3 Pathways to Excellence - Top Performers in Cycling and Business Share Common Traits

First Appearing in Pedal Magazine - Fall 2017

Bicycle racing is a team sport and as such, requires top performers who not not only strive for their own excellence but also take on the role of raising the execution level of their peers. The success or failure of the team depends on these key players to raise the bar higher than most had thought possible. 

The first trait that leaders often look for in top performers is Ability. Can the individual perform their given tasks at a high level and more crucially, are they able to ‘think on their feet’ and build out successful strategies based on situations ‘on the ground’. 

Racing in the 1988 Coors Classic, a 2 week stage race in the high mountains of Colorado, I was able to take the leader’s jersey with a calculated move on an early stage. The next day was a big mountain stage, not my specialty. The Columbian team forged an early lead in the stage, while I was hanging on for dear life in the main peloton. After cresting the climb together Davis Phinney, our road captain on Team 7-Eleven, brought our team together and had our 6 man team riding hard at the front to bring back the early aggressors. The boys rode harder than I thought possible to defend my leader’s jersey based on strategy that was orchestrated during the race. Pure sacrifice in the face of massive adversity.

                                                       That winning feeling with the team at Coors Classic

                                                       That winning feeling with the team at Coors Classic

A second key factor that can determine high performance is Social Skill, also called Emotional Intelligence. High performance players can manage their own complex tasks with integrity while at the same time building and maintaining cooperative working relationships with their teammates and other competing influences. 

Bike racing often requires ‘co-opetition’ between teams as they work towards similar goals. The peloton is full of type A personalities all competing for the same thing - winning at all costs.    During the 1989 Tour de Trump, a 10 day stage race, it became apparent that the Russian team was going to be hard to beat. Our leader, Dag-Otto Lauritzen quietly went to a few other teams who were also threatened by the ‘communists’. We formed a temporary alliance with those teams and all attacked together during the feed zone, leaving the Russians far behind. Dag-Otto went on to win the inaugural Tour de Trump with our full support as our leader. 

 With Davis Phinney helping Dag-Otto win '89 Tour de Trump

 With Davis Phinney helping Dag-Otto win '89 Tour de Trump

The third pathway to excellence is Drive. These individuals are willing to sacrifice to get the job done, often to higher levels than previously attained. They are never satisfied with past achievements and continually strive for improvement - both within themselves and for their team. Motivation is key here and Drive works as a force multiplier of Ability and Social Skill.

At the 1988 Tour of Italy (Giro), our 7-Eleven teammate, Andy Hampsten took over the pink leader’s jersey during a fearsome snow storm that defied logic. Riders finished the stage in full hypothermic condition. There was still 1 week to go in the 3 week stage race and everyone had to continue racing the next day. Our 7-Eleven team knew that the Europeans were out to beat them. No American team had ever won a major stage race and they were not going to go down without a fight. With our team leader Andy Hampsten in pink as our motivation, the 7-Eleven boys sacrificed themselves fully to lead Andy to an historic win that had never been done before.  

Andy Hampsten digs deep to win the '88 Giro

Assembling a team of players who have a complete grasp of Ability, Social Skill and Drive can be difficult. However, it often takes only one key person to change the dynamic of a team and the bar will be raised to new levels, beyond what was previously thought possible. They say that those that suffer together, stay together. To this day, the bond among the 7-Eleven team stays as strong as it was 30 years ago. Something that I will always treasure. 

                                                                      &nbs…

                                                                              7-Eleven Team Reunion

Cycle of Adversity

This article originally appeared in Pedal Magazine, 2017

Many of us have faced adversity in our lives…if you’ve ridden your bike for any length of time you are sure to have gone through some tough times, be it an injury from overtraining, a crash or simply burn out. Of course, there are many other sources of adversity in our lives from personal health, family, career and friends. 

The dictionary defines “adversity” as “difficulties; misfortune: resilience in the face of adversity”. Interestingly, the Latin origin of adversity is defined as “to turn toward”, in other words to face your problems head on.  Adversity also causes high stress levels which stimulate the nervous system and adrenal glands. Many times, we may react to adversity in ways that we had never considered. However, I believe that the key from suffering an adversity in your life is tolearn from these difficult times to help you become a better athlete and person - what I call the ‘cycle of adversity’. 

Over my cycling career as well as my personal life, I have been faced with many challenges and difficult times. I believe that racing my bike has taught me a lot about how to deal with these life stressors and I hope that I can share some of those lessons with you here.

As a full time bike racer, we raced on average 100 race days a year. I often say that if I read a race correctly, I could put myself in a winning position about 20% of the time. Of those races, I was able to win 5 of those races…that’s 95% loss rate…which can be stressful in itself when your job is to win races. In this case, it was important to step back and look at the big picture and realize that if each of my 15 teammates won 5 races, we would be winning over 50% of the races we entered. Those feelings of loss were replaced with a inner pride of having contributed to the team as a whole. 

The more races you enter, the more chance there is of crashing, it’s just a fact. As a junior cyclist, I was sticking my nose into places that I probably shouldn’t have, such as trying to ‘slam’ and pass on the inside of a corner during a criterium or trying to pass through an impossible gap during a sprint - consequently, I did crash a lot in my younger years.

Tour de France crash at the top of the Galibier - rookie move! 

Tour de France crash at the top of the Galibier - rookie move! 

