Six months from today . . .
I will begin the cycling trip I've been wanting to do for some time now: Bike the US for MS. I'll be doing the TRANSAM route, which begins in Yorktown, Virginia and ends in San Fransisco, California. That's 3785 miles. Already I feel butterflies in the belly each time I think about setting off on this trip.
This is the ride I wanted to do last summer. Somehow, during one of my searches for a century ride to sign up for, I stumbled across the BTUSFMS site. I became enamored and was determined to apply. Before I went off half-cocked, though, I thought it only respectful to take the idea to the family and ask if they'd be okay if I was gone for the whole summer. Their responses ranged from Hubby saying, "What?!? Are you smokin' ganja weed?!?" to the boys exclaiming, "But who will feed us if you're not here?" I thought after letting the idea settle in for a week or two they would come around, but I was totally wrong. When I brought it up again, the response was a definite, "No. You shouldn't do this." So I put the idea away.
A couple of weeks into Mom's ordeal, the idea to do the ride hit me as we were returning home one evening after visiting her in the hospital. I mulled it over for a few days, reading the BTUSFMS site inside and out and watching all the videos about the ride I could find. One day, I casually mentioned to Hubby that I was thinking of applying to be one of the cyclists, and this time he didn't say no. He didn't really say anything, so I took that as his way of saying, "Sure, Honey. I think it's a fantastic thing to do. You go right ahead and apply." I applied. My acceptance email showed up the next morning. And that's when the butterflies started fluttering.
The family is supportive, but the guys still have a bit of uncertainty about me being gone for two months. Now the question is: can I, during the next six months, get all my ducks in a row for both the ride as well as my guys?
Here's a video of last year's BTUSFMS TRANSAM beginnings. Watching makes me excited and nervous, just like some in the video say.
This is the ride I wanted to do last summer. Somehow, during one of my searches for a century ride to sign up for, I stumbled across the BTUSFMS site. I became enamored and was determined to apply. Before I went off half-cocked, though, I thought it only respectful to take the idea to the family and ask if they'd be okay if I was gone for the whole summer. Their responses ranged from Hubby saying, "What?!? Are you smokin' ganja weed?!?" to the boys exclaiming, "But who will feed us if you're not here?" I thought after letting the idea settle in for a week or two they would come around, but I was totally wrong. When I brought it up again, the response was a definite, "No. You shouldn't do this." So I put the idea away.
A couple of weeks into Mom's ordeal, the idea to do the ride hit me as we were returning home one evening after visiting her in the hospital. I mulled it over for a few days, reading the BTUSFMS site inside and out and watching all the videos about the ride I could find. One day, I casually mentioned to Hubby that I was thinking of applying to be one of the cyclists, and this time he didn't say no. He didn't really say anything, so I took that as his way of saying, "Sure, Honey. I think it's a fantastic thing to do. You go right ahead and apply." I applied. My acceptance email showed up the next morning. And that's when the butterflies started fluttering.
The family is supportive, but the guys still have a bit of uncertainty about me being gone for two months. Now the question is: can I, during the next six months, get all my ducks in a row for both the ride as well as my guys?
Here's a video of last year's BTUSFMS TRANSAM beginnings. Watching makes me excited and nervous, just like some in the video say.
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