Facing Your Fears

[delete this account]

 

[Colorado Cool Breeze]

I have two, cars/hwys and being caught outside in an extreme weather change without the proper gear or escape route.

I solved the first by selling my road bike in 1980 only after my first 6 months in Denver.
Coming from a laid back southern city of 250,000 Denver was another world.
In Colorado the pickup truck drivers have a game. How close can I get my side mirror to that roadie.

In my mind there is no solving this unless I wanted to move to an area less congested with traffic.
However that will never happen because the bike paths and mtn trails offer everything I want in bike adventure
without looking over my shoulder for the grim reaper, driving a pickup truck, every second.

The way I am solving my second concern is what brought me to this website in the first place.
How do I select the proper gear and what is the best way to stow and use that gear when traveling in the back country.

As my biking adventures take me farther into the back country and for longer periods of time I have found
having the proper equipment can really add to my enjoyment of the trip even if the weather turns really bad.
Exhibit A:
Tucked under my tarp in storm mode hanging 18 inch off the ground in my hammock cocooned in dry downy goodness
while the Colorado summer sky opened up. Please note there is not one patch of dry ground as far as the eye can see.

[Bedrock]

CCB,
after sitting through several rainstorms in the high country this year watching water cascade under my mega light (a.k.a. circus tent) your view from that hammock looks sweet!

[Woodland]

CCB,
after sitting through several rainstorms in the high country this year watching water cascade under my mega light (a.k.a. circus tent) your view from that hammock looks sweet!

2nd that as I held my bivy sack up off my face trying to keep those same downpours from not draining directly down into the mesh opening! Life is grand huh 

[Woodland]

Surprisingly for me this year on the CTR I found a new fear, more of an obstacle really.
It was this: Realizing I didn't want something as bad as I thought I did (or at least that's what I thought at the time)

It hit me on top of the Ten Mile Range, after that ridiculous push up to the crest. I was so drained, frustrated and angry that I completely lost my desire to get to Durango. I would have happily quit right then and there and gone home. Obviously I had to ride down and then outside of Copper I found fresh legs and had some of the most fun I've ever had on a bike ripping through the singletrack at Copper at sundown.

That is the nature of the beast on the CTR: up and down (literally and figuratively). Major mood swings, unlike anything I've ever experienced.

So how do you overcome the lack of drive? What is it that tells you deep down that you should just keep going because it will get better around the next bend?

Yeah, Thunderstorms scare me (but there is only bad gear, not bad weather!) And crashing scares me, running out of food also.

But for me it's that loss of focus for something you've trained and planned for and dreamed of so relentlessly and tirelessly.

[delete this account]

 

[offroute]

Fears...why fear? Tool up, study the route, have redundant systems, keep the load in check, leave regular updates with others, have emergency communication, test all gear whether new or used beforehand...and if in doubt, take a bivy.

Agree that cars are best avoided. And the soft things that drive them. And lightning.


Seriously, my only true fear is being incapable one day and thinking I should have done more outdoor adventure. That fear has cost me a lot of lost wages Couldn't be more okay with me...

[Velek]

Wow, I've traveled 15,000-ish miles now by myself.  I've also done a lot of car racing, speed doesn't scare me.  And a fair amount of SCUBA in ocean in the dark, so darkness doesn't scare me.  Plus I'm a country boy.  So, I grew up with lots of dogs and other animals running around.  Russia has so many feral dogs they make jokes about it in their movies, but they're pretty harmless.  I've even scared them away from Russian maidens in distress .
I've ridden through Beijing and a number of other nightmarish Chinese cities, so now I'm not really afraid of traffic.  Plus I live in a large US metro area.  I'm just careful and try to stay out of people's way.  I would never ride wearing headphones because I depend on my hearing as a second set of eyes.
I've ridden across Colorado without having anyone try to clip me.  Maybe if you live there and ride 1,000s of miles a year you will eventually meet a jerk.  Maybe join the NRA and sticker up your bike ?  I've had times where I carried a pistol with me.
I've gone through some wilderness survival training (Boulder Outdoor Survival School) where they would take you out and you would have to get your own food for a week and a half.  Talk about a bonk!  But you keep going.  Water is what's important.
It would seem to me that the best way really is to face your adventures boldly yet prepared.  Would a better question be what you need to know and have to be prepared and quell these fears?
Wow, somewhere along the line I became a self propelled world traveler...

[Velek]

in my mind China seems like paradise, but your reference makes it seem daunting, even dismal

Sorry, but, yes, it is.  The money has started flowing, but most of it is still like the Black Hole of Calcutta.  The tap water is absolutely unfit for human consumption and I had critters crawling up through the drains in some of the hotels I stayed at.  At least the ones where the shitter wasn't a slit you squat over behind the building.
The streets tend to be garbage strewn.
If you're afraid of traffic in the US you would be paralyzed with fear there.
But most of the roads are nice and smooth .
How about a few near collisions between semis:

Chinese Trucks

Or, bicycling through Beijing (relatively orderly, actually):

Bicycling through Beijing

[Velek]

good info, anything forthcoming helps everyone i think, better to see 'the twinkling lights' for what they are, thanks man, and congrats on pullin' thru tough territory

Thanks.  Oh, it's also still very Communist and unfree.

[Velek]

I first went to China by myself in 2010.  In two weeks I saw an old hag behind the Forbidden City begging with the body of a toddler and a man subduing a woman who was trying to run out in front of a bus.  I guess they take breakups a little more to the heart there.
I got about 500 miles before I ran out of steam.  When I left I was so sick I could barely stand up and woke up in the middle of the night wondering where I was for the next week.
In 2011 I went directly north instead of south which worked out a lot better.  I made it to the Russian border in three and a half weeks.  I expected it to only take a bit more than two, but Inner Mongolia (basically the eastern Gobi) is a rough patch of land.

[Velek]

Oh, yes.  There are feral dogs everywhere in Russia.

[Velek]

My ex wife, who was mainland Chinese, was terrified of cats and dogs when I met her.  It took me a while to convince her different.  Oddly she changed her mind on a trip to China to visit the in laws who had a Chihuahua.  I guess seeing as how I saw at least one rabid dog when I was there, I can see how a girl would get that way.

[Velek]

See?  The US isn't that scary .

[Velek]

Really, the numbers are on our side.  I tell people that after crossing these dangerous countries my worst injury was a stubbed toe when my foot slipped off of the pedal.  Not sure what's next.  It's nice to be home .

[Velek]

How about the Kremlin.  I need to do some color correction on this image someday:

[Velek]

I prefer the 'pink' version, it softens the harsh day and 'suggests' a red/communist vista. (almost done with your blog, it reads like an exciting book!) (ye, more on the dogs...I like how you've stated that in the United States, we are really fortunate to be blessed with so much wild life to encounter)

Yeah, that took a bit of contrast out of it.

[Velek]

What I visually/mentally gather it's as thou you melded together with nature itself. How many people can do that? Thanks Velek.

Yeah, I camped out most of the time crossing Russia.  I got into the groove pretty well.

[Velek]

There were a lot of places in China that I can only describe as apocalyptic.

[Velek]

In China they have open sewers frequently.  My ex described about how one of her childhood friends once fell into a "river of shit".