Alone Enough

7 snips

Mar 24, 2023

Guest

Lael Wilcox

Guest

Cat Jaffee

Cat Jaffee, a radio producer and ultra-endurance mountain biker, shares her profound journey through cancer and isolation during the pandemic. Lael Wilcox, a record-breaking bikepacker, discusses her controversial race experiences and the challenges of gender and support in competitive sports. Together, they explore how bikepacking became a transformative outlet for solitude and resilience. Their candid conversations reveal the mental and emotional dynamics of endurance, highlighting the struggle and beauty of truly embracing self-reliance on the road.

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ANECDOTE

Kat's Diagnosis and Isolation

Kat Jaffe was diagnosed with cancer and faced isolation due to the pandemic.
Her cancer journey, including doctor's appointments and treatments, occurred in solitude.

ANECDOTE

Finding Solace in Bikepacking

During treatment, Kat researched bikepacking and meticulously prepared for races.
She focused on gear and self-sufficiency, finding solace in the sport's independence.

ANECDOTE

Training and Finding Freedom

Kat trained during treatment, gradually increasing her strength and endurance.
She completed a 1,200-mile race, finding freedom and healing through the sport.

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Cat Jaffee didn’t necessarily think of herself as someone who loved being alone. But then, the pandemic hit. And she got diagnosed with cancer. Actually, those two things happened on the exact same day, at the exact same hour. In the shadow of that nightmarish timing, Cat found her way to a sport that celebrated the solitude that was forced on her, and taught her how to not only embrace self-reliance, but to love it.

This sport is called competitive bikepacking. And in these competitions, riders have to bring everything they need to complete epic bike rides totally by themselves. They pack all the supplies they think they’ll need to survive, and have to refuse some of the simplest, subtlest, most intangible boosts that exist in our world.

But a leader has emerged in this sport. Her name is Lael Wilcox, and she’s a total rockstar in the world of competitive bikepacking. She’s broken all kinds of records. And also, some rules. Most recently, on this one ride she did across the entire state of Arizona.

We set out to find out what it means — for Cat, for Lael, and for any of us — to endure incredibly hard things, totally alone. The answer is on the course, in our bodies, and hidden in that mysterious place between us and the people we care about.

Special thanks to Anna Haslock, Nico Sandi, Michael Fryar, Moab Public Radio, Nichole Baker and Payson McElveen for sharing their studio with us, and The Radavist, for letting us use the audio of Lael’s ride across Arizona. You can watch the original video here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HOk0MmgFwE).

EPISODE CREDITS

This episode was reported by - Cat Jaffee and Rachael CusickProduced by - Rachael Cusick with help from - Pat WaltersOriginal music and sound design by - Jeremy Bloom with mixing help from - Arianne WackFact-checking by - Emily KriegerEdited by - Pat Walters

CITATIONS:

Videos:

You can watch Lael’s you can watch Lael’s ride across Arizona here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HOk0MmgFwE).

And see the next season of racing by following along on TrackLeaders.com (http://trackleaders.com/)Articles:You can find Jim Coan’s study on emotional support here (https://zpr.io/Y2yMXZMgnMKv).Audio:For more on Lael Wilcox, you can check out her interviews with the podcasts Adventure Stache (https://zpr.io/EtkFsW8b6VdS) and Bikes or Death (https://zpr.io/ZSTAECjAifn5).

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