Build The Life You Want To Keep
Protecting the capacities that allow you to keep doing what you love.
We need a new way of thinking about aging.
Healthy aging is not about simply adding years to our lifespan. It is about protecting our capacity to stay engaged in life. That means protecting all three spans that shape how we live.
What is a span? A span is the length of time a capacity stays available to you.
Lifespan is how long you live.
Healthspan is how long you live in good health.
Strengthspan is how long you maintain the strength and physical capacity to function well.
If we want to keep doing the things we love, we have to take the actions that preserve strength, mobility, energy, and independence.
These spans do not take care of themselves. They must be trained, maintained, and protected.
Quality of life is not something we hope to keep. It is something we build through the daily choices we make about what and when we eat, how much we eat, and how much we move.
The goal is not just a longer life.
The goal is a life you are still strong enough to live.
Becoming the Warrior is scheduled for release on March 24, 2026
Why Challenge Matters More as We Age
Do not blame age for what disuse created.
One of the worst messages people absorb about aging is that the goal is to become more careful, more comfortable, and less demanding of ourselves.
I think that messaging is incorrect.
As we age, it becomes even more important to take on challenging adventures and demanding activities, not because we have something to prove, but because challenge helps preserve what matters most: strength, confidence, adaptability, resilience, and engagement with life.
A hard ride, a long hike, a new goal, a demanding training plan, a bold trip, a physical challenge that asks more of you than your routine does, these things give your body and mind a reason to stay alive and responsive. They call on you to keep practicing effort. They make you train balance, endurance, problem-solving, courage, and recovery in real time.
Without challenges, life gets smaller. And when life gets smaller, people often mistake that shrinking for normal aging.
Much of what we think of as aging is often the gradual loss of conditioning that comes from less movement, less exercise, and fewer physical demands on the body.
Challenge and adventures interrupt that decline. It pushes back against hesitation, fragility, and withdrawal. It reminds you that you are still capable of learning, adapting, enduring, and expanding. It gives structure to your days and purpose to your effort. It creates a future you want to grow toward.
That is one of the hidden gifts of adventure.
It keeps you from quietly disappearing into comfort.
You do not take on challenges as you age to prove you are still alive. You take them on because challenge is one of the things that helps keep you alive, physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Age loudly. Adventure boldly.
What’s My Next Adventure
I presented a training session titled “Habits That Keep You Capable” on March 18, 2026 for AARP Senior Planet
Strides and Rides
What Does it Mean to be an Adventurer in 2026?
An adventurer isn’t just someone who goes places, but someone who becomes someone through the places they go.
During 2026, being an adventurer isn’t about travel, bucket lists, or proving anything.
It’s about living in pursuit of aliveness, resilience, and personal evolution.
2026 could be the year that adventure becomes your new identity.
Adventures are not miles—it’s your mindset
What I’m Reading
Warrior Expeditions and Riding the Great American Rail Trail
Warrior Expeditions is a nonprofit that helps combat veterans transition from military service by providing “long healing journeys” like cross-country bicycle rides, hikes, and paddling trips—along with training, gear support, and a supportive community—to build purpose, resilience, and connection.
Click on the Warrior Expeditions link in the menu to learn more about this organization.
What is Strides and Rides?
Strides represent the steps we take on foot—walking, hiking, training, or simply choosing to move with intention. It’s about progress, effort, and the commitment to keep moving forward even when the pace is slow. It’s symbolic of personal growth, fitness, and momentum.
Rides speak to the journeys we take on wheels—biking across a state, exploring new trails, or embracing the freedom and joy of movement. It’s about adventure, exploration, and pushing your limits.
Together, Strides and Rides is a metaphor for how we live:
It’s not just about covering ground—it’s about choosing how and why we move.
Whether you’re walking a neighborhood trail or riding across the state, Strides and Rides is about moving through life with purpose, power, and joy.
Adventure is the lifestyle. Reinvention is the result.
Strides & Rides is a movement for those who refuse to age quietly.
It’s where strength, creativity, and adventure collide—proving that reinvention is not a phase, but a lifestyle.
I think we should train our bodies, challenge our limits, and express our stories out loud.
This is not fitness.
This is not cycling.
This is a declaration:
Life gets bigger when you do.
My next big adventure runs from April 2026 through March 2027 — and it is a challenge all you bikepacking fans can join.
The mission: complete one overnight bikepacking trip each month for 12 straight months.
That’s it. One trip a month. April 2026 through March 2027.
The goal is simple: give ourselves a reason to break away from the routines of everyday life, however briefly, and experience the simplicity, freedom, and joy of camping by bike.
Take part, stay consistent, and you might even win some rad prizes along the way.
