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A Little Baggage Doesn’t Hurt Anyone: On Packing my Suitcase of Courage

July 18, 2008


I’m about to bite off a little more than I can chew and, you know what?  I plan to survive.

Moreover – I plan to take it by storm.

Tomorrow I’ll do the biggest climbing day that I’ve attempted to date.  My "normal" (read: non-cyclist) friends think it’s nuts.  My hardcore cyclist friends think it’s no big deal.

I’m somewhere in between.  127 miles and 7,800 feet of climbing?  Yeah, that’s going to be a leg ripper for sure.  But I’m inclined to think it’s not impossible. Maybe it’s the delusional part of me taking over, but I’m in it to win it, and there’s no turning back now.

My partner-in-crime, Ms. Natalie Ramsland of Sweetpea bicycles, has delivered a week full of pep-talks and comfort and reassurance.  When I stopped by her studio today with a look of terror plastered across my face, she stepped away from her fancy bike-making tools and sat down on the floor to talk me off the edge.

Her last point was probably the most important: I need to get excited.  I need to stop biting my nails and tossing in my sleep and turn the happy-pants meter to eleven.  I need to honor how big this will be for me and get stoked. 

"If you wake up happy tomorrow," she said, "Then we’re all good."

Natalie, I love you. And I am standing here at the edge of our adventure with my freshly packed suitcase of courage in one hand and a 3,000 calorie supply of Trail Putty in the other.

May the forces of Matodextrin and HEED be with us. I’m happy. Excited.

Let’s do this.

 

 

 

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Filed under: Play, Work
Tags: Cycling, motivation, Randonneuring, Work

5 Responses to “A Little Baggage Doesn’t Hurt Anyone: On Packing my Suitcase of Courage”

  1. sherry says:
    July 18, 2008 at 5:24 pm

    yay Heidi! have fun, you’re going to be great! I’ll be thinking of you :)

  2. HG says:
    July 19, 2008 at 8:27 am

    good luck missy. you will do great. i cant wait to read the report.

  3. Lynne says:
    July 19, 2008 at 6:50 pm

    hardcore? moi? I just bought long term care insurance last night…

    seriously, welcome to the Rando asylum^h^h^h^h^h^h fold! This puts you about 4 standard deviations off “normal”!

  4. Cecil says:
    July 19, 2008 at 6:56 pm

    It was great to see you at the start this morning – I hope you had a great ride (and I look forward to your write-up).

  5. suitcaseofcourage says:
    July 21, 2008 at 10:01 am

    Good luck!! Looking forward to the report already!

    BTW, LOVE the title of this post . . .


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