Mountain Biking as a Metaphor for Life

Are you a mountain bike rider? I don’t mean that you know how to ride a mountain bike. I'm referring to someone who rides on a single track, into the mountains, and navigates the rocks, roots, trees, and streams.

Even if you said no, you will want to keep reading. There’s a message here for you, too.

My husband and I went on a vacation in Sedona, AZ, to mountain bike ride. I haven’t ridden single track much since I moved away from Idaho nine years ago, so this was a mental challenge for me. As I was riding, I realized that mountain biking is a metaphor for going for your dream. As I tell my story, put yourself on the inside and imagine you're going for your wildly important goal or dream.

For those of you who haven’t been to Sedona, let me set the stage.

This is Sedona – it's a mountain dessert with beautiful red rocks. It has rocky and sandy terrain which makes it slippery and harder to go uphill.

As we ride our bikes – or we are going along towards our dream – at times it can look and seem easy. This day was only 90 degrees, cooler than the day before. I am covered up to protect myself from the sun, not because it's cool outside.

We had a map but we didn’t know which ride to go on. We picked a blue ride even though we had heard Sedona is a technical place to ride. Green is the easiest, then blue, and black rides are the most difficult. I had decided – no black rides. We knew where we were headed but not what the terrain would be like.

In life, we want to have an end destination in mind – we often call this our vision. We don’t know what it will take for us to reach our end destination, BUT we start out.

We picked a blue trail. In life, you pick a dream and a direction not knowing what it will really take to get you there. At times, life seems to be rolling along easily and you can enjoy the view.

And there are those times in life where it feels like a long uphill climb and you wonder if you’ll ever get there. This is when you’ve got to keep going; you’ve got to be persistent and keep taking action steps: keep pedaling.

If you want help choosing the easy trail in life, click here to learn about my new FREE Masterclass Series. 

On this trail, there were big rocks that were almost like steps that we needed to muscle over while keeping our balance. (It looks much smoother in the picture below than it was.) As you can see. I chose the more difficult path. If I had stayed to the right, it was smoother. I had to keep my balance and focus.

How many times in your life have you picked the rockier road, but you couldn’t see it until you had already made your decision?

When you're on a road that has more bumps and obstacles, you want to keep your focus on where you’re going. When you’re on a mountain bike – as in life – if you focus on the problem or obstacle, you will run smack into it. But if you focus on where you want to go, your tires magically make their way around the obstacle.

It’s the same in mountain biking as it is in life: focus on where you want to go. Focus on where you’re headed, not what may seem to be in your way; no matter how daunting the conditions may seem.

My husband and I are riding and we’re doing the blue and we’re doing okay. We’d been riding up these rocks and we're now on a shelf. I had no idea how high into these rocks our trail would take us; I’m not a fan of heights or drop-offs.

We ran into a couple of hikers and they asked me why I was riding this trail. This wasn’t reassuring to me. One of them said he had given up mountain biking because it's too technical in Sedona. These were not old men.  In fact, they looked quite fit.

As we were talking with them, I noticed a directional with two choices: difficult or extreme. I started to get nervous.

When in your life have you let other's opinions influence you? Perhaps what they said took your confidence away. You start to doubt your ability. You may think you’ve gotten in over your head – all because of what someone who doesn’t dare go for their dream has said.

This happened to me on the trail – I was doing fine until the men questioned me biking this trail and I saw the sign. But here I was. I didn’t want to turn around and go back the way I came even though I knew I could make that trail. The only way through was forward. 

We needed to go all the way around to the point on the far right of the picture before things got a little easier and the shelf wasn’t so narrow. I was decided – this is where you will need to be decided in your life – I’m doing this thing.

In life you want to remember to celebrate your wins along the way. Celebrate that you kept pedaling even when you were scared and didn’t want to continue.

When you are going for your dream, remember life is like mountain bike riding:

• Know where you want to end up.
• Focus on where you’re going – not the obstacles.
• Don’t listen to other’s opinions about what you can or can’t accomplish – trust yourself.
• Decide you’re doing this thing and keep pedaling.
• Celebrate your wins along the way.

To help you achieve your dream I am offering a FREE Masterclass Series.

The first class is focused on aiding you in gaining clarity about what your destination looks and feels like. You need to know where you want to end up.

Learn more here.

Create Your Vision: The Starting Point
October 11 – Wednesday at Noon PT

This masterclass is for you if:

• You feel like you are meant for MORE but aren't clear on exactly what that is.
• You are wondering what's next as you're facing a major life transition such as retirement, empty-nesting, or divorce.
• You have multiple opportunities and possibilities in your life but are afraid of making the wrong choice.
• You are looking for TRANSFORMATION in your life.

During the FREE Create Your Vision Masterclass you will learn:

• The way most people live their lives and why it’s so ineffective.
• The most powerful way to live your life and how to start now.
• What the two growth signals are that will give you instant clarit.y
• The most powerful question to ask yourself.
• How to write an effective Vision and start to create it.

Maximize Your Motivation
November 15 – Wednesday at Noon PT

This masterclass is for you if you’ve said... I’ll do it when:

• I’m not so busy.
• I have more time.
• The kids are gone.
• I retire.
• I have the money.
• I have the energy.

When you have said this to yourself have you ever felt as though:

• You are letting yourself down again.
• It will never happen.
• It’s too overwhelming and you don’t know where to start.
• You need help finding your motivation to create what you want and to achieve your goals.

During the FREE Maximize Your Motivation Masterclass you will learn:

The Four Essential Keys to keep you motivated to create the success you want:

• The key to overcoming procrastination.
• The most effective tool to keep you moving used by highly successful people.
• A fast and effective way to stay motivated.
• How to get moving and then keep going.

Intentionally Wrap Up Your Year
December 13 – Wednesday – Noon PT

This masterclass is for you if:

• You find yourself running from one thing right into the next thing.
• You don’t take take the time to breathe and acknowledge a job well done.
• You don't glean the gold from mistakes.

During the FREE Intentionally Wrap Up Your Year Masterclass you will:

• Wrap up 2023 well in order to intentionally set up 2024 for success.
• Glean the gold from any seeming failures.
• Learn a powerful year end process.

NOTE: You're invited to attend all three Masterclass events or you can pick the ones you feel will help you the most. All classes will be up to 75 minutes long and will be recorded if you can’t make all the dates live. 

You don’t want to miss this powerful Master Class series. Here’s what one person said about my last Master Class Series.

I find Cyn’s presentations inspiring,  motivating, and my enrollment in her program is one of the  best investments I have made.

Joe Curiel, MBA,  Business Mentor, Southern Ca.

Here’s what a few other people have to say about Cyn:

I was at a point in my life where I was feeling stuck and wanted to move forward with some goals that had been on my list for quite some time.  It was about that time that I attended Cyn Hannah’s Vision Workshop. I liked what I saw in Cyn’s no-nonsense but kind approach.
Cyn gave me helpful tools to break through barriers and I will be using them again and again.
Thanks to Cyn, I feel fully confident that I can keep going and bring my vision, which she helped me to write, to full fruition. Cyn is truly great at what she does!

Cher Knebel, Orange County, CA

I’m amazed at how helpful these concepts and exercises are.  I’ve read so many self-help books and haven’t had nearly the results I’m already feeling with Cyn and her program.  I’m so grateful to have concrete tools to use.  I really appreciate her support and wisdom.  I’m just sad I didn’t start this sooner. 🙂

Dr. L., Newport beach

Learn about my  next FREE Masterclass Series here.

Believing in you,

Cyn