Thought of the day

[Randy]

Please feel free to share your favorites with us.

"Self-pity is an emotion reserved for quitters"

Randy

[Randy]

David:

And fight I will! I just got back from a training ride in 100 plus heat. I am looking forward to more moderate temps in Canmore next week!

More later.

Thanks,

Randy

[Randy]

Challenges...

This week has been full of them. There are more on the horizon. Professionally, personally.

This weekend I will be faced with my biggest challenge ever. I have challenged myself to raise funds for the Foundation and want to follow through on my promise.

Thanks to all of you who have so graciously and selflessly donated to the Foundation. The race is the easy part.

Here are some quotes about life's challenges:

“Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are.”
-Bernice Johnson Reagan

"Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.”
-Anonymous

And here is one of my favorite quotes from John F Kennedy that is very appropriate during the week of the 40th anniversary of man's touching the moon's surface:

“We choose to go...not because [it is] easy, but because [it is] hard, because that goal will serve to measure and organize the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”

I have accepted the challenge; I am unwilling to postpone it; and I intend to win. Failure is not an option.

Be strong, do not unclip, never give in!!!

Randy

[Deb Moloshok]

Randy;
Wishing you luck and safety on your challenge this weekend!

Also, wanted to say that for me, I find your postings to be insightful and inspirational. thank you.

Deb M.

[Randy]

Deb,

Greetings from Canmore. The course is a bit shorter than 2008. It is more technical though. I really need to concentrate and be smooth and flowing. I should be OK if I can hold on and stay strong.

I am honored that you like my "ramblings". Hope you can follow my race on Twitter and Youtube.

Be strong, but always be smooth, graceful, and flowing.

Randy

[Randy]

Deb got me thinking about being graceful and smooth, especially under pressure. Right away a quote from Hemingway came to mind:

“By "guts" I mean, grace under pressure”

So here are a few more that I found:

"Gracefulness has been defined to be the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul”

“Grace is the absence of everything that indicates pain or difficulty, hesitation or incongruity.”
-William Hazlitt

Now to get some sleep. More tomorrow...

Randy

[Randy]

Hi everyone and greetings from Canmore Alberta, site of the 2009 World Solo Championships. I came in First. But more important, I proved that I could still do it.

I still have a long way to go to get my fitness back. Amazingly, my vision was funky for the first three laps and then, miraculously, I had my sight back! Thanks I am sure to Dr. Bose's prisms that correct double vision that he fitted to my Oakleys.

What makes this even more importan was all of the encouragement I received here at Raisin Hope. You were riding with me on every lap. Thanks for being there.

I have started to overcome the hurdles that have been placed in front of me. That is innate and it is the only way I know to live.

Here are a few thoughts about overcoming challenges. And thanks again.

"The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.”
-Moliere

This is no doubt a shortened version of a quote by Epicurus.

"The greater difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.”

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow”.

-Thomas Paine

“Great minds have purposes; little minds have wishes. Little minds are subdued by misfortunes; great minds rise above them.”
-Washington Irving

"To overcome difficulties is to experience the full delight of existence.”
-Arthur Schopenhauer

Randy

[Randy]

Welcome to this, the 32nd week of 2009.

I was feeling a bit philosophical today. I read a quote from Aristotle on the plane this morning and it prompted me to look for others. So here are some that seemed to match my mood: reflective and introspective. Call it post-podium depression.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

"What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies."

"You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor."

"Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others."

"There is no great genius without a mixture of madness."

Be strong. Be wise. Think. Exist! And, oh yes, don't unclip and never give up!

Randy

[Randy]

Today, 8/9/2009 marks my one year anniversary. At about 11:40 AM on this day last year I was struck by a passing pickup truck. Now, one year later, I am living life more than I ever have. I am so thankful to be alive and to be among good friends. I still have a way to go but I am told that I have made great progress.

