Look for a catch berm.

Lessons from mountain biking on picking up speed and finding ways to slow down.

Mantra: Look for a catch berm.

In mountain biking, when you start picking up speed beyond what you can handle, you look for a catch berm.

Usually it’s just a small patch of dirt at the end of a steep straightaway, piled high and shaped into a curve. When you reach it, you know you will be able to slow down, reset your line, and head in a new direction.

Knowing there’s a catch berm built into the trail ahead doesn’t change your speed in the moment, but it can change how you feel about it. You can take a deep breath and let off the brakes, trusting that even if you feel out of control for a moment, you have a plan to regain it. You’re aiming for a place designed to catch your speed.

The metaphor holds for busy or challenging periods in life as well. Whether it’s a training cycle that feels a bit too hard, an especially hectic period at work or even, like me this week, an emotional event that takes you out at the knees - sometimes what allows us to push through an unsustainably challenging moment is knowing there is a spot to slow down built into our horizon.

This isn’t the greatest example of a catch berm ever - but you get the idea.

So this week, when life feels like it’s moving just a bit too fast, look for a catch berm. Find a quiet moment. Take a night off. Order in. Cancel the plans you don’t actually have the energy for.

And if you can’t see one, build it in.

Message: courage is cultivated…

Good training and tender moments in the forest with my good pal Chelsea Sodaro. Sometimes a “catch berm” is just a really great friend who can travel alongside you no matter what speed you are traveling at the moment

Musing: be a catch berm…

It’s probably easy to think of the places you need a catch berm in your life. Think instead about how you can offer that same gift to someone else in your life who might be stretched a little too thin. Where might you build the catch berm for a friend who needs support, space, or a soft place to land?

Remembering sweet Monte. It is too soon this week to write about him but I’m sure I will share some of his lessons in a coming Monday Mantra. For now, this photo reminds me that he was always a brilliant, beautiful catch berm that helped me remember to stop to feel the wind, bask in the sunshine and appreciate every little delight of being alive.