100 Pedals

Recovery for Parents Dealing with Addiction in their Families

## Energized in Effingham, IL

July 31, 2025 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

What a pleasant surprise! I landed on this stop as much by accident as design. I chose Effingham, IL as a stop because it was almost exactly halfway between Lake of the Ozarks and Columbus. What I experienced here was inspiring, fun, relaxing, and energizing. Listen to the story — click here.

Filed Under: Celebrating Accomplishment, Seizing Opportunity

## Humbled in Joplin

July 30, 2025 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

As I headed across the Missouri state line on my journey to Detroit, the exits for Joplin, MO caught my attention. In May of last year Joplin was hit by one of the fiercest, deadliest tornadoes in history. Having heard and read the stories of the devastation and of the mindset of the community that this storm would not stop them, I decided to see what was going on in Joplin.

When I first headed down the business route of I-40, I was wondering if I would even be able to find what I was looking for. A mile or so off the interstate everything looked so normal for a small town — trees, old buildings, fast food stores, etc. Then, suddenly everything opened up. There were no trees, no buildings, only a wide open space of what was once a neighborhood. Off in the distance I could see the remains of the hospital that was destroyed by the tornado. Sadly, I had found the Joplin I was looking for.

At first I was uncomfortable being there. The people in this town had their lives turned upside town in a matter of tragic seconds. I didn’t want to be that gawking tourist disrespectfully driving through to view the devastation. However, I did want to see and experience what had happened here firsthand. I pulled over and quietly snapped two photos and prepared to drive out of town not wanting to be disruptive or rude in any way.

As I was preparing to leave, a sign in front of a house caught my attention. It said “this house is God’s miracle.” As I slowed to look at it, the owner of the home started walking to his car. I rolled my window down and asked him if his house was a miracle because it survived the tornado. He smiled and said, “no my house was destroyed; that the house is here now is the miracle.” I asked him if he had a moment to tell me the story and if it would be alright if I pulled over and parked my car. Again he smiled and said “go ahead.”

For the next thirty minutes he told me how the 350 MPH winds destroyed the houses in his neighborhood and all the one hundred year old oak trees that surrounded it. He told me a little about the four houses that had already been rebuilt in the immediate area. Finally, he shared with me the story of how his house — the one that had just had the roof replaced the day before the tornado — was rebuilt even though he did not have any insurance.

As I listened to his story of faith and trust, how every time he and his wife faced an obstacle and worked through it, I was touched by his “miracle.” His was an amazing story. The Notre Dame University drill corps framed the house, a builder came from Arkansas to mudded out the drywall, a woman from Oklahoma mailed him $100, and after having his claim rejected by FEMA they somehow sent him the money a week later. He pointed to a brick walkway that wasn’t there this past Friday when he and his wife went away for an overnight church event. At every turn what appeared as an obstacle, ended up presenting a solution.

I thanked him for his time and for sharing his incredible story. As I drove down the road, I was humbled by his experience. Here was a man who stayed focused and kept moving when everything he had was completely flattened and destroyed in a manner of seconds. In comparison, some of my challenges, concerns, and worries, my life are pretty simple and very manageable.

Everyone’s adversities are unique to them. Next time as you focus on your commitment and your challenge, I hope that this story will inspire you to keep moving, to trust in the direction of the path that you are on, and stay focused on the outcome of your vision. A home was re-built after a catastrophic event because someone believed there was a way. Each of us can accomplish a great deal if we believe, too.

Filed Under: Inspirational Perspectives, Maintaining Focus, Managing Adversity, Practice Humility Tagged With: believing, faith, focus, Joplin, Joplin tornado, MO, trust, trusting in the outcome, trusting the journey

## A lesson from Amarillo

July 28, 2025 by Dave Cooke 2 Comments

I didn’t ride the bike this morning. Allowed obstacles to distract me from my mission. As I reflected on this on my drive out of Amarillo, I pulled over and recorded them so I could share my lessons with you. Have a great day! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN!

Filed Under: Focusing On Your Vision, Managing Adversity

## When You Are on Your Path…

July 23, 2025 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

Like everyone else I have those moments in my life where I need some inspiration, too. Most of what I share with you via these posts are the conversations I have been having with myself. Instead of keeping these conversations private — between me and my head — I make them public hoping you will find an inspirational resource in them much like I usually do.

