Let’s break down three of the hurdles between you and wonderful kayaking adventures:

1. Cold and Austere

   You stand on a cold beach looking at gray drizzly sky, cold water, watching waves push hard in every direction. Next, you must squat down, worm yourself into this little hole in the top of the kayak, and push off into harm’s way without getting sandy, slimy or tipped into the drink. How could this ever be fun? The answer is that with a bit of practice and sense of humor, you will get really good at it. Being bad at stuff is no fun. Being good at stuff is fun.

   At CAL, we break down the sea kayaking routine into small steps, and each step is actually pretty simple. Once you are in your kayak with your spray skirt snapped over the cockpit hole, you are as snug as a bug. The kayak warms up inside. If you tip out of your kayak, you are wearing a second “boat”, your dry suit. Except for head and hands, you don’t even get wet! Deciding to get in the kayak is harder than actually kayaking.

2. Itty-bitty Narrow Boat

   Getting into a kayak feels like getting into a Ferrari. Protective gear, tight fit, low slung. And like a Ferrari, a sea kayak is purpose built for performance. Your power to weight ratio is high, you are highly maneuverable on one axis and highly stable on the other two, and you are wearing your Ferrari rather than sitting on it. Again, a bit intimidating to start, but safe and comfy once you are familiar and confident.

3. One and Done Thinking

   Recreation is changing. People want easy-entry, short-duration, low-consequence “adventures”. “One and Done” means “I tried it, I got my selfie and I’m moving on to the next thing”. The problem is, that gets boring fast because it is a shallow, empty way to approach life. Kayaking can be easy-entry, short-duration and low-consequence, but nobody wants to just paddle around in little circles forever. If One and Done is your mindset, a silly sit-on-top kayak will do, and there’s no sense in buying one because you’ll get bored fast. Just rent.

   In a proper sea kayak, rather than in a pool floaty shaped like a kayak, you can dink around for an hour and have a nice time, and in the same boat, set off for a week of real adventure. However, to do this you have to give yourself the benefit of progressive skills training. And you must kayak with people with the drive and ambition to do more than splash around for an hour.

This is where the Center for Adventure Leadership comes in. We start you out with an easy kayaking afternoon, but we teach you real kayaking skills right from the start, not just splash and dash. As your confidence grows, you gain ambition to do more kayaking. With a little effort and practice, you are not just paddling in circles off the beach, but you are planning overnight trips to remote islands in Puget Sound and beyond. You know you have the skills, good judgement and right gear to do amazing things all on your own.

We do the same for you with mountaineering, whitewater rafting and backcountry travel, but this commentary is on sea kayaking.

Please subscribe to our newsletter so you find out when the next kayaking day paddles and our overnight SKLT (“Skillet”) course: Sea Kayaking Leadership Training. We teach real sea kayaking right from the start, the essential building blocks to develop great skill. Get out on the water with us and then we’ll help you plan your own sea kayaking adventures. Our world is 70% water. Let’s get out on it together.

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Why am I doing this for me?

I want to be doing active things for a long time to come, even though I am entering a phase of life when most of my age peers are trying to figure out how to check out. I want to be challenged to grow, to do things that only strong and fit people can do, so when I'm out there doing them, I only have to be around people who have and do put in the work to be strong and fit.

But I have been only marginally fit for a long time now. I'm skilled, and determined, but in preparing to lead adventures, I developed the habit of putting off my own fitness work until the last minute. Too often, I’d end up hurt. Then I’d lead an adventure, for instance, to climb Aconcagua in Argentina, and I would be hurting and kind of miserable the whole time, while making a charade of myself with people I respected and who saw right through my act.  

I have often said that in adventures, and in adventure leadership, you suffer. Your choice is to suffer chronically, by doing your training well ahead of time  (which is hard to do, and hurts) or acutely, by heading out without training, and either getting hurt or blowing yourself up by doing so much work that you are not prepared to do (which seems easier, but is actually much, much worse. And also hurts).

