How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

That was the mantra I kept repeating over and over again in my head last Sunday during my first-ever century ride. 105km. total in about 6 hours.

A colleague and I had been planning this for about a month and I was "training" for it, well, at least until rainy season here in Tokyo decided to arrive 3 weeks early. As the appointed day approached, and I was losing precious afternoons to get my legs and lungs ready due to downpours, I began to have a few doubts. However, rainy days are very good for reading. So I picked up a story (true) about a middle-aged father who decides to hike all 54 of the Colorado mountains over 14,000 feet. On one hike the author's hiking partner is a man from South Africa, where, according to the story, the above mentioned riddle about an elephant is a popular proverb often quoted when confronted with a challenge.

So, last Sunday, as I began the dreaded, long, 10km. uphill grunt, the pachyderm proverb popped into my head.

And I did it. Very good ride, traffic a bit annoying in places, but otherwise something I would happily consider doing again.

Thank you, Brad and Yamamoto-san, otsukaresamadeshita!