Over the past few weeks I have had a couple of powerful experiences that reminded me in a not-so-subtle-way that I must continue to trust and stay on the path in my journey. There are days where I really struggle with trusting the path I am on and the decisions I make relative to my vision and commitments. My current 100Day Challenge is to honor my commitment to the passion of my vision for 100Pedals. Both of these recent incidents reminded me to stay focused on my commitment and trust the path I am on.

Experience #1:

I usually pre-post my daily inspirational messages to my social media platforms at the beginning of the week. I do this when I am in the moment, have the time, and do not want interrupt the creative, inspirational process. Since I usually post my thoughts in advance, I sometimes forget what I posted or where until I see them on a social media site.

Last Friday I was meeting with a good friend and sharing my story about 100Pedals and my vision for 100Pedals Across America. I openly shared with him my concerns, fears, doubts, as well as the my passion behind the idea in the first place. He was very intrigued about my commitment and supportive of my vision. In response to my concerns and fears, he commented, “sometimes the road we need to take isn’t always the easiest one.” His comments nearly knocked me off my feet because my 100Pedals inspiration that day was “the practical road may not be the easiest path; wise is the person brave enough to take it.” He had not seen my quote, he was simply sharing from his heart a very powerful message to me.

At that moment I realized that what I was doing, where I was going, was the correct path. Whatever fears, concerns, worries that I had were understandable; but, I had to trust this message as supportive of the path I was on regarding my vision and mission.

Experence #2:

One morning as I was preparing for my morning bike ride, I quickly scanned my social media sites. I noticed a direct message from a friend in response to an inspirational thought I offered the previous evening. In response to their message, I dropped another quick note before I headed out the door: “You will have a great day! Do what you do best! Control what you can control and don’t worry about the rest.” I left and went out for my ride.

One flat tire, a broken spoke, and a shortened ride later, I came home. I was disappointed that I had to curtail the length of my ride while facing the reality I would have to deal with bike repair issues before the next day’s ride. Though I was a little dispirited about the malfunctions, I was pleased at my ability to get through the ride despite the distractions.

When I returned to my computer to log my ride and check emails, I was greeted with my pre-programmed inspirational thought: “You can only control two things — your attitude and your effort. You alone are responsible for your outcomes and your choices.”

The struggles, challenges, and frustrations of that bike ride could have knocked me off my plan. It is because I focused on the things I can control — attitude and effort — that I stayed the course, despite the distractions.

Serendipity can be an amazing inspirational tool provided we embrace its simplicity and use as a reminder to keep moving. We rarely receive clear answers or messages that tell us what to do, where to go, or confirm our decisions. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to receive little nods of inspiration that encourage us to keep moving. Most of the time, our instincts are all we have and that can be enough provided we are willing to trust the path we are on.

These two experiences were great lessons for me. They encouraged me to stay on the path I am on, even though I have my concerns. I hope that you will find a message for you in the experience, as well. Have an awesome week!

Filed Under: Focusing On Your Vision, Maintaining Focus, Make A Commitment Tagged With: embracing the journey, honoring your commitments, staying focused, staying on course, the difficult paths, trusting the journey, trusting the path

## When You Understand Your Vision…

July 16, 2025 by Dave Cooke 1 Comment

Inspired transformational change involves living in passionate commitment to our vision.

Life’s most inspiring choices and what leads to the most compelling results is when we realize that accomplishment is success by addition.

Success by addition.

I repeated this because I would like for you to think about that for a moment before reading on.

People talk about realizing a goal, celebrating an accomplishment, or getting to an outcome all the time. Most of the conversations involve giving something up to get there. In reality, this may be true. In that same reality, we might be challenged to remove something we actually enjoy having in our life — easy, convenient, fun, satisfying, a habit. Extricating something we enjoy in our life to get to an outcome we desire for our life is a lot to ask, sometimes very difficult to accomplish, and often, not very inspiring.

How can we possibly find change a positive when the first step is a negative action — eliminating something we are attached to?

