Sometimes you need to make your own rules – putting your Why at top position.

Lael’s sitting in the hut, depleted from the day, looking at the pouring rain, wishing her girlfriend was there…

But, someone else had made the rules and she played by them.

She has the chance to win that race!!

A woman amongst men…

She also has high stakes in the game – having put up a film team to shoot a documentary about the bike race.

Showing the race, the story behind her riding and the beauty of this incredible landscape the race bikers had to conquer.

She had agreed to having her partner in the upfront team 20 miles distance so that there couldn’t be an “unfair moral support” from her seeing her girlfriend whilst the other bikers could only talk to their partners.

There had been an agreement.

But now?

The other racers were claiming she should not even talk to her partner as this would be unfair…

Yet, every single one of them was calling home to talk to wife and kids!

So, sitting in that hut looking at the pouring rain she makes a decision…

She’d drop out of the race and spend the night with her girlfriend.

The next day she’d get on her bike and continue the ride and they’d finish the documentary.

In the documentary Lael says: “I love riding, it is not about the race it is about my love for riding.”

She didn’t give up.

Not a potential financial gain or a medal.

And she protested at the same time – against being treated in an unfair manner.

Are you as impressed with Lael’s story as me?

I admire her for staying true to her reason why.

And I think there are parallels to be drawn to business.

There will always be someone who agrees first and then shouts “unfair” later.

Just because they didn’t think you could be a threat to them.

Or they just plain didn’t think things through and now they find out what the agreement means.

None of this is your fault – still you’re impacted.

And as women often play by different rules than men, we are so used to accommodate everyone.

You could say Lael took the easy path.

But I don’t agree there.

As a strong woman she stood up against the machoism that she faced.

Calling them out – making it public.

P.S. Lael Wilcox is an incredible woman, the first to win the Trans Am Bike race. And even if you are totally uninterested in race biking (like myself, I stumbled into it because my husband had started watching) the movie about the great divide tour is worth seeing – also due to the stunning beauty of the landscape.

Photo by Dirk Scheuble on Unsplash