Scary.

Kai Lenny is a generational athlete. A specimen so rare that it is difficult for a mere mortal to take in and appreciate his vast talents in real time. We will need the history books to marvel, appropriately, at his feats. His big wave mastery, windsurfing, foil boarding even his dark passions like SUPping and befriending Mark Zuckerberg.

Well, he has, apparently, mastered another dark passion. Road cycling.

I see the road cyclists riding on the Pacific Coast Highway, often, dressed in brightly colored lycra rompers often marked with IPA beer brewers, taking up a full lane of traffic because it is somehow their right and, I’ll be honest, I fantasize about hitting them.

Like this.

Nothing overly violent, just a small tap.

I would not fantasize about hitting Kai Lenny, though, and he has recently opened up about his new passion in a wide-ranging interview that appears on Velo News. (Velo, of course, Italian for IPA).

He told the author:

“What’s cool about riding here is that, in surfing when you’re put into a position on big waves, you’re committed to the situation you’re in, there’s no time out. I think it’s good mental practice when you’re climbing up the mountain here, you’re not going to stop… It’s learning to love the hurt. I think there’s a translation there — it’s key to have endurance when you’re surfing all day.”

Sadistic. Kai Lenny harbors sadistic thoughts, no?

Later, in the same article I read:

“I wanted to ride on every single island and foil between them. It was logistically kind of a nightmare and expensive. The reality is, I’ve really only ridden on Maui. I’ve ridden a little in other places but not with an intention. I have friends on other islands who have road bikes, so I thought it would be cool to link with them and connect the communities in between. It’s a long way, close to five hundred miles. The total between ocean legs and miles on the bike is 460 miles total, so we had nicknamed it the Hawaii 500. As soon as you landed on the beach, you’d have to get on the bike. No relaxing. Either always pedaling or always pumping. Pedal to pump. Pray for the downhills or a big swell. The joke was we’d all need wheelchairs on the way home.”

I’ver seriously never even imagined anything so horrifying.

Learn more here, if you dare.

Rats.

Any student of the professional surfing game knows that surfing legend Kelly Slater’s Instagram feed is the most entertaining space of all. Better than Rottnest Island, better than unboxing with Koa Smith, better than Zeke Lau as Ultimate Surfer.

The 11x World Champion dishes out a sometimes daily, sometimes weekly, helping of unfiltered opinion, advice, criticism, direction on issues as wide ranging as Britain’s royal family, Elon Musk’s cryptocurrency strategy and the silliness of those who believe the earth is flat amongst many, many other things.

Wonderful.

But his nearly 3 million Instagram followers were treated to a shock this morning when Slater cryptically, and without elaboration, posted the cover of Mark Meadows’ book titled How to Build Self-Discipline: Resist Temptations and Reach your Long-Term Goals.

Meadows writes of the book:

Although I’ve been a self-disciplined person ever since I can remember (thank you, Mom!), I always seek more information and advice about making myself more effective at resisting temptations.

Self-discipline is the key that will help you make these hard decisions instead of sticking with what’s easy and comfortable. People who focus on instant gratification – things that are safe, easy and comfortable – rarely reach their long-term goals.

I have no doubt there’s nothing more important to a successful life than to maintain a high level of self-discipline and keep growing on a daily basis. Hence, I wrote this book.

Most of the advice shared in this book is based on scientific research referenced at the end of the book. To help you get the most out of the book in the shortest time possible, I decided not to go into details about each study. Instead of sharing with you the detailed “why,” (with confusing and boring descriptions of studies) I will share with you the “how.”

How do you exactly build self-discipline in your life? How do you resist short-term rewards in order to reach your long-term goals? This book is the answer to these questions.

Is this going to alter Slater’s approach to social media?

It certainly would appear to be so.

Rats.