Lickety split

Don’t mind if I do.

Full tilt day

The Highline is squishy

Warm river cruise

I’ve been reading this book about great adventurers from across time. I recently arrived at the story of Jason Lewis who was the first to circumvent the earth entirely under his own power. This quote of his stuck out “ The human body is capable of incredible feats of endurance, but only if the mind buys into it.”
I had the idea of going on a far far lesser adventure on my own this week. On Tuesday night I threw together a 200 mile route on my phone and dared myself to attempt it on Wednesday morning. I’ve ridden 200 miles before, but never entirely alone and unsupported. Never just me and the dirt and sun and wind. I wasn’t sure if I could do it. I was genuinely scared that I would try then bail out halfway in because the aloneness and fatigue and wind would be too much for me. But I kept coming back to this quote. If I could get my mind to buy into this silly idea maybe my legs would keep turning. Instead of taking the day on all at once I took it mile by mile. I hid my distance on my Wahoo so I wouldn’t obsess on progress. I just needed to get over that rise in the distance. I just needed to keep eating. I just needed to pace myself. It was a sublime day. I didn’t have hugely profound thoughts because honestly I was pretty tired and one dimensional. That was ok though. This didn’t need to be complicated. The Colorado plains are not complicated.
13 hours after starting I finished. I rolled up to my garage and saw the number “200” and couldn’t believe it. “Thank you God”. I said.
I think Lewis was right. It’s all about getting buy-in from your mind, and maybe also about ignoring your mind when it tells you that you can’t.
#rideexplorecreate
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Twinkie Fitzgerald

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Lickety split

Don’t mind if I do.

Full tilt day

The Highline is squishy

Warm river cruise

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