough years mountain biking, you'll eventually be forced to pay homage to the gods of the mountains. They demand sacrifices every so often, and those sacrifices can only be made one way: with blood and suffering.

It's hard to believe, but I've now been mountain biking for over half of my lifetime. Over 16 years spent living and breathing mountain biking means that I've offered dozens of sacrifices to the gods, and unfortunately, my most recent sacrifice came due.

I was on assignment in Verbier, Switzerland, descending an absurdly steep, tight, twisty enduro track that drops thousands of vert from above treeline, all the way down to the valley floor below. Steep, exposed singletrack is the name of the game in the Alps, and I was hanging on for dear life, riding on the cusp of my skills in a few spots. The pouring rain the night before hadn't helped, turning every root web into a treacherous ice skating rink.

I wish I could say I was sending so hard when I crashed. I wish I could say I was absolutely railing. But the sad thing is, it's never that spectacular.

I had successfully completed a tight set of back-to-back switchbacks with an exposed web of slimy roots that I thought looked perfect for a ride-by photo. So I set up the tripod and hiked back up to do it again.

Unfortunately, I didn't find the right spot to set up for the corner and get back on the bike. I missed clipping my foot in and tried to stop myself so I could re-set, and I just... tumbled over.

See? It's rarely spectacular.

Unfortunately, I tumbled over onto a large tree with a big exposed section of stump leading into the ground, landing directly on my hip joint. It was all in slow motion, but I felt my entire femur shift inward in the hip joint, accompanied by intense, searing pain.

After gasping through the pain, I assessed myself and decided that yes, it hurt, but I was going to be able to get down the mountain. So, I hardened the fuck up and nailed the line a second time. I'd be damned if I didn't get at least one photo out of the debacle (which you can see above).

I took the rest of the ride down the mountain as slowly and carefully as you can on a steep black diamond trail covered in wet roots. Eventually, I made it off the singletrack, pedaled down the road, and maybe it back up the lift and back to my apartment. I was about done for the day.

The Aftermath

That evening, I decided to head out and meet a friend for dinner. Unfortunately, the cost of the sacrifice was making itself apparent: I could barely limp a half-mile up the street to get to the restaurant, and every step was painful.

The next day, the pain levels had settled down a hair, but I couldn't walk without a painful limp. Adding insult to literal injury, a fall storm had rolled into Verbier, soaking the town in frigid rain for days on end.

The day of my crash was my one thousand one hundred and forty-eighth day in a row of being active outside, without fail—well over three years of uninterrupted outside activity.

If ever there was a time to quit, limping down the sidewalk, gritting my teeth in pain, as cold fall rain with hints of sleet poured down on my head would have been an optimal moment.

One mile per day is easy... at least, until it's not so easy anymore. If you stick with this goal long enough, if you spend enough months and years trying to get outside every single day, you will undoubtedly encounter the days when you wonder if you can go on.

When you wonder if you have what it takes to keep going.

When you wonder if you should just give up, call it a good run, and maybe move on to some other goal or project in your life.

When you wonder if you've seriously destroyed something in your body and are due for another surgery again.

The worries and excuses pile up, and it would be so easy to quit. It would be so easy to just roll over and succumb to the weight of the resistance leveled against you.

It is in moments like these when you make the defining decisions of your life. 

"Am I going to quit, or am I going to dig deep within myself and call upon the grit that I've built over the last one thousand one hundred and forty-eight days?"

You can probably guess how that pivotal moment in my story went. Bring on Outside Day 1153!