{"id":10836,"date":"2016-09-30T13:35:54","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penderfund.com\/?p=10836"},"modified":"2025-09-15T15:08:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T22:08:51","slug":"success-steep-hills-surprises","status":"publish","type":"community","link":"https:\/\/penderfund.com\/fr\/community\/success-steep-hills-surprises\/","title":{"rendered":"Success: Steep hills, staying motivated and a few surprises"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf it doesn\u2019t challenge you, it doesn\u2019t change you.\u201d<\/em> Fred DeVito<\/p>\n

In August David Barr, Pender\u2019s President and CEO, completed the Haute Route. A seven day cycling race through the French Pyrenees from the west coast of France to Toulouse. Riders climbed up over 20,000 metres of elevation during 800 kilometres of racing. Now safely back down to earth, I asked Dave how it went.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How did you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGreat. We achieved our goals.\u201d Dave rode with a team of four others. \u201cOur game plan was to survive and ride within ourselves for the first two days and then reassess after that. On day three we started riding a bit more aggressively, pushing ourselves closer to the limits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was it what you expected?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dave did much of his training on the North Shore Mountains of Vancouver and around BC\u2019s Lower Mainland, where uphill gradients are around 6-7%. \u201cWe got to the first climb, and because the routes are so well ridden they\u2019ve put up markers telling you how steep each kilometer is. So much steeper than we had anticipated. We routinely rode up gradients averaging 12-18%.<\/p>\n

There were five of us on the ride and at the end of day two we were sitting round the table at dinner. We could barely lift our forks. My coach was part of our team and I looked at him and said, \u201cYou never said it was going to be this hard.\u201d And he said, \u201cOf course not \u2013 you wouldn\u2019t have signed up!\u201d<\/p>\n

It was harder than anyone had expected, but our training regime paid off and gave us the fitness base we needed to adapt to the rigours of reality. We began to move up in the standings with each days racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you ever think about quitting?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere were several challenging moments. You\u2019re climbing up 18% to 20% gradients for extended periods and your legs are screaming at you. Only the bravest souls don\u2019t think about quitting in those moments. I\u2019d anticipated this and had a rule of thumb - every time I felt like quitting, I had an energy gel. Yep. I had lots of energy gels.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did you stay motivated?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest the routine gets you through. You wake up, you eat, you get ready. Mentally you go over your plan for the climbs that day. When you\u2019re on the road you\u2019re just coaching yourself through each kilometre. We took a few moments at the top of a climb to enjoy the scenery. We knew we weren\u2019t going to win, so we wanted to take away some memories that were of more than just the view of someone else\u2019s rear wheel. Then, as soon as the days racing is done, all your attention turns to preparing for tomorrow and conserving as much energy as possible.<\/p>\n

I also had a lot of support from my family and the team. My kids gave me motivational stickers that I put on my water bottle like \u201cGo Daddy Go\u201d and \u201cShut Up Legs\u201d, and we had great team spirit. We recognized when one of us was down and found ways to pick each other up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any surprises?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The worst kind. The airline lost Dave\u2019s luggage, including his bicycle on his outbound trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn investing we always look at a number of possible scenarios for every holding but every now and then, something happens that you didn\u2019t account for. We travelled to France several days early so we had a buffer in case of a baggage mix up. But it wasn\u2019t enough. So I had no bike, no gear and no power meter. I had to rent a bike and borrow gear.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took the airline 10 days to locate and deliver Dave\u2019s luggage. He was able to complete the last two stages on his own bike.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could have been really upset about it but that wouldn\u2019t have been productive. I just made alternate plans and moved forward. It wasn\u2019t how I saw things going, but I wasn\u2019t about to ruin eight months of training and the chance to achieve one of the biggest challenges of my life because of something that was out of my control.<\/p>\n

In particular my power meter was in my luggage so I had to make do with my heart rate monitor. It was a blow - it\u2019s key for climbing mountains as it tracks your aerobic zones. If you can\u2019t pace yourself, you compromise your performance for later in the stage and the race. Just like work really. Investing is more of a marathon, than a sprint.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did it feel to cross the finishing line?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTotally surreal\u201d. Dave crossed the line after around 33 hours in the saddle. \u201cI was so exhausted and it had been so hard. It took a day or two to process what I had just achieved. Looking back, I absolutely loved the training, pushing myself to the limits and achieving such a big physical goal. It\u2019s something I\u2019ll remember for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m fit and energised. I\u2019m excited to be back at the office and in the thick of uncovering new ideas for the funds. I may not do this event again, but I\u2019ll continue to challenge myself.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":69144,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"fund-type":[],"class_list":["post-10836","community","type-community","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSuccess: Steep hills, staying motivated and a few surprises - PenderFund Capital Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/penderfund.com\/fr\/community\/success-steep-hills-surprises\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_CA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Success: Steep hills, staying motivated and a few surprises\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cIf it doesn\u2019t challenge you, it doesn\u2019t change you.\u201d Fred DeVito In August David Barr, Pender\u2019s President and CEO, completed the Haute Route. 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