Today I took a mountain bike ride that embodied most of the principles of The Worry Solution. It was cold and foggy, but fortunately I had come prepared for it with appropriate layers. My thinking brain had prepared me by identifying all the things I like to have for a safe, comfortable ride – fleece, bright yellow windbreaker, biking gloves and helmet, of course, water, small pack with binoculars, camera, bike pump, banana.
I started out on a new trail I had read about – 6:30 AM, windy, with a foggy mist hanging just above the ground. A promising uphill ride to the top of a ridge I had never been on, and, if the fog cleared, a new view of the county I love. As I got about a mile in, the large brown grassy hillsides studded with large widely separated boulders added a bleak visual tone to the wind and cold. Suddenly the hackles on the back of my neck began to rise and I felt I was in danger – the thought of a mountain lion out for its early morning hunt came to mind (this is their territory and they have recently attacked several hikers and bikers in California, so I’m always on the lookout for them.)
My vigilance level went up many levels and I began to argue with myself about turning back and returning later in the day when there were other people around. My thinking brain argued that the odds of a lion attacking were very low, although I was in lion territory, and I think it even accused my feeling brain of being a chicken. About twenty feet further up the trail I came across two large samples of cat scat – considerably larger than that of a bobcat — and quite fresh.
My thinking, feeling and survival brains all in agreement now, I turned around and scooted back down the trail as fast as my downhill skills would allow. Thank you to my intuitive brain for turning up my vigilance level and thank you to my thinking brain for having studied a bit of scatology.
I took the bike and explored another trail system several miles away that I hadn’t ridden before. After about three miles of uphill climb, it took me on a single track, narrow trail, twisting and curving, and full of tree roots and “rock gardens” that tested my downhill skills again. For a couple of miles the trail traveled the edge of a very steep drop-off to the left, and it took some discipline to keep my eye on the trail and resist looking down the cliff on the left. On a mountain bike, at speed, the front tire goes where you look. You have to keep your focus on where you want to go, period, and resist looking at where you don’t want to go.
Use your thinking brain to prepare, anticipate, and avoid danger; listen to your intuitive brain when it signals you; and keep your focus on what you want to have happen, not what you don’t want to have happen – those are the basic principles of The Worry Solution. When you can do that, you can have a challenging, beautiful, invigorating ride and make it home in one piece – and what more could you want from a ride?
