After today’s ride, several fellow cyclists were curious about the road conditions. To provide answers to this very important question, I decided to put together a SWOT analysis on today’s ride. I quickly realized that in this case a SWOT analysis is overkill. I decided to go with a simple “3-Ups, 3-Downs” format. This is a format a former boss used successfully to get quick updates in our daily status meetings. He was so sharp that he’s now the VP of Marketing at a local company that extends the concept of “community” to knit organizations and their customers and enhance communications. Now that’s kewl. (You can pay me my $5 now, Geoff.) The format’s pretty simple—list the top three and bottom three issues.
Now that I am completely off point, here are my three-ups and three-downs for today’s Squaw Peak ride.
3-Ups
- 1,768 vertical feet over 4.8 miles with no recovery—solid 55 minute cardio workout
- Semi-sticky snow provided “barely enough” traction
- Rode outside—avoided the indoor trainer for yet another day
- Did not reach lookout point—climbed 2.4 miles then dropped to base, twice
- Potato flake snow chunks pelted my face on the descent—felt like cat scratches
- Mike broke his chain
Riding with Mike is always good. In sharing our work-related issues and stress, I was reminded again that the stress I deal with at work is like Kool-Aid compared to the stress he and others deal with at work. Mike’s an ER doctor.