The easy way out was to put the blame on the other riders but I was able to be retrospective and realize that I needed to change how I approached these situations to try and avoid future conflicts. Some race situations are truly beyond control but for the most part, changing the way I raced started to help me be a better and safer bike rider. For example, I began to ‘read’ the other riders and understand who was safe to ride behind. I rode closer to the front of the group where the better riders were always positioned. The back of the pack was where the dangerous riding was and making the extra effort to ride up front gave me the added bonus of putting me in a winning position. 

I’ve also had my share of adversity personally. Making the transition from a full time professional athlete to a business person was probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. No one really prepares for this radical change in lifestyle and it was certainly a shock to stop riding every day and start selling bicycles the next. Again, I was able to look inwardly and rely on the lessons I’d learned from racing and training. I broke the necessary skills down into manageable chunks, so that I didn’t feel overwhelmed. I learned solution sales skills, CRM and spreadsheets became second nature! In retrospect, being forced into the necessary changes broadened my world view and I’ve been able to apply my athletic experience to the business world. 

Everyone has experiences that they can draw on as they move forward through life’s ever changing and evolving challenges. The key for me has always been to reflect and bring forward lessons that I’ve learned in the past that I can apply to today’s situation. It’s a full life cycle of facing adversity head on, breaking down the challenges and sometimes making mistakes as you work towards overcoming the situation and hopefully, learning and improving yourself over time - turning the cycle of adversity into your secret advantage!

This article originally appeared in Pedal Magazine, 2017

The Power of Bicycles

Originally appeared in Pedal Magazine - Summer 2017

Canada turns 150 this year, but 2017 is the 200th anniversary of the bicycle. Amazing to think that the bike has been around longer than our own country! 

We’ve all felt the power of a bicycle at some point in our lives…most likely, many times. The feeling of learning to ride your first bike can never be replaced. I can remember making swooping turns down the road, feeling the flying-like g-forces pressing me into the saddle and then hitting the coaster brake hard, making a long, black streak of rubber as I fish-tailed along the pavement. Magic! And the freedom. All of a sudden, a whole new world opened up for me. I was able to go further on my neighbourhood adventures, exploring the back lanes and park trails of Coquitlam to my heart’s content. 

And then, there was commerce. With a bike (then it was a Raleigh 5-speed “Chopper”) I was able to make money with a morning paper route. Delivering papers was my ticket to ride, literally. Having pocket money was another form of freedom and gave me that independence that I craved deep down. Being the first person on the road in the early morning was very special, with the city slowly waking up as I rumbled along with 50 heavy papers in my front carrier basket. I sometimes wonder how I kept that bike going with all that weight, up and down those hills with the little power that I developed back then! 

Mechanical exploration came next. With my paper route money, I bought a used 10-speed and slowly reconditioned it in our garage using my Dad’s shop tools. A pipe wrench made a mess of the BB lock ring and a hammer and punch disassembled the free hub (once I realized it was a left hand thread!). Much to my dismay, I watched what seemed like a hundred tiny ball bearings bounce across the floor when I lifted the free hub apart! Using some thread and a lot of grease, I actually got it back together with most of the parts. Pliers were used to tighten and loosen the spoke nipples to true the rims and eventually, I taught myself to lace and build my own wheels. 

Adventure was the real reason however, that I was drawn to the bicycle. With the re-built 10-speed, there was even more opportunity to venture further afield. Fortunately, my parents had both been positively affected by bicycles in their youth, growing up in post-war Europe. My Mom still had her Dad’s cycling log book of every ride that he had done in the hills around Southern England as a member of the Chichester Wheelers. With their blessing, I added a ‘rat trap’ and some cheap panniers and did some solo trips to the Gulf Islands, camping out and riding on some amazingly difficult hills. What a feeling to be under my own power, riding as fast as I could go (or would dare) on the descents with steels rims and centre pull brakes! 

Competition was also in my blood. I played high school volleyball as well as hockey and soccer growing up. Due to some fortunate circumstances and amazing volunteers, I was introduced to the local weekly 10-mile Time Trial, organized by the Vancouver Vets. There I tested myself weekly and met other Junior riders - soon we were training and racing on the track and road - pushing ourselves to new limits.

Camaraderie and teamwork drew me further into the world of bicycles. Working on a professional cycling team created a level of trust and empowerment that I take with me everywhere I go in my post-racing world. Racing bicycles transformed my life and has given me a multitude of incredible experiences and allowed me to live a truly unique and exhilarating life.

Fast forward to today’s hyper-connected world. We definitively know that many people in under-developed countries are not able to access proper education, health care or even nutrition simply due to logistics surrounding their immediate environment. Schools are often 10-20km away, nurses and doctors cannot easily access many villages and food distribution only take place at regional markets. 

Think about where you are today and reflect on what the bicycle has done for you. I’m sure everyone has their own stories of how a bicycle effected their lives in a positive way at least once in their lives. I have recently attended WBR fund raisers in California, Vancouver and Vermont. People are responding from all walks of life and sharing their stories of life empowerment through the bicycle. 

For only $147.00, you can change the life of a girl or boy who otherwise would not be able to attend a full day of school, have adequate access to healthcare when they are sick, or eat nutritious meals. World Bicycle Relief provides a sturdy “Buffalo Bicycle” for each $147.00 donation. To date, they have delivered over 350,000 bicycles to people in need. There are many amazing success stories that will warm your heart and I’m sure, will encourage cyclists of all types to engage in their own way. Go to WBR’s website to find out how you can get involved: https://worldbicyclerelief.org/en/