Made it to Kyoto

After over a week of cycling, Saya and I pedaled into Kyoto two days ago, tired and happy! We're halfway through our bike ride from Tokyo to Kyoto and back, and we decided to spend a couple days enjoying this unique, tradition-rich Japanese city before beginning our return journey. Kyoto is full of ancient temples, yukata-clad men and women (yukata is a casual type of kimono typically worn in summer), tourists galour, and a wide variety of food. 

Saya's favorite?

Cucumber on a stick!

Today we plan to check out the famous Gion Matsuri, a festival that dates back over 1,000 years. One of the main streets was already closed in preparation for the big event:

And we fit in a visit to the stupendous Kiyomizu Dera Temple:

Hmm, I don't think Saya showed the proper reverence for this ancient temple...

Since my last blog update from Hamamatsu, we've had many memorable experiences. 

Sometimes the ride was Tough: 
When we cycled beneath the brutal sun on a hot, humid day or up long, seemingly never-ending climbs to a mountain pass. Here's the tunnel at the top of a climb outside the town of Seki (between Tsu and Kyoto)

I was dripping with sweat when we finally reached this point. On the other side of the tunnel was a long descent, and while I relished the chance to rest my legs and enjoy the cool wind on the steep downhill ride, Saya complained that my sweat was splashing back on her. Poor kid. So gross...

Sometimes the ride was Annoying: 
Like when it rained so much I had difficulty using my iPhone to figure out the route. Water on the screen and wet fingers make the iPhone unhappy and prone to temper tantrums. Saya wasn't bothered though. She loves the rain.

Sometimes the ride was Embarrassing: 
Speaking of temper tantrums, when I got tired or hungry or dehydrated, I may have gotten a bit fussy and less patient than usual. But Saya was patient with me and always found a way to cheer me up.

Sometimes the ride was Slow: 
Traveling by connected bicycles with a 9-year-old and 70+ pounds of gear makes it hard to ride fast. In less than an hour a car can cover more miles than we can pedal all day. But traveling by bicycle makes it easy to stop and check out the many fabulous creatures waiting to be noticed. Saya is an expert at this.

  

Sometimes the ride was Breath-taking:
We continually came across views that simply demanded we stop and take a photo, like these from Cape Irago.

Here's what Saya did with the beach sunset at Cape Irago:

Sometimes the ride was Unusual:

 

 This is how our bike was secured on the ferry ride from Cape Irago to the town of Tobe

If you happen to visit Tobe, make sure to check out the fabulous aquarium!

Sometimes the ride was Social:

With friendly patrons at a restaurant in the town of Seki

Saya with a cyclist from Thailand

Sometimes the ride was Delicious.

And sometimes the ride was Perspective Giving and made me deeply happy to be a father. 

The Kindness of Strangers

Saya and I spent the night in Hamatasu and will ride today to Irago Cape. 

Saya wants to light fireworks and make s'mores around a campfire tonight. It's the simple stuff that makes life good, and my 9-year-old daughter is a walking reminder to celebrate the present moment.

It rained throughout our ride 2 days ago, and I got lost a couple times trying to follow the complicated route. My back was aching, I felt stress from getting lost, and I wasn't in the greatest of moods. Saya, however, loved the rain. She enthusiastically pointed out soaring white cranes and tiny beautiful flowers, and told me endless jokes that helped pull me out of my funk.

Yesterday, as I was trying to keep from getting lost again, we met Kinpara-san, a cyclist on a carbon fiber racing bike. We chatted briefly at a stop light, then he zoomed ahead. Five minutes later, he returned and offered to guide us. I happily accepted, and we spent the afternoon riding with him. He grew up in the area and knew the back roads intimately. We cycled past rice paddies and farms, through small towns and finally down to the coast where he dropped us off in Hamamatsu. He offered to guide us again on our return. I felt lucky and honored. Thank you, Kinpara-san, for taking good care of us.

Here are some pics: 

Saya ready for the rain

Taking a break to enjoy the view

Saya and Kinpara-san

Cycling behind Kinpara-san on the way to Hamamatsu

Saya and I at Hamamatsu Castle

Riding from Tokyo to Kyoto Days 1 - 3

My 9-year-old daughter Saya and I are cycling from Tokyo to Kyoto and back. We're 3 days into the trip, and I'm relishing this chance to spend time with my daughter. She's goofy, mischievous, adventurous and a whole lot of fun to be around. She told me that I'm "stinky, sweaty, and snuggly. But mostly stinky and sweaty." 

The first day's climb over the mountains was brutal. My lower back is still reminding me of the effort and that I'm not that young any more... 

We're riding along the coast toward Kyoto and plan to stay in Kakegawa tonight. We'll ride back to Tokyo on the same or similar route. 

Here are some pics from our ride so far:

My brother-in-law Aki, who cycled with us on the first day, leading us out of Tokyo

Saya and I ready to go at the start of the ride

Mt. Fuji

Our campsite on the first night

Feeling humble in the presence of the majestic Mt. Fuji

Saya has been fascinated by the various insects we've encountered. She took this photo.

