Day 1- Moore

It’s 8pm Sunday 2 May 2021. Riding today 3 1/2 hours, 48km@18km/hr. I can’t believe I’m finally underway on what has been an epic process of preparation. My challenge started end of October last year getting the house ready to rent and finance this next stage in life. Since then it’s been trying to navigate how to approach the 10 desert challenge. It’s been an incredible ride already. I’m very excited to fundraise for beyond blue to help build the best mental health for people in Australia. Mental health is a precious commodity for all of us no more so since learning to live with COVID. I have always struggled with anxiety and find ‘challenges’ a great way to get back to basics and stretch the stuff that counts. It’s really important to me to keep evolving through experience that puts me out of my comfort zone and push the boundaries. Challenges are my way to keep learning about the person I am and moving towards the woman I want to be. Living with anxiety, it’s all too easy for me to get overwhelmed and retreat to what feels safe and more comfortable. But this feeling is short lived and I’m much happier living life more edgy and active. An amazing part of preparations has been the generous support from sponsors to help cover the costs and travel safely. Sponsors have enabled us to get underway and are a huge source of inspiration and motivation. I thought about this a lot today during the ride. It was a bit of a slog and will be until the body gets used to the load. I was later leaving and it was an emotional farewell in Woodford with my partner Dawn and our boy Dylan. They are my rock and gravity towards becoming my bigger, stronger wiser kinder self. My family have been amazing with all their support and help. It helps carry the load with perspective about what matters most. This section of ride to Birdsville is going to be hard but I’m looking forward to getting the body and mind in sync. It’s been a decade since I did my last fundraising cycle and the body is older. But I still have lots of edgy adventures in me and we will certainly be having our share of them over the next 138 days. It’s very special to see the support we have received already through donations for Beyond Blue. Please share our challenge through your socials and let’s smash that $10,000 out of the park. Time for noodles and zzzzzs. Night and talk soon xx