For example, take food and weight loss — the world’s most popular goal. Whether it is a diet or a lifestyle choice or a healthy eating commitment, it doesn’t matter. When you make a decision to eat better, the first thing you discover is you have to give something up — cheeseburgers, beef, french fries, ice cream ,desert. For me, it would be pizza! It is hard to make a choice to give up something you love in the name of better health or weight loss. Unless…

Unless you frame it differently. Closely examine why you are making a commitment to better health. Envision what better health means to you — how you look, how you feel, what you can accomplish, the energy you have. Now, decide if that outcome is something you truly desire. Focus on becoming more emotionally connected to how you feel and look when you realize that outcome? How does this success make you feel? Are the emotions you feel about this vision of accomplishment worth the effort and the commitment?

Take a mental picture of these emotions and internalize the visual image you created from that visioning exercise. Put this “picture” in front of you wherever you go. That image is you living and experiencing your vision of better health. When you carry it in front of you, you are living in that commitment to your vision. The next time a “cheeseburger” shows up on your radar, you clearly know it is not part of your vision so you skip it. You are now loving that chicken salad more because it supports your vision of who you are and where you are going. Did you give up cheeseburgers? No. You added chicken salads because they better support your vision of health in your life. And, you can still have that “cheeseburger” for it does not change who you are in relation to your commitment. You will not make that “cheeseburger” choice because it does not support your vision of accomplishment in your life. In the clarity of you vision and commitment you consistently make decisions that supports the direction you have defined in your life. And, you have not given anything up to get there — you are simply making different, inspired choices.

Too many of us get caught up in the impact of taking things out of our life instead of celebrating what we bring into our lives. Making a conscious, impactful change in our lives is a cause for celebration. It is not a time to reflect on what we are giving up to get there. Rather, it is a time to celebrate what we have discovered and introduced in our lives that we know will make a difference and contribute to our vision of accomplishment.

Change your perspective, focus on transformational change by addition, and live your vision every single day!

Filed Under: Celebrating Accomplishment, Focusing On Your Vision, Inspirational Perspectives, Make A Commitment Tagged With: creating a vision, embracing your vision, focusing on your vision, The 100Day Challenge, understanding your vision, visioning your success

## Change Starts With A Challenge

July 9, 2025 by Dave Cooke 2 Comments

“Challenge yourself! Success is not defined by achieving a big goal; it is realized in pursuit of a clear vision and the consistent celebration of little accomplishments!”

Most recently I kicked off a 100Day Challenge through a Facebook Group. The purpose for the Challenge was twofold: to discover how a community of like-oriented people would engage around sharing their vision and commitments and to learn more about what accomplishments are inspiring people.

The response has been very exciting. While there are a smaller percentage who have shared their commitment to the 100Day Challenge, I am convinced there are some private participants who have not yet shared their objectives with the group. And, there is a third group, that haven’t stated their intents or interest whatsoever. I am curious as to where they are.

As people started to explore a 100 Day Challenge and the commitment associated with it, I enjoyed the coaching conversations I participated in. There were about three main themes associated with these conversations:

1. “I don’t know how to set a goal like this“: The first aspect of the 100Day Challenge is to pay close attention to the 100Pedals mantra — define your vision for accomplishment in your life. I have shared my perspectives on goals in the past. Goals are a wonderful benchmark of progress. They can often be the tangible measurement of achievement, like a defined outcome. A goal, however, means nothing without a vision of what achievement of that goal looks like. Simply losing weight, making more money, getting that new job is a defined outcome. It means nothing unless you know how it benefits, impacts, or improves your life and the lives of those around you. Instead of setting a goal, focus on a vision of peace, joy, happiness, or success in your life. It is that vision that gets you thinking about what needs to occur in your life -actions, behaviors, activities- that make this change possible and the effort worthwhile.

2. “I have so many, how do I choose which one?“: Focus on the aspect of your life that is fundamentally most important to you. In many of my conversations, people were dividing between personal and professional; or, health and intellectual. They are all important. Only one transformation project is most important. Moving toward your vision for the one component that is most important will facilitate progress toward realizing accomplishment in the others later. Start with the most important, essential element first — the rest will follow.