Another photo by Saya. These are flowers near the ocean.

Saya ready to join the Shrimp festival

Saya striking a pose

Saya and the ocean

We met Paul and Marina, cyclists from Moscow on their way from Kyoto to Tokyo

Father-Daughter Japan Cycling Adventure

Each summer I try to do a major endurance challenge with my two children. So far we've cycled over 7,000 miles together across Japan, Iceland, Europe and the U.S. This year, my 15-year-old son Sho said he wanted to spend the summer focusing on his soccer skills instead of going on a crazy bike trip with me. Kids eventually grow up and leave you, sigh...

But my 9-year-old daughter Saya is still game! Starting tomorrow she and I will ride connected bikes 700 miles round trip from Tokyo to Kyoto and back. We'll follow the ancient Tokaido route along the coast of eastern Honshu. I expect some seriously hard climbs, beautiful ocean views, and a nonstrop stream of knock knock jokes from Saya. 

We'll post updates and photos here. Should be fun! Here are some photos from our trip so far: 

At JFK Airport ready to go!

On the flight from NYC to Tokyo, Saya practicing her smolder

My loving, generous sister-in-law, Akemi, picked us up at the airport

Coincidence or fate? At Narita Airport, Saya and I bumped into Heather, a friend of mine who is a teacher and was selected to travel to Japan to visit local schools as part of a select group of educators.

I checked our bikes as luggage. Here I am reassembling Saya's trailer cycle, which connects to the back of my bike and looks like this:

This is a photo from the start of a 67-day ride across Japan I did with my son Sho in 2009 when he was 8 years old. I'm having serious flashbacks to that trip right now.

Here's what my bike looked like when I took it out of the box today. It took me a couple hours to put it back together and ensure it's ready to ride.

We're lucky to have such a loving family: Saya and I ate dinner two nights in a row with my brother-in-law Aki, his wife Akemi, and their daughter Arisa. Aki is going to ride with us part of the way on our first day tomorrow.

Push Boundaries AND Honor Them

"If you care mostly about optimal performance, you would nap after lunch." 
"If you push hard nonstop, you will not become superhuman. You will burn out." 

Catherine Clifford used those quotes in a recent article she wrote for Entrepreneur Magazine about my talk at the 36/86 conference for entrepreneurs and investors in Nashville Tennessee. She captured succinctly a key message of my executive workshops: 
"The physical necessity of the human body to rest is largely understood and honored in the elite athletics world, but it's categorically undermined in the American corporate world."

I delivered this message at 36/86 in a talk entitled, "The Secret to Optimal Performance." 

Launch Tennessee Executive Director Charlie Brock speaking at the 36/86 conference - an excellent event for entrepreneurs and investors

I got to hang out with Megan Barry, the Mayor of Nashville, TN

In just the past few weeks, I've given presentations on this topic to several groups of CEOs in Canada and the U.S., to employees at Uber, and to the executive team at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). The ensuing discussions were always lively, as people wrestled with the tension between meeting ambitious goals and honoring the importance of resting. 

Selfie with Kevin Cunnigham (CPPIB Managing Director, left) and Mark Wiseman (CPPIB CEO, center)

It's all about pushing boundaries while simultaneously honoring them.

I approached this theme from a different point of view in my short film, "Perceived Limits," which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the recent Cyclismo Classico Film Festival in Boston. While cycling over 7,000 miles with my young children, I found that one of the most beautiful ways to connect with and teach my children is to struggle together. In keeping with this spirit, next month, my 9-year-old daughter and I are going to cycle over 700 miles (and a few steep mountains) from Tokyo to Kyoto and back. Should be hard... and fun.

Presentation to Uber

I gave a talk yesterday on "The Secret to Optimal Performance" to employees at Uber, the online transportation network company that has dramatically disrupted the taxi business. It's a cool company full of people who work very hard, and I talked with them about a typical mistake ambitous people in rapidly growing companies often make that can lead to burn-out: ignoring the importance of recovery.

Using the training techniques of endurance athletes as a framework, I offered a series of suggestions to build recovery into the work day. The same concept can be extended to a week, a month, a year and even over an entire career. The key is to treat recovery and hard work as two sides of the same coin, complementary features that, when harnessed effectively, can produce great accomplishments.

I also told them about Dan Berlin, my fellow co-founder of Team See Possibilities, the first blind person to run "rim to rim to rim" across the Grand Canyon and back nonstop, and the first blind person to ascend the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu nonstop (a trek that normally takes 4 days). I guided Dan in each of those feats, and I described the way we dealt with some of the problems we faced along the way. Dan's successes are a result of his mindset. Losing his sight in his mid-30s, he had every right to fall into despair and feel sorry for himself. But instead, he decided to treat blindness as an inconvenience rather than a disability, and he's gone on to accomplish feats that intimidate the strongest athletes. Dan is a role model for anyone interested in exploring the space between their perceived limits and their actual limits.

