Back in the mid-70’s the digital watch was introduced and it revolutionized the watch industry – for about two or three years.  Everyone thought that the analog watch was dead.  Digital watches were extremely expensive, very accurate and a huge fashion statement – worn by both business executives and celebrities.  Then everyone moved back to the analog watch.  Why?  For many of us, it just seemed like a watch should have hands.  It is the way it should be – regardless of whether digital watches are more accurate and more practical.  Today, digital watches are targeted at the athletic community only.

I was driving to work this week listening to the radio and an ad came on for a local cable company explaining that their DVR system could record four television shows at one time.  It made me wonder – why?  Why do we have an entertainment distribution system that pushes content out to the public at specific pre-set times and we have to build devices that can capture it so that it is not lost.  Wouldn’t it be more practical to simply post the content and allow people to download what they wanted – when they wanted?  In effect, isn’t that what we do with DVRs now?  However, it is posted and then disappears and if you miss your time slot, you don’t get another shot.  We already have video-on-demand.  Why isn’t this the standard distribution method?  It seems to me that much like the wristwatch example, we still feel a need to broadcast content at 9:00pm on Thursday or 8:00pm on Monday because that’s the way it has always been.

I am sure someone from the television industry will explain to me that it is important that we keep this system because the networks need a way of lining up the shows.  In other words, a show will do much better on a Tuesday night than a Wednesday night.  The new sitcom will perform much better after the existing successful sitcom than on the other time slot.  I would have agreed with this prior to the DVR when we actually sat and watched the shows at those time slots.  However, I haven’t watched live television in years.  My favorite programs are sitting on my DVR and I watch them anytime I want.  The programming time has no impact on me whatsoever.  Even when watching a sporting event, I will wait until it is 45 minutes into the game and then begin watching so that I can fast-forward through the commercials.  Why do we still schedule the programming?  Why not simply post it and then let people download it?  It seems to me that this is another example of holding onto a comfortable process rather than using the more practical one.

My final example is music.  I am a big fan of iTunes and the concept of downloading music.  However, it has taken me a long time to get past the concept of not having all of my music on CDs.  For the first year, I would download an album and then immediately burn a CD and put it on the CD rack.  I felt good about this.  It was the way it should be.  It was the way it has always been.  Then I realized that I never played that CD.  I played the music from my iTunes library.  I have finally broken this habit.

Human nature and comfort zones are an interesting thing.  We continue patterns of behavior knowing that they are inefficient, costly and sometimes dangerous – even when a more practical, cheaper and safer solution is right in front of us.  Creative, innovative and bold companies will find these opportunities and capitalize on them.

Are there any examples that you can think of?

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In business, we often refer to and utilize, the elevator speech.  The origins of the term are debatable.  However, the definition is very simple.  If you were on an elevator and someone asked you what you do for a living (or what your company does), how would you sum up the answer in the amount of time it takes to ride the elevator?  Most people limit an elevator speech (or pitch) to approximately 60 seconds.

An elevator speech should not be confused with a tagline.  A company tagline is more of a one-line summary that is typically linked to the company logo.  It is often in the form of a double-entendre and has its roots in the jingles of the 1950s.  An elevator speech is a more lengthy description.  It is also very different from a mission statement or a value proposition.  The elevator speech is purely a description of your line of business.

Elevator speeches are used in many different circumstances.  They are used to describe a company’s line of business.  They are used by executives in transition to describe the target job they are seeking.  They are used by entrepreneurs who are pitching a new business opportunity to investors.  They are even used by speed-daters to describe themselves and/or their perfect partner.

In my experience, the common denominator in most elevator speeches is that they are always changing and the author is never entirely satisfied with them.  I believe that it is because it is very difficult to encapsulate all of the information in 60 seconds.  This is what makes an effective elevator pitch so powerful, yet so elusive.

An effective elevator pitch should describe the product, service or project in a very clear and concise way.  It should describe the features/benefits and why it will be successful.  This is a simple task in principle, but a difficult one in practice.

Marketing organizations have had to focus on a similar challenge with television and radio advertising.  The 60-second commercial has had a very similar goal.  Communicate in 60-seconds what the product or service offering is, and why you would want to engage it.  With the advent of viral video marketing on YouTube and video podcasting, the art of the 60-second pitch is becoming even more common and more refined.

