I was asked in a conversation last week what I learnt from my 1075 km off-road cycling through the bush of Western Australia.

I did not even stop to think, my reply was:

1. We are capable of so much more than we realise. Our physical and mental boundaries can stretch when tested.

2. Our minds give up faster than our bodies. We are limited only by our thinking.

3. Going back to basics - it’s all about choice, humility, appreciating the moment and learning.

When my husband and I first thought of cycling the Munda Biddi Trail, we were excited. It is the longest off-road trail in the world, and we were up for a challenge. And we love a challenge especially something new. The brain loves novelty, I could feel the rush of dopamine just at the thought of the adventure.

We had both done endurance activities before, but this would be our longest. And this was not the difference between a sprint and a marathon. This was multiple marathons, an endurance challenge spanning weeks carrying our tent, sleeping bags, food, water and cooking necessities.

We decided we would do it in October of 2016 and mapped out a plan. We needed one because we had to book flights, sort out equipment - bicycle spares, tent, sleeping bags, attire, cutlery and crockery, light weight stove etc. Planning was difficult because there were so many unknowns. But we had to plan and created one with some buffer in between to cater for the unexpected.

Overall, we were either incredibly lucky or incredibly resilient. Our entire trip went without a glitch. We met and heard of people giving up soon after they started due to being ill-prepared or underestimating the challenge and more.

We completed our journey according to our plan and made our scheduled flight back to Malaysia.

The physical versus the mental challenge

The thing about challenges like this is that the weeks and months before the trip is all about the preparation and training. The focus is on preparing the body for the challenge.

But once on the trail, it is all about the mind. The excitement, commitment, resolve and the little voice in the head especially when the going gets tough. And at times, the fight to change the story. Here, the body plays a secondary role to the mind.

And the body recovers well, much to my surprise. I went to sleep, in the initial days, wondering if my muscles would recover. But like magic, my body felt like new in the morning.

It certainly was an experience of a lifetime. We plan to do more of these when possible.

Though the trip went according to plan it was still a challenge. There were days I was fighting myself to push ahead. And this is exactly what I did. I had to change some of the stories I told myself to get to our destination for the day. It was the only winning option available.

Like, on day 2 when we had the unexpected! I had a case of food poisoning and we did not make our destination that day, but our buffer plan kept us on track giving me enough time to recover. We still cycled the next day, but we made it a slower day.

There is so much to describe. It was a 21-day journey after all. But I keep this post short to turn it over to you.

To ask you a question – where and in what way are you limiting yourself currently?

How can you possibly think differently, even if you had to fight yourself, to select an alternative option which may be painful now but rewarding in the future?

Let me know, yoga@yoganesadurai.com

The choice on how you navigate your future is yours!