Non-biking: Seeing that one of the big names in my field carried on the work I started with my PhD.
Biking: Fist singlespeed finish in the Iditarod 1000 mile race (2nd place overall).
Drinking 4 litres of Turbo White cider (back when it was 8.5-9%) at a party and being totally hangover free the next day.
Being consistently happy
If it's Biking then it's Whites climb in under 30 mins from the car park to windy point on my fat ass Spesh Enduro. 😀
coining the term "big hitter" ref. serial internet arguers.
driving to Tanzania with mates (from the uk)
all the hard stuff was in the uk, mainly believing
Physically the hardest thing i have ever done is walking 50 miles non stop for a race as a venture scout
All the times after where fine but the first time toko 22 hours and I really couldn't see how I'd finish
quite proud of the rock climbing I did many years ago. I'm tall with weak arms but did quite a few E3s and and a few harder things
more recently not moping about soft tissue injuries and getting on with life and getting fitter
finaly teaching which I enjoy and makes me rich enough for my children to eat fruit
This is a weird thread. I'd say still being here is high on the list for me. But that's clearly not what the OP intended. This is about achievement, not survival.
So, physical achievements...
I've ridden 202 miles in a 14 hour period (which is nothing compared to some guys I know).
I've ridden 140 miles on the trans-pennine trail from Hull to Manchester in a 12 hour period.
I've ridden 1000 miles in 9 days.
These all feel minor though.
This is a weird thread. I'd say still being here is high on the list for me. But that's clearly not what the OP intended. This is about achievement, not survival.
If you feel it's a worthwhile achievement, then who is to take that away from you?
Years ago, I'd have reeled off a load of fairly meaningless and pointless achievements (to most people's eyes anyway) as they felt important to me. As I've got older, and faced a few of life's "challenges" lets call them, and seen many people who have not managed to deal with those same challenges and fallen by the wayside, I'd say still being here, breathing and able to ride a bike, ranks up there as pretty f***ing impressive myself! So here's to everyone else, still here too... 😀
I've been told by a couple of people that I saved their lives. When I have bad days I remember that and it really does get me through the day.
king of my (extended) backyard circa 1979 aged 7. yeah, ..but you didn't see them tunnels. Work of genius.
The hardest thing I've ever done?
Architecture degree, it nearly ruined me.....physically and mentally. It took about 3 months to recover after final hand in, I'm not even joking!
I suppose that makes it my greatest achievement. I'm proud of myself more than I am of the actual product of it all. The actual degree is probably the most worthless thing I gained from the experience, I am now rich in soul, knowledge about myself and I'm completely mother****ing zen.
Scud, I'll never understand the reasoning for jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft.
I'd say my greatest achievement to date would still be passing the Commando Course, getting my green lid, all the while being high as a kite on a cocktail of drugs as I got hit by a car a few days before starting.
Hats off to argoose though. Serious respect. He helped to make a very nasty thing slightly better.
I was the UK national pig impersonation champ two years on the trot(ter).
It's things like this that matter.
winner of the 'run to the sun' air guitar championship help by the Walkabout in newquay a few years back.
managing a band from conception to having our debut album released by our favourite label, touring, being invited to tours in europe/brazil etc.
managing 2 psychiatric units from the age of 24, in that time turning the companies reputation around with the local services after an event that happened before i joined the company. building a service entirely built on my personal ethos of what care should be.
clearing the tabletop with jedi 😳
In biking, it's a toss up between bunny hopping 12 people while riding a busted up road bike or jumping over a reasonably sized boat that had the cheek to park itself in front of our ramp while we were river jumping.
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Representing my country in a couple different sports also gets a mention, as does being a dad (x2), but holding the world record for Asteroids on the Atari console or the UK record for the longest field goal in American football would be the greatest.
Building my own house, making our family home from this into this
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really must take some better/more recent "after" shots now the landscaping is finished.
And being successfully self-employed since 2005.
I played a few gigs with a band in Holland in 95 and 96. We got paid, got some great food and excellent beer, also got a bed for the night. It was a total blast from start to finish. I also got to put my foot onz monitor in true Rawk style just to say I had.
Stoner that's lovely.
Can I be very rude and ask? did you just have shed loads of money or was it a labour of love, time and money.
Me and the missus have an eye on a similar but smaller plot in the bottom of a valley. We have been put off for years because it's location would mean being pretty self sufficient in the energy dept. That's not such a problem now.
It's still there.
Can I be very rude and ask? did you just have shed loads of money or was it a labour of love, time and money.
a little from column A and a little from column B
We bought the site at the bottom of the market with spare capital that we'd saved after moving back home from London. The bank paid for the building works that took about a year. I worked at the Barn 6 days a week. But by doing all the designing/specification ourselves, planning well, and not going overboard on gold taps and granite worktops the construction cost was about £80 psf which is pretty good. Im still doing stuff to it.
Managing incidents as a Fire Service Junior Officer and then following people's recovery after my sister has operated on them in the orthopedic theatre.
Bikewise, finishing the 09 winter mash-up in the dark on a hire rear wheel after splitting my hope hub. And still beating my mates.
We bought the site at the bottom of the market with spare capital that we'd saved after moving back home from London. The bank paid for the building works that took about a year. I worked at the Barn 6 days a week. But by doing all the designing/specification ourselves, planning well, and not going overboard on gold taps and granite worktops the construction cost was about £80 psf which is pretty good. Im still doing stuff to it.
Nice one.
It's still on our wish list, but tbh we keep bottling it. Our big advantage is the amount of tradesmen in our family.
fat- al, which planet are you living on this week ?
