Last weekend we travelled 14 hours to Michigan to take part in a training camp for a race we have in September. The race is called Marji Gesick, it’s a 100 ish mile mountain bike race on all trails. It’s an incredibly tough race, no doubt it’ll be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It is likely going to take around 18 – 20 hours to complete so some of it will be riding technical trails in the dark.
Our group for the weekend listening to our coach
Anyway, the training camp was amazing, both from the perspective of learning new skills and improving fitness, but also it was great to be surrounded by similar people who get why we do these things. When I look back to five years ago when I’d never even run a 5k, the idea of doing these things would have seemed utterly ridiculous. I wouldn’t have got it, and sometimes at the peak of exhaustion, I still question it. However spending time around some amazing badasses was really something. The race director, Todd Poquette, really manages to put into words what this is all about: “Find your limits. Destroy them.”
Adam and I out on the trials with one of our awesome coaches Megan.
Thats what its all about, pushing to see what this amazing body I’ve been blessed with can do (and believe me, I don’t mean that in any kind of aesthetic way!). Then seeing how far my mental strength will go too. How much pain and misery can I stand without giving up and picking the easy road home. The race is going to be an adventure and one hell of a test of my mental and physical strength but I commit that I will not quit. I’m going to finish this race.
