Fear and Loving
Out There
Willow Belden
4.6 • 608 Ratings
🗓️ 3 August 2017
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Outdoor adventures have a remarkable ability to instill a sense of confidence in us.
In 2009, Jackie Sofia went on a trip that did just that. It was a cross-country bike ride, which she was undertaking with dozens of other riders.
When she set off, Jackie was shy and socially anxious -- terrified by what she was about to do. Four thousand miles later, she had been forced out of her shell and fallen in love with risk taking. It was a transformation that would shape the course of her next few years, emboldening her to go places and achieve things she never would have dreamed of in the past. Suddenly, the world was full of possibilities.
But what happens when that newfound confidence gets shattered -- when you realize you might not be invincible?
On this episode, Jackie shares her story.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Willow Belden and you're listening to Out There, the podcast that explores big questions through intimate stories in the outdoors. |
| 0:14.1 | Support for this episode comes from Fialraven, serving nature for over 50 years, and from Kind, makers of healthy and delicious snacks. |
| 0:23.1 | If you'd like to try some Kind snacks, there's a special offer for Out There listeners. |
| 0:27.5 | You can get a sample box with 10 different bars for just $10, with free shipping. |
| 0:32.4 | For details, go to kindsnacks.com slash out. |
| 0:36.4 | Support also comes from the Two Moon 24, a brand new 24-hour mountain bike race. |
| 0:42.4 | It's being held on September 24th in Glendos State Park, which is just three hours north of Denver, Colorado. |
| 0:49.0 | It is a beautiful course. I've actually ridden it with one of the race organizers, and it's in a lovely park with a reservoir and really good camping. |
| 0:57.0 | You can do the race solo or with a team, and for more information, just go to 2moon24.com. |
| 1:03.0 | That's 2 moon, all spelled out, 24, as in the numbers, dot com. |
| 1:12.1 | Today's story starts with a bike ride. |
| 1:14.9 | A bike ride called the 4K for cancer. |
| 1:18.1 | In this case, 4K does not mean 4 kilometers. |
| 1:21.3 | It means 4,000, as in 4,000 miles. |
| 1:25.5 | It's a bike ride that goes across the entire United States, all the way from |
| 1:29.2 | Baltimore to San Francisco, and it takes the whole summer, two months of riding all day, every day, |
| 1:35.2 | with a team of 20-some other riders. Participants are mostly college students or recent grads, |
| 1:41.6 | and they're all more or less at the beginning of their adult lives. |
| 1:45.0 | They don't really have anything holding them back. And they share an unbridled sense of adventure, |
| 1:50.6 | a feeling that they can do anything, that the world is theirs for the taking. But this story |
| 1:57.5 | doesn't end with the bike ride. It takes us beyond to far-flung regions of the world, and it shows us what happens years |
| 2:04.9 | later when the more sobering realities of adulthood set in. |
... |
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