Take Small Bites

Take Small Bites 

Written by

Michael Kinney

Whatever your goals may be, I have found that the best way to achieve them is to take a little nibble every day at the problems that lay in the way between you and your goals. I have had countless people ask me how I raced my bike 5,300 miles all at once. Truthful answer… I didn’t. 

I trained and studied and prepared for months to get to the starting line. When other people were sleeping in on Saturday morning, I forced myself to get up at 3 am to get in an eight hour ride before I went to work at one of my three jobs. I spent time every morning going over the race maps to find resupply points and water locations. I checked, and rechecked, and checked again that my gear was the best gear for my race (and that I could afford!). 

So, when race day came... I didn’t ride 5,300 miles all at once. I woke up in the morning, and I rode my bike. When I was hungry, I ate food (when I had rationed properly). I rode to the next town and bought supplies. When night time came and I was too tired to ride, I set up my camping gear and went to sleep. And the next morning, I got up, and I rode my bike again. And again. And again. If a problem came up, I did the best I could to solve it. Sometimes it was a simple finesse fix, sometimes I was not that lucky. There was a point where I had my rear hub lock up and I had to push and carry my bike for hours up and over a mountain, just to get to a bike shop to get it fixed. 

I am not worried about the problems. I prepare as well as possible and the problems will be fixed somehow when they arise. No matter what I do in life, my goal is to do what I can, the very best I can, as often as I can. Everyday I got up during the race with that goal in mind. Eventually, I was at the finish line. Such as life. Set your goals, wake up, take little bites, and eventually you’ll be at your finish line too.

Michael Kinney