Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself

by Rich Roll

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them.” —HENRY DAVID THOREAU

personhood has been reduced to consumerism. Our social currency is stuff—worth dictated not by who we are but by what we own, fueled by a cultural mandate that forsakes the value of service, struggle, and authentic expression for the pursuit of luxury, instant gratification, and ease.

The key to our identity, and ultimately our happiness, cannot be found in what we own.

“draft legal,” meaning you can ride behind other riders and safely ensconce yourself in a “wind pocket.” Once enveloped in the group, you’re able to ride pace at a fraction of the energy output. The last thing you want to do is get “dropped,” leaving you to fend for yourself, a lone wolf struggling against the wind on nothing but your own energy.