In January, Fat Mark was not capable of riding across America. The only way to do this without blowing up was to absolutely commit to becoming Fit Mark. And by publicly announcing that I was going to do this, I really kicked my crutch out and had to do the work, make the transformation, or look like an attention-grabbing idiot. 

Why am I doing this for the Center for Adventure Leadership?

We are reinventing ourselves to become a community of practice that is audacious, difficult, and necessary, while acknowledging that the overwhelming temptation is to try to do this transformational work incrementally, safely, and with little cost or risk. Which is absurd. So I am riding across America precisely because it's audacious, difficult and necessary.

It's necessary to show that the skills, methods and mindsets we teach and use make it not just possible, but inevitable, for us to do audacious and difficult things.  Also, we are REALLY GOOD AT THIS. I can do this ride for the same reason I can help lead our organization: because WHAT WE DO AND WHAT WE TEACH WORKS, IN REALITY. And if it doesn't, I will fail and you can ignore the Center for Adventure Leadership.

And another thing for CAL: we need the money.

Not only that, we need to learn to ASK for the money, and to do that, we need to do things that are worth asking for. This brings me back to the point above: we are in a time and place where audacity, difficulty and necessity are not life accessories, but life necessities. We need the money and I am asking you to help fund our work. 

Finally, Resonance.

This trip will resonate with some people. It will not resonate for most people. I want to know for whom it resonates, and for whom it doesn't. I am entering a new, highly active and purposeful phase of my life. I want to pursue my life in this new phase with people who get what I get, value it and can be depended on to do something about it. These people will be my Top Drawer Partners.

For people to whom this makes no sense, I’ll better understand who they are, and not bother them anymore. It's also my way of knowing who will not make the cut as my ongoing partners, and colleagues. It will be "Have a great life! See ya!" for some, and "Let's do this!" for others. I only have so much attentional bandwidth and it would be a shame to use that paying attention to people who just don't care, or who legitimately have other interests and urgencies. Better that I be present to people who really value this stuff and want to help make it real for themselves and other likeminded people.

Humanity is, right now, bifurcating into the "We'll work together to build a great future" crowd, and the "I'll wait for the easier, less risky way" crowd. I know who I want my people to be, and who I want to be for my people. For the rest, it's "So long and good luck".

I did an epic bike ride as a college student, to see America and learn about myself and my place among my people.

It was my young man's walkabout, a journey of discovery. The ride in my sixties is a proof of capacity, of veracity, of commitment to a way of living. Can I walk (ride) my talk? Can I transform myself into a version of myself who can do what's necessary, even when it is inconvenient? Do the skills, methods, and mindsets I teach actually work? This ride is not about discovery, it's about trust. To what extent can I be trusted to have aligned my espoused values with my actions? If I finish the ride or fail in a way that involves honest growth and learning, I'm the real deal. If I bug out, wipe out stupidly, cheat, lie, or make stuff up that can't be backed up, I'm a fake, and deserve to be ignored. 

So what's it going to be? Fat Mark or Fit Mark? Truth or fiction? Reality or smoke and mirrors? Actual capacity or clever marketing? Excellence or excuses? Only one last day. Let's find out!

Let's run through that. A model is a mental framework we can use to understand how things work. I use a systems dynamics model to organize what, how and when I eat and drink. What is “systems dynamics”? Here’s the Wiki definition: “Systems dynamics (SD) is an approach to understanding the nonlinear behavior of complex systems of time using stocks, flows, internal feedback loop, table functions and time delays”. Yeah, pretty wonky, but it boils down to something very useful: how to stay hydrated and energized so I don’t bonk. 

During a strenuous effort, like riding 70 miles, it’s important to stay ahead of the hydration and energy curve. If I fall behind it’s very hard to recover in real time. This is because actual thirst and hunger are trailing indicators, not leading indicators, that I am in water and food deficit. If I wait until I feel thirsty or hungry, performance dips until the new water and food get all the way to my cells. In this deficit state, my output decreases, my mental acuity declines and my attitude takes a plunge. Bad output, bad thinking, and “hangriness” ensue, with possible catastrophic consequences (that 80,000 pound truck is still right there, going 65 mph, 2 feet off my left elbow).

