That’s me with my badass headband Jessica made for me.
This week I posted a profile pic of me on a rainy day bike ride. I’m wet and smiley. I love that the rain highlights my fuzzy face.
A friend commented, “Velominati Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Fair-weather riding is a luxury reserved for Sunday afternoons and wide boulevards. Those who ride in foul weather – be it cold, wet, or inordinately hot – are members of a special club of riders who, on the morning of a big ride, pull back the curtain to check the weather and, upon seeing rain falling from the skies, allow a wry smile to spread across their face. This is a rider who loves the work.”
And it’s true that riding in the wind and the rain always makes me feel especially tough. It’s hard to explain. It’s not that I enjoy wind and rain but there is something about the way it makes you feel.
It got me wondering about the feeling of being badass and what variety of physical things can bring that feeling out in me. I had it once in canoe with Laura, crossing a big lake, against a deadline of running out of light, into the wind and the waves. So hard but so rewarding. Hot showers and hot coffee at the end of the lake tested better as a result of our efforts.
I also feel it when I lift to failure and drop heavy weights in the gym and then try again and succeed, no matter what the weight. Badass.
Rowing in rough conditions, also badass.
How about you? What things do you do that make you feel badass?
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This was posted and scheduled by past me. I’m actually away this week riding in the the 18th Annual Friends For Life Bike Rally. The Bike Rally is the sustaining fundraiser for the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation (PWA). Your donation helps PWA to fund services for thousands of men, transmen, transwomen, women and children living with HIV/AIDS.
You can sponsor me here.
All donations over $20 will receive a charitable tax receipt.
I raced a 10k yesterday as part of a summer league fixture, which meant I moved my 14 mile long run to today. So I did 20 miles in 24 hours (ish). I would have felt truly badass if not for the fact that I barely had the energy to take my compression socks off when I’d finished!
Right now, with the state of mind I’ve been in, being able to complete workouts at all makes me feel pretty badass!