The Point Of No Return

KEENER BLOG WEEK 2

The point of no return

In many extreme sports there becomes a point in a line, rapid, section etc.. where there is no way out but the one ahead of you. There is no longer any bailout. You must commit completely or failure is impending. It gives such an overwhelming feeling of helplessness, but when you succeed, the reward is that much greater. 

So now to my story. For the past few months my Dad has been training for a sixty mile mountain bike race through the wilderness of the Pisgah National Forest. He had been trying to ride as much of the race course as possible, and one descent stuck out in particular, Heartbreak Ridge. Heartbreak is a four mile descent that drops nearly 3,000 vertical feet. In Lehman’s terms, it gets rowdy. So we set out to ride the famous section only to be stopped a quarter mile from the top due to massive damages from landslides. Tired and sore we limped back to our car and drove home in defeat. 

By Wednesday of that week we had already made plans to push for the top one more time. But this time we took a different route... one that involved nearly 7,500 vertical feet of climbing. 

The morning of the ride, I was flooded by nerves, and I spent hours thinking of ways that it could go wrong. I knew, but hadn’t fully realized that once we were an hour or two in there was no way out. When we closed in on the three hour mark we turned onto an old road called Curtis Creek. This road is know for being a nine mile climb that demolishes riders. But by then we were deep in a valley and the only other way out was at least three hours of brutal gravel climbing. We had reached the point of no return. The climb took us two and a half hours due the fact that we were reduced to a near walking pace. Although it was brutal, we had no other option. And after 25 miles and six hours we had reached the top. The descent was spectacular, in fact probably my best to date. 

So why this story? Well the point of no return isn’t just in paddling or biking, it applies to all of our lives. In life you must focus on the task at hand, not on the past or future, only the present. If you do this you will be not only more successful, but you will feel content and fulfilled. So get out there and cross that line.