Teamwork - How is yours?

So one of the things I love to do is ride my bike, pedal power!  I commute, I do triathlons, mountain biking, bike racing, etc.  On Sunday, I participated in a road race and in my category there were about 70 of us in total that started.  The main pack of us were all together until we got to the base of this long nasty grind of a climb.  Long, grinding, winding, switchback and uphill.  The strongest riders were able to stay together, get to the top, and took off, while a good portion of the pack fell back a little bit and regrouped or got strung out at the top of the climb.

This was a three lap race, so this hill was going to put our legs to the test a couple more times. 

What I like about racing is the team aspect of it.  Lots of it within your own team; team rides, team tactics during racing events, etc.  But Sunday's race was like being a corporate kid, which I am.  It was about people from different departments (in this case from different teams) working together and communicating to achieve a goal/milestone.  For us, the goal was to work our way back up (bridge up in bike terms) to the main pack. We were sort of strung out, but as we got close to each other, a couple of us started talking about forming a pace line, taking short pulls, keeping a strong steady pace to bridge back up to the main pack.

And we did.  It took us a little time, but we got back on.  The hard work of each one of us "contributing to the goal" got us there.  In most cases, it could have not been done on just an individual effort.  Why? Because riding alone it's just you and the elements.  It's just your power pushing you through the wind and the rain.  While the main pack has 15, 20, 30+ people riding together, working a huge pace line, etc.  The main pack definitely has an advantage over the individual rider especially in certain conditions.

So now what? We're on lap two and here comes the hill again.  I'm a decent hill climber, but I know that I need to work my way to the front of the pack because I'm probably going to fall back a little bit as the stronger guys climb up the mountain.  And then it happens again.  I, along with a number of others fall off the back of the pack.  Again.

And again, even with a few of the same guys and a couple of different guys, we regroup after getting over the mountain and start talking about working together, how long our pulls should be, etc.  Because of our open line of communication, our willingness to contribute, we bridged back up to the main pack, and stayed with them to finish.

Both times this happened, our group was made up of 5-10 riders all from different teams.  We all had a goal in common we wanted and needed to accomplish and we worked together to achieve that goal.  When we all got back in to the main pack each time, we gave each other a smile, a head nod, a "nice work dude" because that is what team effort and working together is about.

I tell my racing story in this entry not to tell you how much I love riding (I do), but to tell you about working together as a team.  Working together as a team, not just in your own team but with other teams, other departments, and maybe even people from other companies.  Open up the line of communication more, leverage everyone's strengths (I hear this from friends from many companies), setting realistic expectations to name just a few.  It all starts with communication, including others (sometimes very early on) and planning how to attack the goal.

I'm not currently reading any books on this, but if you have any suggestions, please feel free to share it in the comments section. 

Have a great day.  BR

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Bike to Work Day

Aloha Friday everyone!  It turned out to be a great day to bike in for bike to work day.  While it was wet out, I had a good ride in.  Not to cold, the rain had already blown through and it was awesome to everyone participating.  Saw a handful of regulars out there and TONS of people that I have never bumped in to.  I hope for the masses that today was a day for them to kickoff their bike commuting efforts if they are not the hard core Puget Sounders that tough it year round.

Really want to give a shout out to all the volunteers out there, the businesses who participated and everyone who had a hand in making this happen.  Thanks for all the support!

The link below highlights my ride in this morning with my traveling companion SuMass.  He's a world traveler and likes to ride along on special occasions like this. 

Mahalo nui loa everyone and safe travels.  Pedal, pedal, pedal!  BR

http://picasaweb.google.com/bryrei/BikeToWork2010?feat=directlink

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Envy the Paper Boy

Hey there.  So I came across a new blog (for me) late last night and had to share, ironyuppie.com.  While he had some other good posts, reading the one on Envy the Paper Boy http://bit.ly/conCkS
was enough to make me rethink some of the things I have in place that keep me organized and on task.  It's an entertaining little read, go see for yourself. 

Enjoy the day, and someone please order me a triple tall mocha with some sunshine please!  BR

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Bike Commuting

Aloha Friday everyone!  I won't bore you with details because the article is a great read.  Virtual high 5 to the Bay!

Bicycles account for 75% of morning roadway traffic on Bike to Work Day

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/transportation/detail?entry_id=63532#ixzz0nvjSbzBl

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Puget Sound - The Silicon Forrest

So I remember this term being tossed around during the .com days as we were one of the hot beds for technology.  Considered smaller than what was going on in the Silicon Valley, but hot just the same.

While we need to figure out a new name for the technology mecca that we are, we remain a hot bed for technology companies because of the tech talent we do have in the area.  Google opened up a small office here and continues to grow it.  Now Facebook.  Yup.  For those of you who didn't see the article, here go.  http://tcrn.ch/aiLPWw

Time to pedal.  C-Ya

PS - feel free to send your name suggestions my way.  We should not be known as the Silicon Forrest anymore:-)

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Sourcing7 Social event 5/6/2010

Hey there.  I hope everyone's week has started off well here in the Puget Sound, stormy weather all.  Wanted to send out a little reminder as I believe spots are filling up fast.  We are excited about our sourcing special interest group and looking forward to our launch. 

All the details can be found at http://sourcing7.eventbrite.com/.  The Seattle Sourcing Social will be held on Thursday, May 6th from 5:30pm - 8:30pm at Twist.

Come socialize, meet the group and share your thoughts and ideas with us on what you would like to see shared in our Sourcing community. 

We look forward to seeing you there.  @bryrei

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