Over the past three years I’ve been battling a series of seemingly never-ending injuries. Some of them have been more debilitating than others, but all have affected my ability to ride a bike to some degree. I’ve known this for a long time, but my injuries only continue to drive this point home: I need to ride and run and ski to live. I need to be active and on the move to be emotionally stable. In a very real way, physical motion begets emotional stability.

Read more here.

If you didn’t know, I tore my ACL back in January while downhill skiing. After subsequent surgery and ongoing rehab, I’m finally back on the road. It’s great to finally be able to get outside and move around again! However, over the course of this rehab, I’ve had a lot of time to sit around and think. Way too much time, in fact, but some of that introspection has led to some ideas that I think may change the way I live my life, day in and day out.


Specifically, I’ve committed to doing what I love, every single day, no matter what. As part of this commitment, I’m committing to getting out and being active every single day that I am physically able!

While this may seem extremely basic to some people, I didn’t use to live my life with this mindset. Sure, I would try to ride as much as possible, but there were so many times when I’d just call a day a loss. I’d resign myself to having to work 12+ hours in a day and not doing anything active. I’d commit to going shopping, or watching TV, or sitting on the couch sick. I’d phone it in, and not do any physical activity whatsoever.

But I’m no longer satisfied with that way of living life! If I’ve learned one thing through my recent injuries (the ACL hasn’t been the only one), it’s that I need to embrace my health when I have it, and take advantage of a (mostly) healthy and competent body by getting out and being active.

Now, an important shift in this activity is how I’m going about it. Stay tuned for more on this in a future column, but I’m not just going riding. Instead, I’m incorporating many different types of physical activity into my regimen, in an effort to stay as well-rounded and as healthy as possible.

To that end, I’m challenging myself to a #move365 challenge. Simply put, I’m committing to moving and being active every single day, for a full year. While my start to the challenge got a bit derailed with my torn ACL, I’m now back on track, and am still holding to the plan!

If you think this sounds like a good idea too, feel free to join in! And honestly, if you start this challenge and for some crazy reason you miss one day, don't give up! This is all about learning to live a healthy, active life--it's not about hitting an arbitrary number, and then being done.

Originally published here.