There are many techniques used to create an entertaining and engaging message.  The following are two examples that I find very powerful.  (A disclaimer – I am not connected with either of these organizations in any way.  I am not endorsing their products and/or services and cannot make any comment on the value or credibility of their companies.  I simply find their online videos very creative.)

www.willitblend.com – When you have one of the most powerful blenders on the market, how can you convince the public that your blender is worth the premium price?  Answer – create viral videos of your product blending anything and everything.

www.skip1.org – How do you communicate the concept of “skipping” some of your simple luxuries to help those less fortunate than yourself?  Watch the video in the bottom right corner of the website.

I am curious, what are some of your favorite examples of effective elevator speeches?

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I was talking with my 8-year old daughter the other morning over breakfast.  Correction, I was watching in fascination as she was simultaneously eating breakfast, drawing a picture of herself and her friends, and rapid firing a series of questions at me.  I found myself answering the standard questions.  What is your favorite color?  What is your favorite number?  Do you like unicorns or princesses better? However, I found myself also answering some very interesting questions.  Why don’t they put the vitamins in the orange juice so that we don’t have to take pills?  Why don’t they deliver groceries to the house, just like they deliver mail?  Why do daddies go to work and mommies stay home?

It reminded me that children question everything, and grown ups don’t.  There are a lot of reasons for this.  For one, we stop asking questions somewhere in our teenage years because we want to give the impression that we know everything.   Then somewhere along the line we convince ourselves that we actually do have all the answers.  However, I think that we also become programmed once we start working to stop asking questions.  We are given a task to accomplish and then told not to ask questions.  Employees who ask too many questions or inquire into the process are often viewed as unproductive and disruptive.  The older we get, we simply lose much of our inquisitive and creative side.

This is counter-intuitive because as we gather more knowledge and have a better grasp of the world around us, we are more equipped to ask intelligent questions and identify better solutions to problems.

I wrote a blog a while back where I talked about how we become corporate zombies – simply accepting the status quo and not looking for ways to improve or innovate.  This is a similar problem.  Business opportunities are ignored because we assume that all the great ideas are taken.  We ignore the opportunity to topple a corporate behemoth because we assume they have the optimal business model and no start-up could ever compete with them.  Consider Blockbuster Video.  They are closing stores in every city.  Much of this is due to NetFlix and Video-on-Demand (VoD).  However, it is also due to a small, but growing business called Redbox Video.  They simply put videos in a vending machine and charge $1.  No great creativity, yet they dared to question the current method of video distribution.  They applied an age-old technology and undercut the leader’s pricing model.  Blockbuster – an inventory heavy, real estate heavy and labor heavy business will soon be a thing of the past.  The following is a brilliant “viral video” parody of the Blockbuster business model.

There are huge opportunities in front of all of us.  However, we are often blinded by our own inability to question the process.  We can learn from the innocence of children by listening to the naïve (brilliant?) questions.  Asking “why” is a powerful tool, but it is difficult to implement as we settle into our patterns of behavior.

I think I am going to have more conversations with my kids.  I can learn a lot from them.

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After a week of listening to people share their New Year’s Resolutions, I am convinced I made the right decision to resolve not to make a New Year’s Resolution.  Don’t get me wrong.  I am a big supporter of making positive changes.  The problem I have is breaking resolutions.

The first issue is that waiting until January 1^st to make a positive change, begs the question of whether there is a real commitment to the resolution.  If the resolution is important, than why wait until the first of the year to make the change?

However, the real problem with New Year’s Resolutions is the same issue that most of us have in business.  We commit to a change, a project, or a business initiative, but fail to commit to the planning that is necessary to execute properly.  It doesn’t matter if you are committing to lose weight, stop smoking, find a new job, implement a new CRM project or develop a new product line.  If you commit without a proper strategic plan, then you are destined to break your resolution.

The first step is to define your objective.  On a personal level, it may be to improve your health.  On the business side, it may be to improve your customer satisfaction.  Then you need to define your strategy.  If your goal is to improve your health, you may decide to lose weight.  If your goal is to improve your customer satisfaction, you may decide to create a stronger link with your customer base to improve communication.  Next, you need to define tactics to support your strategy.  In the case of the personal goal, you may decide to join a gym or take up running.  On the business side you may decide to implement an online community to create real-time dialog with your customers.  Finally, you need to set measureable milestones to reach your goal and then measure them along the way.  Without specific targets and a commitment to measuring progress, it is difficult to determine if the right efforts are being made.

