5:00 AM. Our alarms go off in sync. Well, actually, rewind. After I finally get to sleep around 11:30/11:45 PM our alarm clock in our room goes off at midnight. So of course I don’t know where the buttons are, I start smashing the clock in a fit of rage, have to turn on a light, but finally get the alarm quieted. And back to sleep. What felt like 5 minutes later was when our alarms chimed. I was nervous to move, wondering which parts of my body would ache the most, but I felt great! Tired, but great. Ready to take on day 2.
We headed down for breakfast and were met with the disappointing news that due to severe storms expected later in the day we would be walking less and biking more. Meaning I would only get in 10ish miles rather than the 27. Part of me really just wants to say fuck it, and ride the bike but the rest of me just cannot get past it. Especially these roads on which we are currently riding. Uphill, fine. Give me uphill any day. But uphill with curves? Forget it! And these steep downhills? Well I can think of many things I would much rather do than white-knuckle my way down these mountains. So here I am. Riding along in the van while the other brave souls tear down these roads.
But until now I have been feeling great. So good in fact that I decided it’s not beyond the realms of possibility to attempt a small ultra-marathon. A baby ultra. A teeny tiny 30-miler. To get my feet wet. And not anytime soon. But maybe. One day. We were warned that this day was tough. Steeper and longer climbs. Ariella must have had her hand on my back because I soared through those miles. Powered my way up the hills, barely out of breath. Maybe it’s the marathon training. Or maybe it was the music stylings by Michael and our brief sing-a-long. Whatever it was, in the words of Kenny, it was “a piece of cake”. Maybe not quite so easy but I felt strong the entire time. I did not want this day to end. Yes, Justin, I had fun!
Today our trek was from Cumberland to Hancock. We met a sweet dog named Brinkley, passed some adorable goats, and enjoyed some beautiful views. Lots of conversation and lots of time to reflect. Why I was there, why any of us were there, and the ways this experience is forever changing me. Nothing really stood out today, but my favorite part was running downhill the last 0.5 mile. I took off, briefly running with my arms out, soaring down the mountain like a carefree child. For just a moment I was freed from my burdens. I was able to quiet the relentless demons in my head. What I would give to feel so carefree again. That’s one of the things that makes this life so hard. I will never be truly carefree. All my happy moments exist with sadness but I guess you can’t have happiness without sadness. The paradox of life.
Currently we are holed up in a charming little store waiting for the storm to pass. The cyclists have some more miles to do once it’s safe to traverse these crazy mountain roads. While we are of course anxious to keep moving it’s nice to have the time to actually get to know these people we are spending all this time with. It doesn’t take long to learn habits like how someone likes their coffee or how often they sleep but also how they handle challenges. And support others. And we have a good crew. And I know that when times get hard they will cheer me on and and we will all get through it together. For now I’m just relieved that once again I’m not getting on the bike on what are now wet roads. We should be moving out in another hour or so but for me trekking day 2 is done.