November 2025 – Reality Laughs

There is no secret. You just decide to do it, and then you figure out what needs to happen. And you accept that sometimes it’s hard.

Eric

He posted that in a private forum (Commoncog). But he also has a blog post on his personal site about the topic:

Once or twice a year, somebody posts to the biking list I follow asking how one learns to do long climbs such as Page Mill Road, the 2,000 foot vertical climb up to Skyline Blvd. And they are always disappointed to hear the answer is “You just do it.” There isn’t a secret or a special training method; you just keep turning the pedals until you get to the top.

However, I’ve come to realize that I do have a secret that enables me to do that climb…and that secret is the knowledge that I can do it.

The blog post is called “The Doubt Tax.”

And that phrase is useful, too. As soon as you know something is possible (someone else did it—or you did it before) something magical happens.

I have run the same 5 km loop by my house hundreds of times. My brain still sometimes tells me to walk.

I have run the same uphill stretch hundreds of times keeps me going. Tired, hot, in the rain, it doesn’t matter. I’ve done it before and I know can do it again. So I keep running.

All defeat other than death is psychological.

Jocko