The title line was made famous by Ronnie Coleman. Eight time Mr. Olympia, and I’m sure all around great guy. Supposedly he quoted that right before he did an 800 pound squat.
I was pondering this line the other day when I was up snowboarding in the mountains.
I used to be a pretty good skier. I skied blacks and double blacks fairly often. And I can probably credit most of my skill to those friends that took me along on hills that were more their level then mine in the beginning.
That same phenomenon was played out this past weekend as I went snowboarding with some friends that were pretty good.
One of my friends really likes going through the trees. While boarding through trees is not my cup of tea, there was one tree in particular that I wanted to try.
About two weeks before I went with this same friend and a bunch of other people to a different mountain and we decided to go play in the park for awhile. Forgoing all fear of bodily pain I actually rode my first little rail that day. And also did a few jumps, which is what I am better at.
Now the tree I am talking about is actually like riding a rail. It is a fallen tree so its horizontal. You had to board into the trees to set yourself up for it, and after you rode the tree you landed back out on the open groomed trail.
The tree was about 4 inches in diameter and surprising steady. I missed setting myself up to hit the tree twice in a row, but the third time I knew where to go and what to do…
That was when I said to myself, “Nothing to it, but to do it.”
I watched two people go before me and hit it nice and straight and land it pretty well. Now it was my turn.
I was waiting for a family to go by, but the dad said, “You have an audience!”
Great, well I guess that is my queue… That’s what I thought in my head anyway.
I angled myself downhill, straight on to the log…
The board lined up perfectly, I slide smoothly right to the end of the log, then…
Nothing but air…
A little panic sets in, I lean back a little too far…
And I land, board first, butt second…
Oh man, it felt great, and I was proud of myself…
I would have been more proud if I would have landed it perfectly, but you know what?
There is always next time…
“Nothing to it, but to do it!”