Liz Donahey’s Traction: a Mountain Biking Podcast

Life is short. We only have a few rides left. We gotta ride with the one care about us the most or it won’t be fun and healthy for anyone. If we want to stay together on this big ride of life, it’s easier to stay close to those we love enough to communicate but far enough not to crowd or crash into each other we’re good.

In this episode, I get real about losing myself a little and why, all driven by the feeling of passionate, confident, happy, and resilient by not feeling like others want me to win or encouraged by others, compounded by not able to ride my bike and all it means to me in all dimensions of my life. We have to be our own bike sometimes.

In this episode, join me as I interview an amazing Marin County cycling coach and former pro racer Robin Zellner on the great things he loves about coaching women. Robin also shares 40 year journey the cycling world starting off as a young 17 athlete competing in races in Europe and what his experience was like a such a young age.

Just because we really want some thing and we’re very passionate about it doesn’t mean that we are expert enough to accomplish it very well. It takes being honest about what we know, and what we don’t know, what we can do, and what we cannot do, in our current level of capability and knowledge about a topic or an activity. If we don’t, then we’re going to end up, hurting ourselves and others in the process. Let’s dive in and learn how not to crash.

In this episode, I go deep into setting smart 2024 goals, or what I call the big and small finish lines, in all areas of our lives. I’m extremely goal-oriented, but I really don’t like setting New Year’s resolutions because sometimes it feels like you’re setting yourself up for failure, not acting on the thoughts and feelings that you desire to. So instead, why don’t we set some big and some small finish lines that we know we can cross in 2024.

From getting up at 4:30 AM for my hot Pilates class, or jumping on my bike to get those training hours in, to racing to get my kids to school so I can make it all happen, we have to have a sense of urgency or time will go by and leave us without The things we love to do and be with the most in our lives. We’re not promised any specific number of hours days weeks on this plan we better commit and decide on the things we want the most and go after them immediately there’s no time to waste. This is your time on the planet.

We can’t get anywhere if we don’t have enough traction. But what does it really mean to gain traction, and what the heck is traction at its core? And why do we need it to get through the finish lines of life on and off our bikes?

Something’s definitely changed in me in the last 28 days. It all started when I committed to the mindset of moving from sport to expert in mountain biking we have to say yes first, and then let our passion fuel our efforts in every way to stay, balanced, and moving forward with constant momentum. I don’t know what my limitations are, because I’ve never pushed them as much as I think I’m gonna push them in the new year. I can’t wait to take you on the journey with me let’s go!

This Thanksgiving, 2023, was a quiet one, and gave me lots of time to think. I’m not sure I have made it quiet because I am not a quiet person, but I don’t need to tell you that. Reflecting on what? I’m thankful for I would say I’m most thankful for being a human. More specifically I’ve thought deeply about what three things I’m most thankful for being a human and it starts with you. Here we go.

In this episode, I touch what mountain biking has taught me about being resilient and successful in my life off my bike. About 20 years ago when I started mountain biking, I realized that the mental and physical challenges mirrored the challenges I faced in my personal and business life off the trail.

On this 48th birthday, I’ve realized that we must appreciate and honor getting older, instead of dreading it. In this episode, we climb the feat of aging with lots of respect, love, and happiness.

We can get hit my changes every day by choice or chance. If we overestimate the magnitude and impact of these changes, we will struggle to get through them and get stuck. Here’s how I’m learning to get through my current changes like my kids new schedules, impacting everything in my personal and professional demands.

You’re charging up a hill on smooth single-track trail. It’s perfectly cool and sunny, and you’re feeling free, fast and flowing, until you see a tight switchback ahead and need to think quickly and decide the best line choice. It’s a tight, tricky and steep turn which makes lose your bike confidence and clearing it. But if you don’t, you’re going to be stuck in the same position or level, or you’re gonna have to go back down the mountain and start all over again, or you could decide. Yes, I want to make progress and figure out how to get around these big obstacles in life with the right people, resources in tools in partners that you need to to get to the top of your goals.

To be the happiest, healthiest, and most successful you can be, you must start focusing on and investing in the people, things, and activities that give you most happiness in this short, amazing life.

When we want to make changes and level up in our performance, get happier and get stronger, get better every second counts. Things take so much more time than we actually think they do because we see it in our head before we play it out in our behavior, thoughts, actions and emotions. By lining up the daily activities that you must accomplish in priority, order and assign time blocks, whether they be 30 minutes or two hours every day to get your work and personal activities, accomplished every day this episode gives examples of how to win every real or metaphorical race that you’re trying to achieve every day and how to balance the activities across all six human capital domains, so that you’re not neglecting one area and focusing too much on another, and other words staying balanced and focused on the priorities, so that you get things done in the right order and don’t drop the ball. This allows us to dedicate enough valuable time, resources, and energy to our self, the one that’s driving the ship and all the domains, and get the challenging stuff done in the right order with the right resources, gear, equipment, partners tools, all the things that we need to get our work done so that we can achieve the most success. We can even on a minute 10 minute basis so let’s dive in!

Sometimes we can’t help ourselves from making things too complicated. I think it’s a fact of human nature that we strive to have solutions, be smart, and show others that we can provide value. But we have to stay balanced while doing this. How do we stay balanced while being both the silver lining to a cloud in the darkest center parts? Let’s dive in, shall we?

Women have so much more power and potential than we can imagine. Sometimes it can be really challenging especially as a woman to find our power and strength that we know we have, but just need to develop it and release it into the wild. In this episode, I share some real, raw, and intense insights from this week's adventures in mountain biking that requires a tremendous amount of mental and physical power and strength. Believe me, you will need extra power and strength when you trying to achieve higher level goals, or even major life's challenges and changes like divorce or breakups, loss of a loved one, loss of income, an accidents, illnesses, and other life-changing trauma and set backs.

There's no shame in showing others your beauty when it’s done with purpose. In this episode, I dive into that how our outward beauty and attractiveness is direct reflection of achieving feeling our own self-worth, value, confident, and happiness. Sometimes, especially with women, we can fall into the the trap of just being pretty for pretty sake, instead of it being wrapped in purpose, or a mission that helps not only ourselves, but inspires and helps others in our universe (self, family, partner, community, home, work). Let's dive in, shall we?

How excited and happy are you to see your significant other today? Are you biting at the bit, or a bit detached? In this episode, I’m sharing my real and raw lessons from my #23principles, Principle No. 8, #partnerwell. I believe that #couplesthatplaytogetherstaytogether, bonded by common passions, and interest that keep them healthy, young and inspired. If you are both excited about doing something together, your build up your mindset and body and lifestyle around the closest bonding that you create from doing things you’re both passionate about let’s dive into her mountain biking with your partner can teach us this.

Sometimes it’s hard to navigate relationships because we don’t know if we’re crowding our partner, or being too distant. In this episode, I focus on keeping happy and healthy distances between ourselves and our partners, so that we can maintain good communication and get our needs, met and healthy and happy ways.