Starting to find more answers and have less questions in life. Significant actions and personal benchmarks feel like the same parts of that process whether they were positive or negative. I don't mean that to sound w4nky or whatever but any things I've done that felt like a big ask beforehand always seemed smaller from the other side and I wondered why, my 'answers' are a bit vague but a few things like this point in the same direction for me.
And
Being consistently happy
is a wonderful answer to this question )
Cycling: Getting back on the bike after breaking scaphoid last year. Never been athletic at all, always been a bit of a sensitive sort (read 'whimp'). Giving that up.
Personal Life: Being asked to be named as next to look after the children of some friends who recently adopted, should anything happen to them. I was recently diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, and my partner has bi-polar disorder, but to be asked this helped us both realise we can't be that messed up after all.
Managing my life to being able to retire at 50 has to be up there though.
That's fantastic druidh really envious as I'm just past 50 and no where near able to retire. Can I ask how you did it? Were you a policeman or fire fighter?
Her name was Daniella, she was italian and played the saxophone.
Ah, fond memories.
Organising and participating in a charity ride to Rome. 100 miles a day for two weeks. Raised £25k.
Damn, I see I'm seriously outclassed here.
Hitting the ceiling in the boys urinals at school, and jumping back quick enough not to take a warm shower. It's all been downhill from there.
Canoed what I think is the tenth longest river in the world (over 1000miles anyway)
Finished the Kielder 100 in 2011 (slower than 2010 but it was a bad year).
I did a seal launch in South Wales that got me described in print as a member of "an extreme lunatic fringe of canoeists". I crossed out the word allegedly in my guide book 😉 - a reference only probably for a few paddlers.
Got a degree and got married and stuff too but loads of people do that. I don't get the kids thing though I haven't got any (which probably explains it) but I know people who've done that by accident. I assume it is something more specific than just having kids...
Jonba- have we met? 'Allegedly'- as penned by Chris Sladden? I'm the bloke in the yellow freefall on the spillway at Llyn Brianne.
Downing a pint and smoking a cigarette in under 60secs.
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Marin County, Cali
Rented a garage in 1979 along with my best mate and started a bike shop.
We called the place "MountainBikes."
Having kids is hardly an achievement though is it? I mean, stick it in, go up & down a bit & Bobs your uncle. (usually) I've got 2 sons who I love to bits & am very proud of but I think just getting this far (56) & finishing 90th O/A in the 1999 summer Polaris was more of an 'achievement'
I can relate to anyone who has had trouble having kids & who really really had to go to extreme measures to have them though as I had a pal in that predicament.
Nothing as worthy as that I'm afraid, I'm your archetypal STW IT bod.uponthedowns - Member
> Managing my life to being able to retire at 50 has to be up there though.
That's fantastic druidh really envious as I'm just past 50 and no where near able to retire. Can I ask how you did it? Were you a policeman or fire fighter?How did I manage it? Left school and went straight to work (no Further Education). Stuck in, worked hard, learnt lots. Wasn't extravagant with money - no flash cars, few foreign holidays (but then I do have a pretty extensive knowledge of Scotland). I didn't get caught up in the mortgage upgrade chase when everyone else was going on about how much their house was "worth" and extending mortgages to buy ever more grand property. I saved and put funds away into a good pension. I also turned down a few seemingly lucrative job offers in order to maintain that pension and the stability it offered, sometimes opting for a less "glamorous" position. I was also, if I do say so myself, bloody good at my job and I didn't have to work ludicrous hours.
In short, nothing spectacular, just hard work and being a canny Scot.
Mine is a bit vague, but going from being a very inactive person, via bollocksing my leg completely and going through a long spell of recovery and depression, then bollocksing the same leg again, and more recovery and worse depression... then getting on my forgotten, 15-year-old pushbike one day just for a little exercise as I couldn't walk more than about half a mile at a time... and riding round the block once and almost collapsing, then one day managed it twice, then eventually made it to the top of the big hill and saw the view on the other side... And somehow ending up a few years later of reasonably sound mind and body, riding every week, racing xc and occasionally downhill...
uponthedowns - MemberThat's fantastic druidh really envious as I'm just past 50 and no where near able to retire
He rubs it in by not looking or acting much like a 50-year-old.
And I got up again today!
Getting on the podium at Oktoberfest last year (2nd single speed and 9th overall as a 48 year old, since you ask).
I don't get the kids thing either. It's not my idea of an achievement.
My greatest achievement is getting over the horrendous mental damage my father, step-mother and her mother did. I took an overdose once, didn't work. These days I am, apart from a tiny glitch-ette (I dislike the place I work at) very happy. I can go out of my home by myself, I can speak to people confidently, I can enter races and other events, I no longer use drugs to cope day to day. I gave up smoking too.
Seeing my three daughters grow into wonderful young women, much credit due to their mother of course but I've done my part. @jonno yes actually having a baby is relatively straightforward for us blokes, its what comes next which is the achievement.
Sports wise I've been part of national championship winning teams (at Uni that's a bloody long time ago), had podium finishes at testing offshore yacht races. I've built some very successful businesses which have given me great pride, hiring and retaining top quality teams.
The truth is I get the most buzz from whatever it is I'm doing now or about to do in the near future. I sincerely hope my greatest achievement is yet to come
Seeing my three daughters grow into wonderful young women
Pics? 😉
Quite proud of once bunny hopping 10 people lying side by side on my bmx in '91.
@Repack_rider
imagine being able to turn up on a thread on an mtb forum about greatest achievements and say "well me and my mates er sort of you know like invented mountain biking"
Cool.
