Who remembers Grant Hackett claiming the gold medal in the 1500m freestyle at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games despite having a partially collapsed lung? Or John Landy winning the 1500m race after stopping to help pick up Ron Clarke at the Aussie Nationals just prior to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. What about Forest Gump refusing to leave Lt. Taylor? And how about the sheer stubbornness of Cadel Evans when he continued riding in 2010 Tour de France after fracturing his elbow?!
The strength of the human spirit really is incredible and it isn’t just reserved for the superheroes of our society. Throughout my trip I have been constantly amazed at the continuous displays of courage, persistence, and the never, never, never give-up attitude. While this blog only offers some brief insights into a few examples on the current topic, hopefully it may provide a little bit of inspiration the next time you need an Up’n’Go or pick-me-up.
My first example comes from the conclusion of my first Bike Dreams Tour. After arriving in Como we had the option on our rest day to ride up to the Madonna del Ghisallo; the chapel holds an external flame for all cyclists who have died as well as Fabio Casartelli who died on the Northern Italian slope. While not a long climb, a mere 8.7km from Belagio to the Chapel, it did have some intense average gradients of 10-12% i.e. bloody hard work. Throw in some 32 degree weather plus midday sun and you have an interesting combination.
Knowing I wasn’t going to be on the bike for two weeks during my next Italia adventure, I was keen to see the chapel and get out for one last ride. Also keen to go out for a ride was the Bike Dreams mechanic Richard (previously mentioned in Blog Post 3 for a lifesaver award having helped me climb some mountains). Richard’s partner Christine had also joined up with us along the way and hence it made perfect sense for the duo to borrow the tandem from Aussie couple Andrew and Christine to climb up the mountain.
Now the tandem is an interesting bike – it can’t be carbon as carbon would snap too easily. As such, a tandem requires a steel frame and is a very heavy bike – fine on the flats and downhills but a lot harder to go uphill with the extra weight. Also, riding a tandem requires good communication and coordination between the two riders. Overall, it requires a fair bit of skill, strength and ability to ride.
Richard and Christine had never been on a tandem, didn’t have cycling cleats to hold them onto the pedals and Richard was suffering from a severe gastro for the second day – poor Christine who was on the back…
Nevertheless, everything was going smoothly all the way to Belagio -nice flat riding, a gelato for everyone (except Richard who was on bread and water rations) and a lot of enthusiasm to see the Chapel. We soon began the climb and it was clear that Richard was far from his peak. While usually an extremely strong rider, the lack of food for two days plus heat and steepness of the climb seemed to be too much. *if anyone suffers from squimishness it would probably be best to skip the next few sentances*. After climbing for ten minutes, Richard had to promptly get off his bike and literally looked like one of those cartoon characters who has a continuous jet of spew streaming out for at least 3 minutes. Definitely the way to win over the ladies. The proclamation of “
After a grueling 75minutes of climbing, plus a few meltdowns on my behalf, the three survivors were able to pay their respects in the cycling Chapel, take a few happy snaps and chill out for 30minutes. After deciding it was time for lunch (at 2:30pm in the afternoon; Hannah was definitely grumpy by this stage – lack of food in a Macdougall = short temper) we started riding back down the mountain to the previous town about 1km away. Low and behold we see Richard and Christine crest the hill, ride over the top of the mountain and make it to the cycling chapel. Both drenched in sweat, tears and other charming bodily fluids, the two both exuded an aura of happiness at having conquered the mountain through absolute sheer stubbornness and strength of spirit. Bloody awesome stuff and massive kudos.
My second example comes from my two-legged Intrepid Italia adventure while staying in the little town of Gubbio. On this trip we had two lovely ladies from Delaware in the USA. While both have numerous strengths of character, such as humour, organization etc etc, Patty suffers from an extreme fear of heights. As such, the prospect of traveling up the highest peak in Gubbio to overlook the town via ‘a birdcage’ chairlift didn’t seem quite appealing.
A lot of research had gone into the trip on Patty’s behalf, and while it seemed like the perfect fit, the birdcage chairlift had been causing some angst and sleepless nights. Having experienced the power of distraction during intense training sessions, I suggested to Patty that she could borrow my iPhone and listen to some music while going up the chairlift. The idea was readily accepted and plan put in place.
Lining up and looking up the mountain with the chairlift was a little daunting, even for someone who isn’t scared of heights. The chairlift incorporated literally a metal birdcage frame big enough for two people to squeeze into. The floor was a few bars of iron with large gaps to see through and you needed to jump into the cage as it didn’t slow down to pick you up – I didn’t think Patty was going to make it! However, earphones firmly in place with ‘Grease Ligtening’ pumping out, Patty was firmly ushered into the birdcage by her friend Tri and taken up the top. After a few finger imprints, beads of sweet and 14 “are we there yet?” to Tri, Patty made it to the top of Gubbio. I was so proud of her for looking her fear in the face, taking it on, and conquering the mountain. Thank-you John Travolta!
My final example for the blog post also comes from the Intrepid Italia adventure in the form of my new friend Richard, who hail from New York and is in the NY Police force. His journey to the NY Police Force hasn’t all been roses and gelato, it has been full of ups and downs. Richard was born with cerebral palsey and when he was entering his early teens, doctors told him by his early twenties that he would be in a wheelchair. Having a ‘screw that’ attitude, and ‘I am going to forge my own path’ mentality, Richard promptly began going to the gym and taking martial arts classes in an attempt to build strength in his legs and defy the doctor’s predictions. He also had surgery on his legs to lengthen the calf muscle. Richard is now in his thirties, has been a cop for a number of years and is showing no sign of slowing down – especially after I witnessed some dam cool moves on a dance floor in Rome. Doctors – they don’t always get it right.
The choices and attitude you take determines the path you take in life – what will your attitude be?!
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