Monday 13 February 2017

I'm not nervous....really I'm not!

I have started counting down until I go on my tour....just over 3 months until I leave. The training is going well and I am happy where my fitness is at the moment. The nerves are starting to creep in though. I'm not frightened at all, more like a scared excited feeling about what I am undertaking....7 weeks on the road, biking 2000 kms, camping and all on my own. I know I will meet other cyclists, see amazing scenery and have a wonderful adventure, but I also know there will be some hard riding days and some days when I feel lonely and all I want to see is a familiar face.

I'm not sure if reading posts from my various bike touring facebook groups is a good thing or a bad thing. Sometimes after reading posts, I feel so under prepared for this but I think my mindset is more with the people who say "just get out there and do it!"
Part of the attraction of this sort of trip is not too much planning...yes I know where I am going and what I need to take and that's about it. I worked out a very rough idea of how many km's day, so I knew how long I would need to be away for, but the idea of no timetable and taking each day as it comes is part of the appeal. I'm not very good at being organized by others, I like to do my own haphazard organizing.

The other thing that is slightly freaking me out is looking at google maps streetview and thinking I am going to be cycling along this very road and camping right in this camp ground!! Not sure if looking at that is helping or making me more nervous. But plenty of people have done the ride I'm doing, camped where I am camping...it's only new and adventurous in my mind.

So the training continues...here's some photos of the last long ride I did. Four long steep climbs but nice downhills too, nearly all the way to Lake Mahinerangi then back via Waitahuna. A very challenging ride but fun.

Bungtown Woolshed

Can just see the road I came down way off in the distance.

Last big climb..hopefully!

Perfect lunchtime view

Birdy looking splendid!

Some old gold mining machinery

" There will be a few times in your life when all your instincts tell you to do something, something that defies logic, upsets your plans and may seem crazy to others. When that happens, you do it. Listen to your instincts and ignore everything else. Ignore logic, ignore the odds, ignore the complications, and just go for it."
                                                             Judith McNaught

2 comments:

  1. Fantastic Lindy. I can fully understand where your coming from. Such excitement and the real unknow. Go out there and enjoy it, make new friends great memories. I look forward to reading about the journey.

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  2. Looks like you are getting very well prepared Lin.It looks like a long way 2000 Klm, but I guess you are pretty fit by now. We are down in Howlong at Kay's new house, and showed your blog to him. He is also a keen rider. Anyway all the best and will follow how the great adventure goes Love Tony.

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