Big Plans Ahead, or: The Paths of Most Resistance

So, since I quit my job, life has ramped up to take its place! I went to Raystown Lake a couple weekends ago with a large group of friends. We spent the weekend mainly mountain biking, but also swimming, rafting, and some folks took kayaks out. We also of course ate and drank and stayed up late singing songs by the campfire. It was Meghan's first time riding single track since knee surgery, and it was great to get back on the bike with her. She also totally shreds when she isn't in recovery, and we rode around the rock garden for a while. She nailed it after a few tries, but I road it only a couple times and then called it quits while she tried it a few more times. This is probably why she's a better mountain biker than I am. I run over the things that scare me, while she tries them again and again until she can do it.

The weather was great, except for the last night when it started raining around 4 a.m. Luckily, this was also my and E.'s first test trip of our adventuremobile, Nelson Vandela. It wasn't a great build and there are a lot of changes we plan to make before we take it on a longer voyage, but it certainly did the job of carting us to our camping spot, along with all our food and gear, stashing our two bikes, and also providing a comfy bed. We were protected from both bugs and rain, and I'm very excited for all the trips the three of us (and maybe four, once Major Tom finally decides he is content to just hang out at the camp site rather than run off into the woods) will have in the future months and years.

That piece of plywood folds down to become a bed, and tucked behind it are crates full of all our goodies. One of the bikes has a fork mount for the van, but we're still waiting for the other.

Otherwise, I've been working a lot hanging posters, which requires a lot of walking with a heavy pack full of paper, and riding around Pittsburgh to hang them in various neighborhoods. I'm excited for the job, and the mountain bike trip because of a few big plans I have lined up:

1) 2015 I'm walking up the Newfoundland portion of the TransCanada trail from St. John to Terra Nova National Park with other vivacious women writers. It's a long hike - I think it's going to be roughly 200km (roughly 125 miles) so while I'm in shape, I need to be in shape enough to carry my pack and walk for long days without my back flaring up (a genuine concern).

2) in 2016 Meghan and I will be riding our bikes down the Continental Divide. According to that Adventure Cycling write up, which is very helpful, we should ask another person or two to ride with us. Luckily we have 2 years to plan for all of that, but I also need to start riding my bike and training for  a 3,000 mile bike ride.

My kickboxing gym is running their contest again for 45 days of butt kicking, and I'm not sure if I'm in or not yet. You have to show up an average of 2 times per week, take pictures and do a weigh in at the beginning and end of the 45 days. It might be a way to get my ass in gear, literally, but I'm also very busy for someone who just quit her job.

Anyway, those are the reasons why I started up this blog again - we'll see how things go and if I end up breaking some other part of my body (pretty likely to happen, let's be honest here).