Set a GOAL -
no matter how small.
Start a blog, Interact,
Motivate, and GET MOTIVATED! 

I was catching up on my Everyday Cyclist Challenge blog reading, keeping abreast of everyone's progress and reading their cool stories, when I came across Jeff Toliver's brand new journal. His introduction inspired me to take a look at my own goals, dedication, and accountability -- and I think many CLUB readers will relate to his words.

Check it out:

I've been riding mountain bikes since 1993(and road bikes since 1998 but I am first and foremost a mountain biker). Had some ups and downs over the years and now since I've cracked the 40 year old mark things have gotten progressively tougher. In the '07 season they got real tough. I found myself overweight and under-motivated. A wife and 2 yr old boy were taking up much of my time. My riding suffered. I was embarrassed, depressed and eventually I got to the point where I knew I had to make some changes if I wanted to ever have fun on a bike again. I started serious off season training in December of '07 and carried it through last Spring. By April I had lost 35 pounds and STARTED the season riding stronger than I had ever been…even at the end of months of riding in years past. A lot of that power and stamina came from using Cyclo-Core and Cyclo-Zen. Now it's November '08 and I'm coming off the best season I've ever had on my mountain bike. This off season I'm not wasting any time. I want to be better.

Another recent blog entry hit a similar theme: The Everyday Cyclist Challengers are building community, keeping one another moving forwards, and doing a great job of documenting their processes. Let's eavesdrop again on Colleen's blog:

Thank you Cyclo-CLUB friends. Yesterday I met my goal of not lifting like a girl and hit the weights at the gym in the bootcamp class. I was the only one of the female species who used the heavy bar and heavier weights. Goal done, check.

I am putting thanks here because I wrote yesterday that I would do my goal of a cyclo-core workout when I got home from work. I stayed a little late to make sure things were caught up at my desk and began to talk myself out of doing my core workout when I got home. 15 minutes of core? I did some core at the gym....I am tired and worn out....I could just not do it and not say anything....

As I had my foot on the gas, debating with myself on the workout, and luckily missing the rush hour Austin traffic, I thought of others blogs of my cyclo-buds I read yesterday and took note of what they have worked through to meet their goals. I have an easy life- I like my job, I get to workout, I don't have to worry about getting home and feeding kids, working a second job, I'm done with school, don't have to deal with illness- essentially, my hurdles are very small compared to many others. My fellow cyclo-clubers are an inspiration to me and last night were a motivation to do what I said I was going to do.

I brought it back old-school. Actually, I decided to do a different workout and went back to the first DVD of Graeme's I ever received- Cyclo-Zen. I popped it in and decided to do the "Fix the Back, Stay in the Drops-Strength" workout. It was nice to do a workout I haven't done in a while.

Got it done, another goal for the day checked off. Now my morning pseudo-coherent ramble is over, hopefully something made sense and it sounded better than a 5th grade social studies essay. I shall return to my medium coffee and wish I had hit another goal last night of more sleep. I'll work on that one tonight.