It is also important to be prepared to make mid-course changes.  You may find that running by itself isn’t helping you reach your weight goal and you need to make improvements to your diet.  You may decide that the online community isn’t getting traction, and therefore, a more traditional customer satisfaction survey combined with a commitment to making substantial changes based on customer feedback is more appropriate.

The bottom line is that making a corporate commitment at a strategic planning session can be no more effective than resolving to lose weight after several cocktails on New Year’s Eve, unless you are prepared to commit to the balance of the process.  Strategic planning works, when implemented properly.  However, it fails miserably if implemented poorly.

This year I made a resolution to not make a New Year’s resolution, but rather to commit to the full process both on a personal and professional level.  Your thoughts?

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For those of us who work in high-tech, Comdex (also known as “Geek Week”) was the largest trade show in the industry.  It was arguably the largest trade show in the world at its peak.  The name stood for “Computer Dealer Exhibition” and it was held in Las Vegas from 1979 to 2003.  Originally, it was a very focused show that catered to computer manufacturers, dealers, resellers and consultants.  It was the main place to launch products, announce business deals, meet with partners, press, analysts and most importantly – throw parties.  Even though it was tagged “Geek Week”, the parties were legendary.  Large companies spared no expense in entertaining their customers and partners.

Why was it so successful?  Marketing 101 – there was a need.  Companies needed a platform to promote their new products to the press and analysts.  They needed a way to meet with 20 or 30 partners in one week rather than making 20 or 30 business trips.  They needed a way to show their products to prospects – at its peak Comdex had over 250,000 attendees.  Companies needed a place to celebrate – Comdex was it.

So, why did it falter and fail?  There are many theories about the fall of Comdex.  Some point to a dilution of focus.  I have to admit, being a Comdex veteran, I realized they lost their focus when Mercedes had a 50’ x 50’ booth.  Why would a luxury automaker have a reason to be at a Computer Dealer Exhibition?  This was clearly a tipping point for the show.  Some people believe it was the greed of the show.  It became exceptionally expensive to attend Comdex.  The powers of supply and demand came into effect and the show management felt they could charge a premium.  Other smaller, more focused shows became more cost-effective and returned higher return-on-investment for the vendors.  Others feel it was Las Vegas itself who made it difficult to continue the show.  The fact was, 250,000 people were filling the hotel rooms, but they were not gambling.  Las Vegas makes money when people gamble, and Geek Week proved to be a slow week in Vegas.

In my opinion, I point to the fact that the market need went away.  Launching products at Comdex became ineffective because everyone in the industry was issuing press releases the same week.  Companies started avoiding press/analyst meetings during Comdex because of the noise level.  The ability to meet partners became ineffective because by the end of the week, you couldn’t remember who you met with.  Finally, the Internet eliminated the need to show your products to prospects.  The fall of Comdex and the decline of trade shows in general correlates directly with the increase of company websites.  During its peak, it was one of the few ways for prospects to gather data about a company and it’s products/services.  Today, you get the same effect by visiting a website.

Trade shows and conferences are struggling across the board because the need to meet face-to-face is becoming less of an issue.  Websites, webcasts, video conferencing and other virtual tools are meeting this requirement.  Comdex is now a distant memory and many other trade shows are disappearing as well.  What is your opinion?  Is there a place for trade shows, or have they become obsolete?  Did you attend Comdex?  Please share your favorite Comdex story.

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It is easy to sit back and point to individuals who have accomplished great things and turn them into mythical legends.  We tend to do this throughout our careers.  It can be as simple as the sales guy in the northeast region who closed the company’s largest deal last quarter, or it can be the captain of the industry who turned around the failing company to create a market leader.

In business, we continue to find excuses for missing our goals.  We point to the lack of leadership within the company.  We point to the individual within the company who is a roadblock to success.  We remember companies we have worked for who had great teams and great leaders and wonder why we don’t have the same in our current company.  We look to leading companies in our market and wish for similar opportunities.  It is easy to find a reason to give up and simply go through the motions without really trying.

It is far easier to point to someone else who has reached an accomplishment and convince yourself that they are a brilliant strategist, entrepreneur and/or leader, than to simply believe that they worked exceptionally hard to reach their goal.

