I’m slowly coming to the realization that in a few days, I’ll no longer be a part of “normal” working society. This, along with the incoming good news in sponsor support I’ve received is nearly overwhelming at times. I’m also a little surprised by how supportive the local cycling community is. Not that they aren’t a great, friendly group of people- it’s just that I wasn’t expecting them to be so genuinely happy to see me bypass the “what ifs” and go all out in pursuit of my dreams.

I’m every synonym you could possibly imagine for “excited” with a dash of “terrified” thrown in just to make things more interesting.

In the immediate future, tomorrow is the Outdoors, Inc. Cyclocross race. Unfortunately, there’s also a USGP race in Louisville this weekend, so unless someone headed there takes a wrong turn at Albuquerque, the Nashville contingent (and several Arkansas racers) aren’t likely to show up in Memphis on Sunday. After that, I’m generally sticking to more local/regional CX racing.
Zandr asked this morning why I don’t pursue high-end CX sponsorships. Well, I love CX, and I love being in the pain cave for 45-50 minutes at a time, but after traveling all over for a long season of mountain bike races, I’m ready to keep it local(ish) for the winter months. Unfortunately, local(ish) in Memphis means racing a handful of women who like to start slow/in the back (read last Saturday’s race report) and the occasional Men’s race with <20 entries. Not exactly what the bigger companies are looking for marketing purposes. My biggest races this season are the Tennessee State Championships as well as Master’s Worlds at the end of January. It’s going to be interesting to maintain/build top end power for the duration of the winter training season, but it’s not like I won’t have the time ;)

As cheesy as it sounds, I saw this on Facebook this morning, and it makes me think of my upcoming adventures:

Expansion ~~From the moment we are born, the world tends to have a container already built for us to fit inside: A social security number, a gender, a race, a profession or an I.Q. I ponder if we are more defined by the container we are in, rather than what we are inside. Would we recognize ourselves if we could expand beyond our bodies? Would we still be able to exist if we were authentically ‘un-contained’?