Nerves

This is the card that I got today, from Dawn. (Of course it's from Dawn, she is a Zapinski and therefore a member of the Clan Who Always Sends Perfect Cards. She has an extra super-power, which is that the card always gets there on exactly the right day. It's downright spooky.) I love that the flowers are actually sparkly, making this a card of three of my favorite things: cute bikes, flowers, and sparklies. Throw a couple of brownies on there and an image of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy (wet or dry, I ain't picky) and you'd have a map of the inside of my daydreaming brain.

So yesterday I was all worked up about this weekend in an "I can't think about it or I'll vomit" sort of way. This morning, I was all worked up in an "I...just want to...CRY or something... weeping - tears - wailing cry what?" sort of way. (I didn't cry, just kept getting that pressure in the chest/throat, you know?) And then somewhere this afternoon I started to get excited. Like, happy excited. The good kind of nervous.

Yay!

Part of it is just excitement to go to a new place. Go and see it in general, I mean, but also to bike around it. For me, the training rides can get boring because we go to the same places and do the same routes, riding the same loops repeatedly. So to go and see a whole new place so different from here - it just sounds like a terrific way to spend a day, exhausting as it may be. Variety is a really big issue for me. If I think of it just like a bike ride around a gorgeous bit of scenery, and leave out that whole thing about the 100 miles, I totally don't feel like ripping my hair out at all and start to really like the idea.

I'm also just excited to get on a bike again. I don't like this tapering business, it feels like forced bed rest or something. Oh, did I even tell you I'm tapering? That's what this is called - you taper your training, as in you don't train the week before the ride and you rest rest rest. It keeps your legs fresh. I haven't been on a long-ish ride in two weeks. It's driving me BONKERS. I want to stretch my legs and feel the wind on my face and just ride my damn bike. Man, it really is easy to get addicted to a daily bike ride, let me tell you. I suspect I'll be so happy to get on the bike that I won't want to get off until at least like 40 or 50 miles in. Of course, by mile 70 I'll probably be ready for ti to be over and start whining are we there yet? But I am not thinking of all the possible/probable horribly unpleasant things awaiting me. Optimism!

Okay. So. I am all packed. I leave early tomorrow to get to the airport for a morning flight. (So help me god, public transport BETTER NOT SCREW ME OVER again.) I am all packed and hoping that my very stuffed bag will be allowed as a carry-on, because I hate hate HATE to check a bag. (Really, though, when your baggage must include helmet, pedals, and a CamelBak, there really is only so much you can do.) I left instructions for the cat-sitter and finished all my deadline-ish work at the office and asked the neighbors to water my plants and all that's left is to sleep and wake and shower and go.

So I should sleep, then. Yeah.

I will be taking my laptop with me, though, and I will update again while I'm there. Already packed the camera, so you'll get pictures and news over the next few days. Promise!

PS: TSA better not confiscate my Tiger Balm, as it is not a liquid or a gel. I need my psychosomatic placebo comforts, okay?