100km

This past Saturday I took part in Subic 100km Populaire cycling event hosted by Audax Philippines.

This was a Brevet, not a race, and there were no first and last places: the idea of #randonneuring is just to finish (in allotted time), and possibly beat your yesterday's self. 100km is a baby distance for this format (typically people ride 200, 300, 400 and 600 km), but it was good enough for me. The last time I rode such a distance was 2018, when I was in a different shape, and in a different county.

I could see many parallels between a Brevet and business-building (as we see it in Salmon Group Ltd):

— You don't really race against others, what matters to you (your investors, colleagues) is that you finally cross the finish the finish line (IPO bell?) before your resources run out;

— You have to be self-sufficient, as there is no support between the fairly distant checkpoints: I had flat tire early in the ride, and lost quite some time trying to figure out how to replace the inner tube on my particular make of wheels — and still make it in time before the cut off;

— You have to rely on friends when your muscles cramp and you are out of gels and water just 3 km before the finish, in the middle of the last hill — and they share some last drops so that you can continue;

— Unlike in a race, the roads don't close — you have to navigate traffic jams, jeepneys, smoking trucks, tricycles, normal busy Saturday town life as you've lost time fixing your tyres, and the morning is already in full swing;

— Beware of the unexpected: I trained for the legs, but was failed by my upper body 🤷🏻‍♂️;

—Finally, you have just to push when you are well past your known limits, focusing on each stroke, and the kilometres will yield, and yield, and yield, until — without a bang — you're suddenly done, and the day has just started, and there is still so much to do :)

Happy riding, fellow business builders! Sport does really help to strive past the finish lines — except there are no finish lines in the real life. 🏅