Is this really such a great idea?

As I lie here under a fluffy duvet with the electric blanket cranked up to 'roast' the idea of getting on my bike in the dark every morning and heading out into hostile weather seems like such a dumb idea! And yet, this time next week that's exactly what I will be doing. The 3rd batch of Freedom Challenge 2012 riders have just set off from Pietermaritzburg and I hope the weather is warmer there than it is here in Gauteng where the mercury is hovering around zero. I really don't like getting up in the cold. Zero is probably going to be considered a balmy start to the day on the trail. Reading the chit chat on the twitter feed is interesting - those waiting for their start batches are divided into the excited novices and the worried old hands. The weather looks like it is going to be horrendous this year. Having said that, I have always found the anticipation of bad weather to be worse than the reality on the day. Let's hope it plays out that way this year.
I am not in the condition I was hoping for fitness wise but must dig in and make the best of what I have for the first few days. After that we are all broken and your start condition no longer matters. I have a very fluid race strategy at the moment. In the cold and dark early mornings a 26 day strategy, dashing from one warm fireplace to another, seems optimal. When the sun is up and there is no wind, chopping 10 days off my predawn strategy seems like a good idea. Then the sun goes down and 26 days seems like such a push!
Sunlight, albeit a little pale, is poking through my window. Time to face the world again.