If we believe that they were no better skilled than any of us, then we have to admit that we simply are not trying hard enough.  That is an uncomfortable thought for many of us.  The ironic fact is that often when we meet the leaders within our industry, we are let down by how “ordinary” they are.  In many cases, they are less than ordinary.

There is a famous quote by Marianne Williamson where she explains that we are more afraid of our ability to succeed than our ability to fail, “…it is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.  Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure….”

What would happen if we stepped out and attempted those great things?  Rather than complaining that no one is leading the critical team at the office or tackling the nightmare challenge, why not step up and own it yourself?  What is the worst thing that would happen?  Would it be more terrifying for you to fail or to succeed?  If we are honest with ourselves, in many cases success is more intimidating than failure.  Failure means that we are right where we started.  Success means that people will be looking to you to succeed again on the next challenge.

Most of us have people in business that we admire.  They may be famous for being the CEO of a successful company.  They may be known for being an entrepreneur and changing an industry.  They may have led a new industry trend such as social media.  The common denominator is that they had a vision and the passion to work hard to achieve it.  The other common element is that most of them failed several times before they succeeded.

Rather than worshiping a hero, step out and become one…

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I was thinking the other day about what makes some business teams thrive and others struggle.  They can have equal talent, equal resources, and equal tasks – yet some seem to be energized and others get “stuck in the mud”.  I’ve come to the conclusion that much of this is due to an elusive element known as “inspiration”.

Inspiration is what gets us out of bed in the morning.  It is what helps us create the new marketing plan.  It is what causes us to lead the new team at the office.  It is what wakes us up in the middle of the night with the design change that will give the new product line its competitive advantage.  Inspiration comes at unlikely moments and from unexpected places.  It is difficult to create from scratch, and some people seem to have an uncanny way of finding it and duplicating it.

This weekend I went for my usual bike ride.  As I rode my 50-mile route into a headwind, I started wondering why I had decided to go for a ride when I could be laying on the couch reading the paper and drinking coffee.  To motivate myself, I usually look for a rider ahead of me and then try to chase them down and pass them.  As luck would have it, I saw a rider about a half-mile ahead and began to go after them.  The closer I got, I could tell it was a female.  She was clearly a strong rider because from behind, she had tremendous form.  On a road bike you try to reduce wind resistance by keeping your arms and legs close to the frame.  Her lower body was very surprisingly well aligned.  As I got closer to her, I realized why.  She had one leg.  Her left leg was completely missing.  It had been amputated at the hip.  Suddenly, my complaining about the wind, the hills and any other challenges seemed silly.  Here was rider with one leg, riding a very challenging course and keeping a very good pace.

When I caught her I looked over, but before I could say anything she said, “Good Morning!”  There was not a sign of pain or struggle on her face.  Her smile was sincere and heartfelt.  You could tell, she actually meant to wish me a good morning.  I was so inspired by her, that I said the first thing that came to mind, “You too!  You Rock!”  Not the most eloquent thing to say, but it was the best I could do.

She reminded me that inspiration can come from anywhere.  People find it in their co-workers, in sports athletes and celebrities, in their faith, in their families, in business books and many other places.  It is usually unexpected and it is almost always free.  Unfortunately, we often miss it because we are busy looking elsewhere.

The girl riding with one leg in Santiago Canyon inspired me more than she will ever know.  She reminded me that we can all help each other in very simple ways.  Stay inspired and do your best to inspire others to reach their goals.  It is the positive energy that helps us achieve more than we believe we ever could.

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I spoke at a conference this past week, and a very common question was asked from the audience.  “Once I post something on my blog or on Twitter, can I remove it.”  The obvious answer is “yes”.  You absolutely can delete it from your blog and/or from your blog page.  However, the more important answer is “no”.  There is no way to remove it from the Internet itself.  Once you post something on the Internet, it is most likely replicated many times – either manually or automatically.  Tweets are re-tweeted by others.  Blogs are copied and duplicated.  Search engines archive content.  Aggregators automatically duplicate content.  The list goes on and on.

The problem is that once you publish an item (e.g., a blog on a political view, a compromising photo from your trip to Las Vegas or Cabo, a negative product review, or a simple Tweet), it is impossible to retract.  In fact, your efforts to retract the content will typically backfire and make the problem worse.

