Overcoming Fear
Yesterday I had a really special experience with a client on our Tasting Tour. Annie is in Lake Como with her husband. When they showed up for the tour, he was returning a Bianchi Oltre, our highest end road bike. He’d spent the last three days exploring local roads and was calling the area Paradise. I was surprised when Annie got on her e-bike and was very uncomfortable just getting going. Steve explained to me that she is very fit, with a peloton at home. She just never gets out on the roads… on a real bike. She’s scared of cars. I paused because there are many cars along the beginning of the tour route. I worried how she would do. And, if I’m honest, when given the choice between guiding Annie’s group or another family, I chose the other family.
As a guide it can be a lot of work and many tough decisions to manage someone like Annie. Even though I wasn’t Annie’s guide for the first half of the tour, it did end up being a lot of work for me to guide Annie. But, I couldn’t imagine how fulfilling it would be.
Steve was exactly right, Annie is fit! And she loved the uphill. The first ~6 miles of our tasting tour are excellent prep for the miles ahead because they are UP HILL. We burn the calories before you get the treats. Work for it baby. And Annie did. She was thrilled to climb the hills and catch the views. She loved our first breakfast stop with horses, dogs, fresh berries and cake. She didn’t want to leave.
I don’t know what came over me, but rather than keep the group divided by families, I encouraged them to self-identify as wanting to go fast v cautiously on the next section. It’s a bumpy and steep cobble/dirt road. Annie chose the cautious group, and boy did she mean it. She and Steve were the last to make it to the end of the road, and we all waited several minutes. I could hear her nerves in her voice, but she kept trudging with positive energy. She took the rolling hills into Civenna with incredible caution and Steve was waiting for us on the turn that would take us to the panorama view above the lake.
I had warned her it would be a steep downhill at the turn and that she could do it. But when we got there she said she was too scared. I looked at her face and in her eyes and it felt SO FAMILIAR. I shared with her, “That is how look when I’m skiing.” So many times I have been with Mike on a steep section of a mountain, not trusting my own ability to take the first turn, and I felt exactly like Annie did in that moment. I’ve been so frustrated with my fear that it brings me to tears. I told her to put one pedal all the way down and stand on it like a steady platform. I encouraged her to grip the breaks and just barely release them to let the wheel inch forward. And then, i started to go so slow. SHE FOLLOWED! I stayed quiet for the first half of this short incline and then started the encouragement “You’re doing it. You’re almost there. It flattens out as the turn comes. Look into the turn.” And then we celebrated together as she made it to the bottom of the 15% drop. The rest of the downhills would feel like nothing after that. I was so proud of her and could celebrate the achievement. Getting over fear is an enormous feat that I can relate to in major ways.
Annie was cautious for the long 6 mile descent, but even if she was slower than the rest of the group, she worked her way up to 25km/hour as she dropped down down down to each of our restaurant stops and then eventually back to the store. It was special to share this first scary ride with her, knowing that each one will be a little less scary than the last.
Go Annie!
