Inspiration from the Sun

A week after being on the White Rim trail, I'm still reminiscing of the sun on my face and the dirt in my teeth. While at times grueling and quite often cold, I would jump at the chance to hop on my bike and do the trip all over again (and again, and again).

I am inspired when I'm in the mountains, but this trip was exceptional. My riding pace often put me in position far behind the rest of my fellow riders, but far enough ahead of the support vehicles, that I was alone to take in the beauty of my surroundings and merge my body and mind into the ride. With skies as far as I could see and snowy mountain tops in the distance, I whispered to myself, "It's good to be alive."

Joy and excitement were accompanied with muscle fatigue and the worst case of ass pain I have ever had to negotiate, but it was all part of the experience. By coaxing myself through the tough stuff, I was able to mark my milestones of accomplishment....Riding a majority of the trip, climbing big hills and weathering the cold.

After four days of being surrounded by amazing friends and making new ones along the way, Matt, Arikka, Jared, Jason and I were all riding in the truck back to our car. We climbed, then coasted the rolling hills with big smiles on our faces while Eddie Vetter sang to us about the "Hard Sun."

At that moment that Jason said, "There are credits rolling behind us right now."

It was perfect. The perfect ending to the perfect trip...which provided me inspiration for this.





Photos Courtesy: Jared Hargrave, Jared Anderton, Adam Tolman, Arikka Fullmer, Matt Walker, Dave Hert.
Music Credit: Into the Wild Soundtrack

Ego is my copilot

Next weekend I'll travel with my bike and gear to tackle the White Rim in Canyonlands National Park.

It has been almost two years since I've seriously ridden a mountain bike. In fact, last weekend I took my new Specialized MTB for its christening run and succeeded in also providing the bike with it's christening crash (my new body mechanics are seriously messing with my center of balance --- clumsiness ensues).

I know my legs are not at peak performance, but I'm going on this trip anyway. I've had a couple of friends ask me how I'm going to ride 100 miles of trail when I am admittedly not quite ready.

The answer is this. I'm counting on my ego to keep my pedals going in circles while we ride along the desert floor.

I live to succeed and am powered by the drive to win. However, if I am not able to ride the entire length of the trail, I will take comfort in the fact that I have challenged myself to ride farther than I've ever ridden before.

Man vs. Woman and the power of the Uterus

I am a strong person who loves her work. I want to see how far I can take my career and support my husband as he does the same. Early in our relationship, we made a conscious decision to not have children (well before my doctor informed me I had to be sure about not wanting to be pregnant before they installed the chromium and cobalt hip that will leach metal into my body and could endanger a fetus).

It's been suggested I'm being selfish and I've been told I'll miss out on the greatest joy a woman can have. But this is my choice.

After sitting through a women & business conference today, I have admiration and respect for women who stay at home to raise their family and especially for those women who have been successful in pursuing a career while also raising a family.

What I wish for is that others would view me as a successful person in business. The fact that I am a woman and especially a woman who has chosen to pursue a career instead of a family, does not make me any better or worse for who I am or what I do. I am a good person. I make good decisions. I offer effective solutions. I am committed to what I do.

Every time I attend a conference like this, I walk away not only wondering why we haven't gotten past the woman vs. man issues in the workforce, but why I'm seen as lesser of a woman for deciding not to have children...