Image of Streisand's house that was the subject of a $50M lawsuit

There is a term in the social media world called “the Streisand Effect” that illustrates this phenomenon.  It is well documented in the book “Groundswell” by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff.  Mike Masnick, a blogger for Techdirt is credited with coining the term, “the Streisand Effect”, to describe a phenomenon where an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information from the internet backfires, causing the information to be more widely publicized than it would have if no censorship had been attempted.  In 2003, Pilot Gabrielle Adelman and photographer Kenneth Adelman took on the project of photographing the entire California coastline.  They built an extensive library of over 12,000 photographs representing the entire California coast and made them available at www.californiacoastline.org.  Singer Barbara Streisand requested they remove the photo of her home from the web.  When they refused, she unsuccessfully sued them for $50M citing privacy concerns.  The publicity had the opposite effect and caused people to duplicate the photo all over the Internet.   The following month, more than 420,000 people visited the site.

We all have to remember that the Internet is a living and breathing entity.  Social media is just that – social.  It is a collection of people with common interests carrying on conversations.  There are few boundaries, and that is what makes it compelling and powerful.  It is the essence of free speech.  As with any freedom, there comes responsibility.  The Internet is also uniquely self-managed.  Those who abuse it are typically spotlighted and disciplined by the community.  One recent example was a furniture retailer in the UK who tried to promote their weekly sales on Twitter with unrelated top hashtags (search terms).  The blatant self-promotion under the search terms relating to world crisis and sensitive news items tarnished the company’s brand considerably.

The Internet, like life, has few boundaries.   The potential is enormous.  However, as with life, there are consequences for each action.  Some are positive and some are negative.  Before you embark on your company branding, personal branding or simply your first Tweet or blog posting, consider your actions carefully.

“What happens on the Internet, stays on the internet”

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It was a morning rush hour just like any other in the Washington DC subway station.  Commuters rushed through the tunnel with their Starbucks coffee in one hand and their newspaper under their other arm.  A man sat on a chair with a violin and played to the crowd, hoping they would stop for a few minutes and possibly throw some change into his cardboard box.  During his 45-minute session, he played six different Bach compositions and approximately 1,100 people passed him by.

In the first three minutes, a middle-aged man slowed for a moment and then hurried by.  A few minutes later, the violinist received his first tip – a woman threw a dollar in the box without slowing or even looking directly at him.  Several minutes later, a man stopped, leaned against the wall to listen and then looked at his watch and moved on.  The spectator who gave the violinist the most attention, was a 3-year old boy.  His mother, clearly annoyed, tugged the child along.

The 1,097 people who passed through the L’Enfant Plaza Station on January 12, 2007 had no idea that they were being treated to a free concert by the world-renowned violin virtuoso Joshua Bell.  He performed six classical pieces on his handcrafted 1713 Stradivarius violin (for which he paid $3.5 million).  During his 45-minute mini-concert, he collected a total of $32.17.  Three days earlier, he played to a full house at Boston’s Symphony Hall, where seats sold for $100.

What can we conclude from this experiment?  Can we conclude that people were too busy to stop and enjoy the beauty right in front of them?  Can we conclude that people chose to ignore the performance because this was simply a “subway performer”, and therefore, not an artist of any significant talent?  Can we conclude that the “herd mentality” kept people from stepping out of line to stop and listen?

How can this lesson be applied to business cultures?  In each company, there are preconceived notions that certain people have more value than others.  Executives will dominate meetings.  Middle management will be ignored.  Low-level employees may not even be invited to the conversation.  Over time, the senior executives and dominant personalities stifle the others in the company.  Many employees eventually give up offering suggestions and simply keep their mouths shut.

It goes without saying, but some of the greatest suggestions come from the mid-level and entry-level employees because they live-and-breathe the day-to-day operations of the company.  They know the challenges and have thought through the solutions.  We have all been in meetings where the C-level executive goes on, and on, about some meaningless issue and simply reinforces that he is a “stuffed-suit”.

We need to challenge ourselves to not be blinded by title, personality, or role within a company.  Don’t always assume that your senior executives have the best ideas.  For that matter, don’t always assume that your largest customers have the best suggestions.  The beauty of social media is that it is blind.  Whether you are communicating with your employees, investors, partners or customers, each group and each participant has an equal voice.  As an example, anyone – from any company, any position or any country – can participate in this blog on a level field.  Everyone has an equal voice and an equal opportunity to participate and learn from each other.  Social media knows no caste system.  There are many examples of companies who have used internal and external online communities to create environments of productivity and innovation that would never have occurred in traditional business cultures.

