The Pack

My first attempt at a triathlon will occur in 19 days. While it is has been referred to as “only a sprint” by someone who shall remain bound and gagged with duct tape, to me it is a half mile swim in a lake that may as well contain piranhas, sharks and deadly eels. (I reference my earlier post and my limited aquatic skills). If I survive the .75K swim, I will hop on a bike and ride 23 pleasant kilometers of southern Wisconsin roads followed by a nice 5K run in what I’m hoping is an equally friendly trail through Big Foot State Park. Yes, I realize I may be blowing the whole swim part of this endeavor out of proportion, but whatever it takes to keep me laughing through my fear works for me.

In addition to swimming, I continue to learn yet another new sport related skill. This past weekend I was on my second road bike outing in three weeks. With 1,000 other bikers on northwestern Illinois' rolling farm roads, running into other cyclists was an inevitable occurrence. Being new to the sport of cycling, I soon realized there exists a language unto itself which a newbie must learn in order to become part of this pack. So after passing a group of five cyclists with matching bright yellow bike shirts only to have the entire five pass me again minutes later, I came to the quick conclusion this back and forth was ridiculous, and decided to hang back at the rear of this pack, listen and learn.

Any athletic undertaking of the last few years is especially subject to my sport psychology analyses. This day made clear that there are both benefits and liabilities to being part of a pack versus going it on your own. And as always, the sport environment provides a wonderful mini-example of how day-to-day life can play out.

On a road bike, the pack can keep you safe and teach the literal “rules of the road." In cycling you can definitely travel faster if you happen to be in a pack that pushes you. Conversely, if you find yourself stuck with a slow moving pack, you may feel obligated to stifle your own skills to remain part of the group. While the pack looks out for its members, individuals sometimes have a hard time seeing through the pack to view the whole horizon.

And I wondered, can you really plan your individual goals when the pack is calling the shots? Listening to the chatter of the pack can take you off your own focus. Thinking for yourself becomes more intentional. The pack may try to instill their own thoughts/ideas/views on you. Some packs are suspect of outsiders and shun new ideas stifling opportunities for growth.

While going on your own means giving up the safety of the pack, seeing the whole horizon for yourself is a clear solo trekking benefit. Learning to rely only on the self is a driver for many…so much so that Henry David Thoreau went to the woods to live alone and hone this trait in himself. The flipside of self-reliance can lead to becoming too self-focused. Looking inside too often and too long, one can lose touch with the ability to interact with others or worse yet, lose out on the beauty of what others have to share.