1,700 Miles in Spandex; Lessons Learned on the Road

Lessons from the Fallen Hero Honor Ride

Chris Kolenda with his Specialized bike in Washington D.C.

That’s me, a Middle-Aged Man in Spandex (MAMS), who completed the 1700-mile bicycle journey from Spalding, Nebraska, to Arlington National Cemetery. I was visiting the graves of the six paratroopers from my unit who were killed in action in Afghanistan and raising funds for the Saber Six Foundation, which supports our 800 paratroopers and their families who need help.

Along the way, I learned the 1mm Rule, why you should celebrate wrong turns, and that you should go alone if you want to fail fast but go together with the right people if you want lasting success. I’ll write about these leadership themes and others in the coming weeks.

CNN’s Jake Tapper aired two segments about the Honor Ride, which you can see here (Sept 27): https://youtu.be/bugcKQ7kJJg and here (Oct 23): https://youtu.be/_2Epcl9FwnU.

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Schedule Call with Chris

Get more action steps about leadership and accountability in these recent podcast interviews:

Conflict management and leadership in Wake-up Call hosted by Mark Goulston. https://mywakeupcall.libsyn.com/ep-370-chris-kolenda

Gaining buy-in: Way of Champions podcast, John O’Sullivan and Jerry Lynch: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/292-christopher-kolenda-retired-us-army-colonel-on/id1223779199?i=1000581115154

Leaders as exemplars in Get Uncomfortable with Shae McMaster: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/get-uncomfortable/id1557553154?i=1000575764193

How to get good at getting better: Getting Down to Business with Shalom Klein. https://anchor.fm/shalom-klein/episodes/Podcast-of-Get-Down-To-Business-with-Shalom-Klein–08142022—Chris-Kolenda–Chris-Kolenda-and-Kimberly-Janson-e1mbu0q