Modeling systems dynamics helps me strategize my hydration and nutrition so I stay sharp and strong all day. I drink and eat in anticipation, not response, to thirst and hunger. What I eat, when I eat it, how much I eat, and what I do if I haven’t had enough fluids or fuel, is a constant modeling of stocks, flows and feedback loops, all day, everyday. 

Now let’s look at a theory. Theories answer “why” questions.  I’ve been talking a lot recently about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which is an answer to the question, when people are “self-actualizing”, that is, being there best with intention and success, why are they so capable? Maslow’s theory explains that their “deficit needs” are being effectively met so they can focus on what they want to achieve instead of what is preventing that achievement. Maslow articulated four levels of deficit needs that, when met, support self-actualization. 

At the foundation are “physiological needs”, that is, things that keep the animal alive and functioning, like air, water, food, warmth, and not seriously hurt or sick. Above that are “safety needs”, things like not being threatened, feeling competent enough to not make a mistake that hurts or wrecks someone or something, having the necessary protective equipment and a safe haven if one is needed. Next up is “love and belonging”, that is, knowing you are relevant and appreciated by other people. And the top deficit need is self-esteem, a feeling of personal worth and value. 

Maslow’s theory explains why when a deficit need is unmet, a person must attend to meeting it before a higher level of function is possible. If I cannot breath, I cannot do anything about anything that isn’t going to help me breath again. Ditto if I feel like I am in danger, or maligned by others, or am in a funk of self-disgust. 

That’s a quick and dirty explanation of Maslow’s Hierarchy. How does it relate to cycling, or adventure? In planning, organizing and executing an adventure, like this coast to coast, Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs informs every decision of where I go, what I take, what I have to know, and what I have to do. Gear, food, health are job one because if the physiological level is in deficit, nothing else can work. I wear a helmet, safety vest, my light batteries are charged, I know and follow the rules of the road, and I get out of the way of big, fast steel machines. I pay attention to people, look drivers in the eye, check in with my support team, use maps, read weather reports (made by people), am kind to strangers, to gain their esteem and avoid conflict. I am constantly tracking my successes, and looking for ways to stay successful and of value to myself, with PMA, positive mental attitude. 

Only when all of these are in play and working together can I execute a successful day of riding. If any of these lower needs are in deficit, I fix it before I clip into a pedal and start moving.  I MUST fix it before I start, because every turn of the pedal is an act of self-actualization. Millions of pedal turns gets me from one coast to the other, each only possible because my D-needs are fully met. 

Science is a method, an organized approach to gathering, evaluating and taking action on information. It starts with a curiosity, then an observation, an initial interpretation of what is observed, a test of that interpretation, and if it passes the test, action. When actions continue to produce desired results, I repeat them. When they don’t I go back down the ladder and start the process over. I also share what I think with others and listen to what they say, because their experience and use of science can be a lens that I can see through only if I include them. 

I’m writing this at a picnic table, in the dark, in Morristown, AZ, on the seventh day of an eight week adventure, exactly where my mental game put me. I would only be here, doing this, if my models, theories and use of the scientific method were sound. Pushing pedals is just the last action in a long chain of deliberate actions, most of them mental. Adventure is a mental game. 

“Go slow to go fast”, “ready, aim, (breathe), fire”, “give a little thought to timing, and a little time to thinking”. Even “a gentleman never offends accidentally”. These all speak to intentionality, a process of considering the why and how of things before doing the what.

Intentionality is a mental process. In this “Thinking Blog”, I will share what’s going through my head that informs the actions I take. Connecting right thoughts to right action is at the core of the Praxis of Adventure Leadership. Without right thinking, less is accomplished, with less efficiency, and greater risk. As the pavement unfolds, I’ll have a lot to think about. I’ll do my best to give you my best insights on whatever subject presents itself that unfolding. Hopefully you’ll see how I connect the dots to avoid mistakes, seize opportunities and flow safely across the landscape.