Today is the day we have been preparing for. It had been a stressful week for me with two friends simultaneously struggling with the "do I want to live?" question. No matter how people get to this point I still find it incredibly stirring emotionally to be witness to this anguish and struggle. Suffering seems to be universal and I feel quite fortunate at this stage in my life not to be questioning whether my own existence was worth continuing: in fact it seemed quite unfair that I was able to look forwards with excitement about the ride.
Freeways all the way to Benalla made the trip to Harrietville so easy. The atmosphere was thick with smoke from planned burn offs but this still gave a foreboding feeling to the mountain approach: it was as if this was too soon after the recent terrifying alpine fires to be subjecting these valley locals to that inhalable and visible reminder of their experience.
To add to the foreboding feeling was the temperature tonight- positively balmy and there were even cicadas with their shrill summer song chirruping out. But this is April: what sort of weather can we expect over the next 8 days?
Belinda\'s house was welcoming: a lit up space ship hovering as we "docked" underneath. Trundling bags up the staircase to our rooms we performed without event. Belinda had already headed for the pub so we joined her at Snowline where we ate beef and pork, chatting briefly with Bennett the new dad before coffee and tea back at the mother ship. Contented to be here, my apprehension about my equipment (will my seat , pedals, handlebars, shoes be OK?) I guess we will find out tomorrow
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