Action Item: Create social media environments where you can listen carefully and identify the “violin virtuosos” that are currently being ignored within your company and/or within your customer base.

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Solvang Century 2006

Once a year, I train for a 100-mile bicycle “century” ride.  It is held in Solvang, California.  It is a great way for me to stay in shape, burn off stress and remind myself that great things can be accomplished with preparation, dedication and an unrelenting desire to succeed.  I apologize in advance for the departure from my normal content, but I ran into this recap from the 2006 ride, and thought that it may be worth posting.

“There is only one way to fail, and that is to quit” – Brian Hays

Solvang 2006

March 5, 2006 – I have two words to describe the 2006 Solvang Century – “I survived”.  I had hopes of setting my best personal time this year, but the weather didn’t cooperate.

When we arrived Friday night, it was raining and then it began to hail.  All of the riders were positive, but there was a significant drop-off in traffic.  For the first time in the six years that I have participated, there were actually “vacancy” signs in some of the hotels.  Normally, all of the hotels within 50 miles are booked six months in advance.  All of the local hotels are booked about a year in advance.  The word among the riders was that the casual riders had dropped out.  We went to Tower Pizza and joined other riders to have pasta and tell stories.  Three guys from Orange County were sitting near us.  They were drinking beer and arguing whether they should ride the next day.  One was convinced they should.  The other two argued against it.  I tried to support the positive guy.  I had just bought some rain gear when I checked-in and got my rider’s packet and they asked me where I got it.

Most of the riders were excited and cautiously optimistic about the weather (even though all weather reports showed 80-90% chance of storms and the temperatures were around freezing).

Saturday morning I got started about 7:45am.  I had bought extra rain gear and felt very prepared.  I had shoe covers, leg warmers, arm warmers, skull cap, headband and a rain coat.  My family cheered as I left the starting line with about 30 other riders.  A normal year would have well over 5000 riders.  This year, I imagine there were only about 3000 riders.  I was amazed that within the first 10 miles, I saw at least 20 flat tires (it is really hard to see glass in the road when it is raining).  I was just glad to get out of town safely.  There was a steady rain and the roads were very slick.  As we rode into the wine country, I looked back toward Solvang and the sky was dark, but not too bad.  As I looked in the direction we were riding, it was black.  The thunder and lighting lit up the sky and the 25 or so riders around me all yelled “Bring it on!”  We were clearly blinded by our own adrenaline.

Ten minutes later, the “light” rain turned into heavy rain and we were all asking each other, “Are we having fun yet”?  I could literally feel my body temperature dropping as I was slowly getting drenched.  I suddenly realized that I didn’t have enough layers under my raincoat.  At about the 20 mile mark the hail started up again.  I felt my bike losing control and noticed that I had a flat.  I said to myself, “you have to be kidding me.  Is this how it is going to go?”  As I was slowing, the hail kicked into high gear.  I pulled off the side of the road and began to change my tire.  In the back of my head, I heard my wife Ellen saying, “you should bring two tubes”.  Obviously, I only brought one.  With all the weight from the extra clothes, I figured I would save some weight by bringing one tube.  In five years, I had only had two flats.  Why would I need more than one tube?  Good thinking, huh?  Another rider who was getting ready to dropout of the ride pulled off and offered to help.  I changed the tire quickly, but my hands were frozen and I couldn’t feel the inside of the tire for glass.  I also had the problem that it was hailing so hard that the tire was filling up with hail quicker that I could get the tube in.  I kept shaking out the hail, but it would fill back up.  I had no idea what impact ice would have between a tube and a tire as I filled it up with air.  I did my best, and got ready to re-enter the ride.  As I was getting ready to get back on the bike, I looked at the road and it was solid white.  The hail had covered the entire road.  While I was waiting for an opening between riders, I saw a rider hit a patch of what was now snow on the road, and crash into the field.  This was becoming a whole different ball game.