The ensuing discussion with the Uber employees was spirited and a lot of fun. I felt honored to be there and joked that being invited to speak at Uber gave me instant street cred with my teenage son and his friends.

Here are two photos of me with Andrew Dominitz, who invited me in to give the talk. Thanks Andrew!

          

Sneak Peak of New Video!

Here's a sneak peak of a video I just made called, "Perceived Limits." This will be screened at the Ciclismo Classico Bike Travel Film Festival in Arlington, MA on June 1, Newburyport, MA on June 2, and Danbury, CT on June 17. This festival is the ONLY one in the U.S. to feature films specifically about two-wheeled travel, and it has gained a huge following over the years. 

Come on out!

Dog Drowns Man

In the past three months, I’ve given talks to CEO groups in Albany, Banff, Calgary, Chicago, Montreal, Nashville, New York City, San Diego, Tallahassee, and Toronto. I also spoke at bookstores about my new book Daunted Courage, at schools in Nashville and New York City, at The Adventure Cycling Association’s 40^th anniversary event, at a worldwide gathering at Intel Corporation, and to the entire staff of U.S. Pharmacopeia, a company that has been around since 1820.

In every CEO workshop and presentation, I’ve witnessed a common desire and heard the same request. Kindergarteners have shared this thought with me. So have high school students, teachers, middle managers and CEOs.  Each person had a unique story and set of experiences, but they had this in common: they wanted to be more adventurous.

Some people roll their eyes at the word “adventure,” telling me it’s overused and has lost any real meaning. Perhaps that’s true. But each of us carries inside the possibility to take abstract concepts and turn them into meaningful action. Defined as, “willing to take risks and try out new ideas or experiences,” the word “adventurous” is derived from the Latin root meaning, “about to arrive” or “[a thing] about to happen.” Its etymology includes the Old French term meaning, “to risk the loss of.” We are at our most adventurous when we set out on a journey that may take us to a place where we risk the loss of something precious to us – our old self, perhaps?

Being adventurous is being open to your own possibility for growth. It is about being afraid but continuing anyhow. 

When I’ve struggled with the hard stuff of life – the death of a friend, the breakdown of an intimate relationship, my body’s fading strength from aging – I’ve sometimes dreamt I was dying. In one dream, I jumped into a swimming pool to help a dog. As I swam underneath and tried to push the dog up from below, its paws suddenly locked onto my shoulders, and the two of us began descending rapidly. Despite struggling fiercely, I couldn’t escape the downward pressure. I heard the muffled, desperate voices of people along the edge of the pool screaming at me to swim away from the dog, but I couldn’t escape. I bent my knees, waiting to hit the bottom of the pool and propel myself back up, but my feet never reached a foundation. We descended into the dark watery depths of the bottomless pool, where I felt the terrifying sensation of drowning.

I awoke breathless, panicked and sweating. As I pondered the dream, I realized, “Something in me is dying. I must be losing part of my old self.” It was a disconcerting feeling, a grudging acknowledgment that change is inevitable and that grief is non-negotiable. But I suspected that, just ahead, out of view, my new self was waiting around the corner with a knowing smile.

The CEOs and students I spoke with told me their own dreams of adventure, but they also frequently cited the obstacles that were preventing them from taking action – the parent who must care for a child and therefore puts on hold his own ambitions. The child who wants to explore her physical limits but has internalized fears projected onto her by well-meaning adults.

We all want to craft a meaningful life, but our obligations and external expectations frequently prevent us from truly living, from following a risky path, from growing to our potential. I want to tell you: Don't hold back. Listen to the nudge inside. Accept that following your nudge will come with risks and consequences, but it also promises the opportunity for the most wonderful growth. I want to say: Dive fearlessly into your own adventure!

But who knows if that is the best advice? Who can determine the right path for you? Only you, or the dog in the pool, or your new self, waiting for you just around the corner.

Teasers

Outdoor Families Magazine recently published a Q&A with me about my new book, Daunted Courage: A Family's Bicycle Adventure on the Lewis & Clark Trail. Here are a few teasers. Read the article to find out the rest of each sentence!

"Whenever we were struggling - with extreme temperatures, major storms and epic climbs over the Rocky Mountains, for example - we told each other..."

"I think the most important gifts a parent can give a child are..."

"I also wanted to teach my kids that life is about..."

"As a father, obviously my most important role is to keep my children safe. And while many people supported our journey, others questioned my judgment. One guy who heard about our plans sent me an angry e-mail that ended with..."

"Discomfort is the birthplace of..." (Anyone who has heard one of my talks will know this one!)

The article ends with this piece of advice:

"If you're intrigued by something you want to try but you're intimidated, you're probably..."

Dan Berlin on CBS TV show "The Doctors"

The CBS television show "The Doctors" just featured Dan Berlin of Team See Possibilities on this week's episode. Cool!

Dan gave credit to his guides (Alison Qualter Berna, Brad Graff and me) as he described our history-making ascent of the Inca Trail last month when he became the first blind person to complete the trek nonstop. It usually takes 4 days, but we completed it in 13 hours. Here are a few screen captures from the episode: