All Thrust and No Vector — The Project Management Lessons Behind an Impossible Journey

"All Thrust and No Vector" — A Lesson in Teamwork, Endurance, and Execution

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I say a picture tells a story—sometimes one so powerful it grabs you by the heart and refuses to let go.

This photo was taken around Day 80 of my 100-day, 13,000-kilometer cycling journey across Canada in 2023. If memory serves me right, we were somewhere along a deserted road, heading toward Whitehorse.

At this point, I was utterly exhausted—physically breaking down, mentally hanging by a thread. My support rider, Adam, had joined me back in Prince George. His role was simple: keep me moving forward. At one point, noticing how I was swerving from sheer fatigue, he summed up my condition perfectly:

“Matt, are you okay? You’re all thrust and no vector!”

That line stuck with me. Because that was exactly how I felt—drained, directionless, just trying to survive each pedal stroke.

And the hardest part still lay ahead: massive forest fires awaited us as we pushed north to to Whitehorse and then Yellowknife, NWT.

But this picture? It’s not about the exhaustion or the fires.

It’s about teamwork.

In the photo, I’m in front. In cycling terms, this is called "pulling." The lead rider breaks the wind and sets the pace, reducing the effort needed by the rider behind. In a team setting, riders rotate this role—each taking turns to pull, then falling back to recover. It’s a rhythm of give-and-take, of support and sacrifice. It's how teams cover hundreds, even thousands of kilometers together.

Think of a flock of geese flying in formation—each one taking turns at the front, ensuring the group moves forward as one.

As a career program manager, I can’t help but reflect on those 100 days and see them as a massive, high-risk, mission-critical project. A project unlike anything our team had ever attempted. In fact, none of us had any experience with anything even remotely close.

Just how complex was this "project"?

• 100 days across the second-largest landmass on Earth

• Daily route management—navigating closures, construction, and wild terrain

• Finding shelter every night, sometimes in WWII air base

• Sourcing food and provisions for riders burning thousands of calories a day

• Securing fuel for support vehicles in regions where gas stations were hundreds of miles apart

• Coordinating fundraising events across multiple provinces and territories

• Managing press and social media outreach—daily

• Organizing pickups and drop-offs for rotating support riders

• Monitoring donation targets and rapidly adapting when we fell behind

• Maintaining and repairing bikes with the complexity of small cars

• Constantly facing risks: crashes, wildlife, equipment failures, highway traffic

• Enduring a literal force majeure: the worst forest fires Canada had ever seen

Despite it all, we succeeded. We raised over $100,000, and in my view, we completed a mission few would dare to attempt. Maybe one that’s never been done before.

So, how did we do it?

When people ask, I often say grit, resilience, determination—and yes, maybe a little luck. But reflecting now, I see the real reasons we succeeded. And these lessons can be applied to any organization embarking on a complex, high-stakes initiative.

Here’s what worked:

• We clearly defined the mission and outcomes

• We assembled a team of exceptional individuals with diverse, complementary strengths

• We secured strong sponsorship—clearing roadblocks as they arose

• We partnered with a charity that was all-in from day one

• We planned down to the last kilometer—details mattered

• We had a robust risk management framework

• We embraced change as part of the plan

• We lifted each other relentlessly, no matter how tough things got

• We stayed 100% aligned on our purpose: putting kids in need on bikes

• Communication between team members and stakeholders was a priority

• And most importantly—we worked as a team. Ego had no place. Everyone knew their role. Everyone pulled, and everyone rested.

I’ve worked on many projects in my professional life—some far less complex than this ride. Yet many of those projects struggled or failed to cross the finish line. I share accountability for those outcomes, too. But the difference between those efforts and this ride comes down to something simple: the conditions for success.

When those conditions are in place, anything is possible.

That’s the lesson.

No one on our team was an expert in long-distance expeditions. I wasn’t an endurance athlete. I was a retired professional with a big goal, surrounded by people equally committed to something bigger than themselves.

This journey didn’t begin with experience. It began with a conversation.

Three of these endurance rides later, we’ve raised over $200,000, and we’ve proven—again and again—that with the right plan, the right people, and the right purpose, ordinary individuals and teams can achieve extraordinary things.

Yes, it takes grit, resilience, and determination. But it also takes what every great project demands:

Solid planning. Precise execution. And unstoppable teamwork. Oh—and maybe just a little bit of “don’t quit.”

We at Heroes Unleashed want to empower your team or organization to achieve the incredible. It all starts with one conversation. Reach out today and book your free discovery call: https://www.heroesunleashed.ca/contactus