My name is Susan Muro, I am 40 this year, so the big 4-0. I started riding as an addition to my workouts during my journey to lose 130 pounds and it has continued to take me on journeys from small ones on weeknight rides on Johnson County paved trails, seeing blue herons and bobcats, to the epic trip that I just took to Ketchum, Idaho and thru the Grand Tetons. I decided that I was going to, in a kind of perverse way, treat myself to a new bicycle, and then two rides. So I challenged myself to do the Dirty Kanza 100 and then actually Rebecca Rusch’s ride that she organizes out of Ketchum, Idaho. It’s called Rebecca’s Private Idaho.
So those were the two big rides for me this summer. They are both 100 mile gravel rides and, you know, just all of the things that I mentioned earlier: the learning how to train and plan and be prepared to take care of myself during those events was a really big step for me last summer. I planned on the way home from Ketchum to stop in the Grand Tetons and camp for a couple of days. I haven’t done that since I was a kid and been responsible for that ever and so I figured out that I could plan and execute a short car camping trip. And now I am ready to try backpacking and take the next step!
I have learned that I am capable of riding 100 miles in one day, and I’ve learned that I’m able to plan to train to prepare for that, to organize myself and to care for myself and succeed on long rides. And another new experience this summer I’ve learned that I am capable of going on camping trips and planning and preparing for that, and it’s just been a great way for me to build real strength and confidence. And it’s taught me that the world is bigger than the inside of my apartment, office, and car, and that there is adventure everywhere.