The land of the blog posts
Something I think I am good at is picking up new hobbies , particularly the adventure types. I was 28 when I went skiing for the first time, I was 29 when I led my first sport climbing route, and I was 30 when I went on my first mountain biking ride. (There is obviously a LOT of privilege that let me do these things, but that will hopefully not be the focus of this post.) There are some downsides to deciding you’re super adventurous at age 28: you are afraid of a lot more things, you don’t bounce back as quickly, and you will absolutely see the youths crushing you in all of these activities. But I think there are some upsides as well: you have a better sense of your physical limits, you probably have more resources to try new things, and you know you’re wiser than those youths anyways. As someone who categorizes basically any activity that happens primarily outside as adventurous, this post is here to offer you some tips and ideas on how to expand your own adventure hobbies.
By "research," I mean get a sense of how to start doing that activity in your area. When I decided I wanted to start mountain biking, there were obviously a number of different things to investigate but the most important thing to decide is: what trails can I bike? "Can" here means "will probably not result in my untimely death as a 30 year old novice." Googling for different easy/beginner trails in the area not only had actual results to look at but also surfaced different apps for trails. There are a couple of different ones out there but I found Trailforks and I really like it. Trails on the map are nicely colored and when you select one, you can see distance, elevation gain, whether it’s an uphill or downhill trail, and the most commonly used direction for bidirectional trails. The very first time I went biking I went to a literal instruction area trail, but this app has been crucial for planning every single ride since that one. Of course that doesn’t actually mean I’m very good at planning rides that don’t accidentally end up being 10+ miles when you only have 45 minutes before the sun sets, but that’s a different problem.
Of course the other part of research is likely going to be around the gear. Sure you need a bike and probably a helmet (absolutely, definitely a helmet) to start biking, but actually forming a plan around where you’re going to go is the true game changer in my opinion. It’s easy to get caught up in gear details and get overwhelmed. When you have a plan, it really helps cement the idea in your head and make it concrete and tangible. But since I don’t want to totally neglect gear considerations, my recommendation is to investigate rental options. You may not actually want to spend a bunch of money on something you ultimately hate, or worse yet, discover you love but are not actually appropriately equipped to do. Rentals in the days of a pandemic are super weird of course, but you might still find reasonable opportunities to rent gear, or you just might have to plan for the future. The moral of the story here is the internet is your friend, and a plan is a great first step to actually doing something new.
"Accountabilibuddy" is a probably not original term my friend Chelsea and I use to describe an aspect of our friendship. For us, that means that Chelsea and I would check in about whether we are working out like we said we would, what we are doing for that specifically, and what we are eating. We aren’t diet and fitness nuts, but we had goals to get in shape for frisbee (a different activity I started at the age of 22) and we used each other to stay on track working towards them. Chelsea and I lived in different states during this time, so it’s definitely not essential that your accountabilibuddy is physically doing the activities with you. That wouldn’t hurt of course but it’s not a requirement. The most important thing is that you check in frequently with your accountabilibuddy. For us, that meant lots of snapchats at the gym/making dinner, the perks of which are goofy poses, photo evidence of our work, and the challenge of continually coming up with funny/punny captions.
I want to clarify that this relationship is not really the same as just a friendship. For me, a friend is someone who might confirm that indeed I can skip my workout and have a beer instead, because they probably also like beer and want to skip their own workout (and that’s likely why we are friends in the first place). An accountabilibuddy wouldn’t let you off so easily, although how close they can come to a super intense drill sergeant is likely dependent on your personality and whether you’d like any friendship to survive. If I told Chelsea I didn’t want to work out because I was sore, she would helpfully suggest low key workouts or yoga/stretching routines but definitely always nudged me away from skipping altogether. I appreciate having someone call me on my bullshit, but I definitely recommend establishing any ground rules up front so you don’t end up hating each other.
There are lots of reasons why "fun" activities can feel like work sometimes. For example, I think this (almost) every time I have to climb while biking. My personal strategy is to focus on why I started biking in the first place: to be outside more. There is of course the "exercise is good for you strategy" but that doesn’t get me through tough climbs. Stopping to take in my surroundings and take a photo (and maybe also catch my breath) is what gets me through tough climbs. In fact, I try to document every ride with a photo. This doesn’t always happen, but having that as a goal definitely encourages to me to pay renewed attention to the scenery, and to remember to pause and enjoy being outside. What I’m really telling you is that this just means that I spend time looking for new and interesting wildflowers. I love wildflowers. And if you love wildflowers too and that’s why you started biking as well, then always pay attention to the wildflowers. Stay connected to what you really enjoy about your activity, and I promise the "work" stages will pass quickly.
Happy adventuring!
In recognition of the privilege I have to do all of these wonderful outdoor activities, I tracked everything I did in August and tied it to donations to organizations that are working to provide opportunities for disadvantaged communities and advance racial justice in these sports. Here's the full rundown:
It was an awesome month.