On June 25th, I entered a 300-mile race on a dirt bike called the Silver State 300 in Nevada. It was in the middle of nowhere. It’s dangerous. I’m 55 years old. It’s expensive to get there. I never raced in this part of the country before and I am unfamiliar with the terrain. It takes days to get there, prepare, race, recover, and get back.
Why would anyone do such a thing when you can just stay home, drink coffee in the morning, beer at night, and make it easy on yourself? It’s a good question and one that anyone who wants to make the most of their life should ask about the little voices and desires inside them.
The questions and answers are different for everyone, but here’s what I got out of it –
- It gives me a reason to train in the gym and to eat well. (I will live longer this way).
- It gave me something to look forward to in the months and weeks before.
- I discovered really beautiful places in Nevada I had never seen.
- I had a lot of fun and unique experience with friends.
- I am an experienced desert racer, but I learned more and got better.
- It took 6 hours and 15 minutes, and I was 30 minutes behind the leader, despite the dust I had to battle.
- I am not bored, and when summer is over, I’ll look back and say this is one of the ways I made the most of it.
- I finished third out of 14 in my class, and it gave me more confidence.
- Now, I look at what I did and ask “What can I do now!?” with excitement and confidence.
When we step out of our comfort zone and stop being reasonable, we grow and expand.
How are you doing it?
My favorite is filling a backpack with 7-10 days worth of supplies and heading into the mountains to chase elk with a longbow.
Great message Larry! Thank you for sharing and congrats on your result
I get it; I used to race mountain bikes. I am focused on other projects that use the time I used to devote to training. It’s a living my dream project, building out my personal base camp in the Nantahala Mountains of Western North Carolina, so I am being okay with that. It’s a balance, that project, family and business. I intend to return to cycling at 50, if not before!
And congratulations on your earned results!
Fantastic- It must have been exhilarating to get off the line facing the time ahead. I was asked yesterday how you manage to do all you do and still find time for things like this. I explained to that individual that it’s all part of your drive to stay focused and that every day is a test for you to see if you can outperform yourself. Great work.
Hi Larry and group! I can understand your desire to trade 4 wheels for 2…. This summer I travel to and from the office on my Victory and keep all my tools and samples available if I need to go out on the road. I am fortunate that most of my customer visits are ride alongs so our Specialists have everything needed for the customer visits in their car but if need be I use one of our company cars for un expected trips to clients. The ride in the morning and evening clears my mind and makes everything so much more fun! Thank you for these daily nuggets and thank you for creating a learning environment where we all get better everyday! Congratulations on your results and keep up the good example you show us everyday!
Wow! I wish I’d known you were out for the race. There are so many amazing things to see in the area where the race was — charcoal ovens, petroglyphs, migratory bird flyways, ghost towns, mining ruins, State parks, scenic vistas, and more. Congratulations on a great race! My husband was at the race to crew with the McMillin boys which meant fueling two sub-one minute pit stops, for which he drove sixteen hours. And he loves it!
Good story and very relatable!
This is great! So inspiring. I showed my son 13 y o son your From Invisible video today. Great to have role models like you. Thank you for being who you are.