Tag - Bike

I was listening to a podcast on the way to work this morning and the guy speaking was referencing a man crossing America, riding a mongoose. He went on to say that the man was obese and that this was part of his way of winning back his wife.

It sounded a bit odd. I wasn’t sure what a mongoose looked like but it would have to be a very large animal and I was sure that wasn’t the case. I couldn’t type ‘mongoose’ into my phone so I asked Siri to find me some photos of a mongoose. I glanced at the photos and when I saw the little animals I was perplexed. Something wasn’t right.

Once I got to work I decided to investigate further.

Of course you’re already way ahead of me. He was speaking about Mongoose as a brand of mountain bike. This very large man is towing a trailer behind his bike as he makes his way from one coast to the other.

If you want to find out more about the guy riding a Mongoose across the U.S. you can head to his website, Fat Guy Across America.

I blame the Proclaimers I really do. I will be riding a bicycle from east coast to west coast for a few reasons, 1. to prove things to my wife and my love. 2. to take back my health and to lose the pounds I have collected over the years. As of right now, I’m 560 pounds. I will be blogging and video blogging the whole trip and interviewing people along the way. After I complete my trip I will write a book on the experience. This fundraiser to help with supplies and equipment and any costs for camping, eating, etc. I’ll need all the support I can get.

By completing this ride, I hope to encourage others to get up and get moving no matter their weight. I have a lot to prove and a lot to make happen. I want to write this book to inspire others and inspire myself and show the love of my life, I still got it. There are a lot of naysayers out there and I am going to prove them wrong.

It’s funny how often we can miss what’s really going on because we’re simply not on the same page as someone else. It’s not until something doesn’t quite fit that we stop and reassess what someone is saying. If the brand of bike mentioned was something like ‘Horse’ or ‘Camel’ I wouldn’t have even questioned what was said and I would have had a completely different picture in my mind of what was happening.

We can’t spend our whole lives over-analysing everything others say but it sometimes helps to make sure that what we’re hearing is what the other person is actually saying. Likewise, we need to be clear in the way we communicate and never just take it for granted that the people we’re addressing are understanding our intent.

Have you ever found yourself being misinterpreted? Have you found yourself jumping to a wrong conclusion when someone else is speaking?