The WEMB(L)O(G)

Occasionally an individual may wish to keep a record of significant life events, of good and bad times shared with friends and of achievements and disappointments. With fhe fallibility of memory, the taking of photos or keeping of a written record is one way of focusing the memory to time-travel back to those times. I have never been a good diary-keeper, however a commitment to recording at least the next 3 months is one way I would like to keep and share a journey that likely promises adventure, challenge, growth, endorphin-highs, lessons, frustration, mechanicals, fun and a host of unknowns. In less than 11 weeks I aim to be toeing the start line of my first 24 hour solo mountain-bike race: the World Endurance Mountain Bike Organisation's World Solo 24 hour Mountain Bike Championships at Mount Stromlo Forest Park on 12-13th October 2013. It is a mouthful and I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew.

Prologue

I returned to Canberra in mid-2011, at the time it was a decision that many friends berated me for: "You're moving to Canberra? In Winter??" and made quick judgement on: "You're crazy". Despite the masses, the move was the one of the best life decisions I could have made. The diamond of Canberra is without a doubt the mass of bushland throughout the 'city' that just begs for exploring. Access for trail running and mountain-biking is just so easy. In an attempt to keep up the triathlon that had been such an integral part of my life in Melbourne, I found myself waylaid by MTBing and the most amazing and inspirational group of people I have met. They are also slightly insane.

It has been witnessing the strength and commitment that some of these girls and guys put into their riding that planted the seed for me to want to test myself with a similar event. Earlier this year I decided that I wanted something big and terrifying: 

1) To keep me riding through Canberra winter

2) To give me an incentive to improve my bike handling skills and 

3) To have a chance to complete something that 6 months previously would have been an impossible task. 

WEMBO fit the bill.

The last couple of months have been a little disrupted with some travelling with work. From here it will (hopefully) be a clear run to get the body and head prepared for what is to come. This weekend will see the delayed second round of the Single Track Mind series run by Chocolate Foot in Nowra: a very good opportunity to see where I'm at and what needs to improve before WEMBO.

And here we are, up to speed and in the present. Not quite full circle. I like to think of a journey not as beginning or ending or coming full circle, but perhaps spiralling: each layer of experience building and growing on the next. 

That is one way of thinking of it. The other is that I am planning on riding my bike. A lot.