3. “What if I don’t really have anything?“: If you do not really have anything to improve, tweak, or change — that is great!! Since you are in a place where you are at peace and happy, celebrate that. There is an opportunity for you to remind yourself and celebrate those aspects of your life are in alignment. As we often lose momentum when we are working through a storm, we can also lose momentum in a place of peace and accomplishment. Celebrating your gratitude for your life is a great and productive activity. Make that your “challenge.”

One of the great discoveries on my 100Pedals journey is that I am never alone. Whether I am celebrating or struggling, there is a huge community of people who are also on their own personal journey. They are looking for what I have to offer and they are offering what I am looking for. The 100Day Challenge was created to create and build a community where this interaction would be visible, accessible, and productive.

Leverage the opportunity to challenge, to grow, to learn, and to share. Your path to accomplished change involves making a commitment — take the 100Day Challenge to help you get there!

Filed Under: Celebrating Accomplishment, Focusing On Your Vision, Live With Passion, Make A Commitment Tagged With: celebrating accomplishments, change, Facilitating change, The 100Day Challenge, transformational change, transformative change

## Living in Honor!

July 2, 2025 by Dave Cooke 8 Comments

“We honor ourselves by living in commitment to our beliefs, values, and behaviors toward those who come into our lives for whatever reason.”

For those who didn’t catch the announcement on Facebook, I had a crash on my bike this past Saturday. A car unexpectedly made a right turn just in front of me and I couldn’t stop in time to avoid hitting him. Other than a scare, a scratch on the car, and a little twist to my handlebars all was ok. This was my first wreck. Thank goodness it was minor.

I would love to report I responded to this incident appropriately. Instead of calmly stepping off my bike and assessing the situation with grace, I threw into a bit of a rant at the driver for his unfortunate mistake. My choice of words, plus the volume and intensity of my tone were very inappropriate and unnecessary. I could attempt to justify my actions and say the driver deserved what he received because of his stupidity; but, in truth, we all make mistakes and no one deserves to be treated inappropriately, especially in light of an unintended mistake. Every one of us would appreciate it if our mistakes were handled with grace and dignity, not a tongue lashing. I didn’t do a very good job of honoring the situation, period.

Though I might be able to defend my actions in light of what happened, nothing justifies handling a situation in a manner that dishonors those involved. Which brings me to my thought for the week.

We know what are correct, appropriate, and necessary behaviors, actions, or responses. Regardless of what others do, whether others care, or even if others honor what they know is correct, it is not how we define what we do. We do what do because we know what is honorable and right. What is appropriate is how we define our behaviors, regardless of the circumstances or the popular trend.

We know what the rules, regulations, expectations, processes, and behaviors are for our lives. Whether others follow them, display them, appreciate them, or respect them does not excuse us from living in honor to them. We know what we stand for and what our value system is. That is our commitment and our yardstick for our behaviors and actions. By living in honor to this commitment at work, in society, in relationships, or with our friends we are honoring what we know is correct, appropriate, and respectful. We are always responsible for living in honor. When we do not honor others, we are not honoring ourselves. It is that simple.

Just because everyone around us is rude, or drives poorly, or doesn’t stay late to finish projects at work, does not mean we are excused from these responsibilities-we are not. If your children said, “every one else is doing it?” what would your response be? Just because everyone else is not living with honor, does not mean you are excused from living with honor.

I had every reason to be upset at the person who made an abrupt right turn into my bike yesterday. He knew he made a mistake and he felt bad about it. I dishonored myself and him by displaying my anger for the mistake. It may be understandable, but it is not acceptable. Nothing excuses me from behaving with grace and honor towards another person. I know what is right, what is appropriate, and what my commitment is. That is how I live my life regardless of the circumstances.

Honor yourself by honoring others. Lead the way and avoid following the trend. Your standard becomes the example and an exception to much of the norm. Have a great week!

Interesting side note: I had planned on this subject today before I watched a segment of Joel Osteen. Amazingly enough, his talk was about the same thing - Show Honor. This provides a wonderful perspective on this subject. I hope you will take the time to watch.

Filed Under: Embrace Responsibility, Giving Love, Live With Passion, Practice Humility, Uncategorized Tagged With: honor, honoring others, honoring your values, Joel Osteen