I am asked how I could ever get back on a bike after what happened to me and how I could continue racing a mountain bike? The short answer: I need to have a certain quality of life and life is about risk-taking. No, I am not ready to base-jump or get into extreme sports, but life is a risky proposition. If you want to fully experience life, you need to take some risks. Driving in a car is risky. Traveling in an airplane is risky. So is loving someone. And so is riding your bike up to the summit of the Haleakala volcano (yes, I will do it again!). Without risk, we would truly miss out on many of the beautiful and rewarding experiences that life has to offer.

Today's reflections are about risk-taking and living life to the fullest.

"You have to risk going too far to discover just how far you can really go.”
-T.S. Eliot

"Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don't. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.”
-Philip Andrew Adams

"No one here gets out alive."
-Jim Morrison

"It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It's because we dare not venture that they are difficult.”
-Seneca

Life always leads to death.
-me

Be careful out there, but don't be afraid to take risks and experience what life has to offer!

Randy

[Randy]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the long lay-off since posting some new thoughts, but I just started a new job assignment, one with more responsibility and importance than the one I just left. I have also been reflecting on the purpose of my life. Not in a negative way, mind you, but just trying to find out where life will ultimately lead me and how best to derive satisfaction and self-realization from my life.

The past few weeks have been very interesting. I am in Michigan and did a roadie ride with some friends. There are some singletrack MTB traiols that I must samlpe some time.

I am now riding a lot of the trails back home that I had been avoiding and I am having fun again. I now see a rides as a success if I can ride the tougher trails without dabbing a foot, rather than cleaning it in my middle ring or a bigger gear. Now it seems that granny is my best friend.

Today, some thoughts about patience and perseverance:

":Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."
-Dale Carnegie

"I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen."
-Frank LLoyd Wright

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.
-John Quincy Adams

"You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day."
-Marian Wright Edelman

I hope to see some of you in Dalton next week. Be strong!

Randy

[Deb Moloshok]

Randy,
Good luck with the new job assignment . . . and re:
"I have also been reflecting on the purpose of my life. Not in a negative way, mind you, but just trying to find out where life will ultimately lead me and how best to derive satisfaction and self-realization from my life."
. . . we are in the same camp here. Likewise - not in a negative way. Perhaps that is one draw to reading and pondering your posts "thoughts of the day".

I had hoped to be at the ride in Dalton next weekend, but alas. . .'tis not to be this time. . .
best wishes, Deb

[Randy]

Thanks, Deb.

I find it somewhat therapeutic to reflect on my feelings and my current situation and then try to capture the essence of my emotions in some of the thoughts that I post. I must always remind myself that no good will come, or has ever come, from negative feelings or emotions. I focus instead on the positive.

I am so glad that you find my postings thought-provoking. It's also nice to know that someone actually reads what I have written!

Have a great day!

Randy

[Randy]

Hi everyone. I thought I’d take a break from the typical reflective posts and instead have you engage in some “brain calisthenics”. I think that this phrase is very appropriate since the etymology of the word "calisthenics" indicates that it is derived from the Greek: kalos means beautiful and sthenos meaning strength. So time to have you engage in some beautiful brain strength exercise…

Good luck!

1) A skyscraper is being built. The project will take seven years to be completed. The construction team doubles the height of the building each year. The building will be 1,100 feet tall when it is completed.
How long will it take before the building reaches half of its finished height?

2) A college student is rushed to the hospital with severe abdominal pains. An examination indicates that his appendix must be removed immediately so a surgeon is called. The boy is prepped and taken into the Operating Room. The surgeon arrives and performs a rapid review of the boy’s chart and does a final check of the boy’s condition before operating. With a startled look, the surgeon exclaims, “I cannot operate on this boy; he is my son!” The surgeon, however, is not the boy’s father.
Who is the surgeon?

3) What is the next number in this series?
1, 3, 7, 15, 31, 63, ?

Think hard! Have fun! Don't give up!