About 30 minutes later, I realized that I had been riding in one position too long and went to change my hands on the handlebars and noticed my gloves were frozen to the handlebars.  As I pulled them off the bars, I saw ice prints where my gloves had been.  I pulled into the first rest stop and saw they had started a bonfire and a crowd was standing around it as they got onto the dreaded rental trucks to be taken back to the starting line.  These were the brave ones who were quitting and going back to face family and friends.  I couldn’t do it.  I couldn’t quit this early.  I was shaking uncontrollably and realized I didn’t have nearly enough clothes on.  I gathered myself and got back on the bike.  About 3 blocks down the road was a split in the route.  To the left was the direction for the 50-mile ride and to the right was the direction for the 100-mile ride.  A large group of riders stopped to discuss the options.  I looked to the right and saw one rider taking off.  About 20 riders turned left.  I looked at the guy next to me and said, “lets go”.  We both smiled and took off.  We turned to the right.  He hesitated for a moment and then turned left.  I heard him yell, “sorry” as he headed back toward the 50-mile route.  I caught up with three other guys and we rode on.

It continued to rain steadily for the next hour.  I had convinced myself that I had to deal with the rain all day long, when I felt a sickening feeling.  I looked down and realized that I had another flat.  That’s it.  I’m done.  The day was over.  I didn’t have another tube or CO2 cartridge.  I stood in the rain watching the other riders go by and couldn’t believe how stupid I was for not bringing extra tubes.  In the rain, you can’t see the glass on the road.  Normally, you swerve around glass all day because you can see it.  In the rain, you ride right through it.  After about 10 minutes a rider yelled, “Do you need help?”  I asked if he had a spare tube and he said, “yes”.  Nice!  I am back in the game.  I got the tube in and then stood there again, wondering, “Who is going to give me a spare CO2 cartridge?”  This is like asking a starving guy for his last meal.  Sure enough, someone stopped and gave me one.  O.k., the biking gods are on my side.  I got back on the bike and continued. As I rode on, I was still amazed that there were patches of hail/snow on the side of the road and every once in a while I had to slow to ride through a patch.

At about the 60 mile mark, I heard someone yell, “hey, pizza guy!”  I turned around and it was the guy from Tower Pizza from the night before.  He said he dropped his other friends, but they were still riding.  We rode together for about 10 minutes before I dropped him.  I was feeling good.  No record times, but I felt strong and the rain had slowed.  I was passing lots of people and felt like I could have had a really good ride under normal circumstances.  The 9 months of training were now paying off – even if I wasn’t going to set a record time.

At the end of Solvang, there are a few huge hills.  The steepest is called “the wall”.  As I approached the wall, I was completely focused on finishing.  I thought about crossing the finish line and seeing my family.  Pizza guy and I were riding together at this point and we pounded up the hill.  We were pushing each other trying to increase the pace.  We were in about the same shape, so we were doing a good job pacing each other.  It is such a great feeling to climb a hill with someone and push each other as hard as you can.  About a quarter of the way up the hill the hail started again.  He looked over and said, “You have to be kidding me!”  We both started laughing and pushed on.  We had to dodge the riders that had started walking up the hill and were challenged to find a clear path.  As we approached the summit, there was a family parked on the side of the road.  Their car doors were open and they were blaring music trying to motivate the riders to reach the top of “the wall”.  The hail was going into their car, but they didn’t care.  They were cheering us on and yelling for us to make it to the top.  I yelled back at them, “Thanks!”  Pizza guy yelled, “You rock!”

We started the decent on the other side, and I realized that this was the first year that I hated the down hills.  They were too dangerous.  I enjoyed the climbs more than the down hills.  There is about 10 miles of relatively flat terrain at the end of the ride.  Normally, this is a great, very fast ride into town and to the finish line.  The winds had been bad all day, but this final stage was terrible.  I was in my second to lowest gear and was struggling into a headwind.  Why should I expect anything different?  I continued to ride with the pizza guy trying to draft off of each other.  At one point we picked up a lot of speed and hit some mud and both almost slid off the road.  This was at 96 miles.  We both looked at each other and said, “let’s just finish this thing”.

As I crossed the finish line, I knew my time was terrible, but I was just glad to have it behind me.  The stats were: 102.1 miles, 5:56 of riding time, 17.1 MPH average speed, 37.7 MPH maximum speed and 2 flats.

All I can say is that it is really nice to have this one behind me.  Giving up was never an option.  I would have carried my bike across the finish line, if I had too.  Having completed this ride taught me that I could accomplish things I never realized were within my grasp.  Every century ride from now on can only be easier.

Solvang Century 2006

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