TGP59: In The Hot Seat

Go Prepared? 

We know the project car will never be finished. We know perfection is the enemy of done. So why do we keep using perfection as a measure of our readiness for big, life-changing adventures?

We can fix our machines.
We can be ready for anything.
So why don’t we feel ready yet?

It’s easy to overlook the fundamental things happening when we’re turning our own wrenches and building custom vehicles. Yes, we’re making them better. Yes, it’s the pursuit of high performance—but it’s also reinforcing our own senses of confidence and agency.

It’s kinda like what I was saying on that Cyber Singer post last week, right? Every time we fix or improve something on our vehicles, we reinforce the idea that we can fix or improve anything.

As much confidence as we have in our abilities, we all reach a point where we have to make a leap of faith to continue the journey. You know, eventually you HAVE TO pull the engine or open the gearbox or—shudder—figure out that random electrical gremlin.

We spend all kinds of time researching which parts to buy, almost desperately seeking the ideal balance of fast, right, and affordable. Our blessing is also our curse. We know enough about our machines to know all the little nooks and crannies where things could be improved—and so we often find ourselves lost in thought, obsessing over how to be ready for whatever in the face of myriad potential failure points.

The project will never be finished. Therefore we will never be ready—Until we draw that line in the sand and commit to being ready.

Or a line in the snow, maybe?

Note: The audio may not reflect the correct episode number or link. Brian lost count of episodes so we had to re-number them. 

Andy & Mercedes are doing the 2020 Alcan Winter Rally. When you need to be at the starting line February 26th, ready to drive 5,000 frozen miles to the Arctic Circle—the Alcan 5000 finish line is the start of the world famous, Iditarod sled dog race—your automotive to-do list gets real tight, real quick.

Mercedes did the Rebelle Rally in 2018 and got bit hard by the rally raid bug. Here’s a link to episode 19 where she and teammate Elise Bent told me all about it. Since then, she’s gone back to support rally friends and cover the event as media. (Her story ran in the New York Times, by the way.)

Somewhere along the way, she and Andy starting talking about this crazy, 5,000-mile TSD rally adventure to the Arctic Circle—in February. It’s kinda like the Olympics. There are summer and winter versions, and each runs once every four years. After lots of careful consideration, Mercedes and Andy decided they were ready enough to put their names on the waiting list.

To their surprise, they got called up to the big show almost immediately. The “Terra Tractor”, Mercedes’ JDM Pajero, wasn’t quite ready.

This is where things get really interesting, really quickly.

You might say the hard deadline of being ready for such an incredibly intense adventure—in a 20-year old Mitsubishi never, technically, sold on this continent—lit a fire under them.

In this episode, Mercedes and Andy tell us how they arrived at the decision to take on such an automotive adventure as big as the 50th state itself, what it’s taken to prepare in terms of vehicle modifications, how it’s impacted their automotive to-do list, and who’s been there to help them prioritize things to make sure they—and the Terra Tractor—are ready for a life changing, frozen adventure.

Pick a date. Make the commitment.

Draw a line in the sand—or the snow?

You’re ready for anything.

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