So, Miranda, what'll it take to get you to change your login name? Or at least add a big winking smilie to it? Because I really think that once you get out there and start logging the miles, you're going to find that you're a lot sportier than you ever suspected you were!

I'm another one who managed to think of myself as a total spaz for a lot of my life -- not only did I get picked last for every team; not only did I duck and cover every time a ball came at me in gym class; I thought for years that I was so physically messed up that I couldn't even ride a bike, thanks to having given up my faithful high school vintage roadie for a very cheap and ill-fitting knee-bashing one-ton mountain bike at around the time they first got really popular.

When I hit my 30s (and an unrelated career crisis), I took up fencing and really found my inner jock for the first time ever; when I started to get serious about beating a bunch of fast, aggressive, 20-year-old guys, I realized that my aerobic fitness was crap. Since running made my knees scream, I took another look at bikes, and found that with a lighter and properly-fitted bike, I haven't had a single twinge that wasn't related to falling off.

I promise you, you're going to be able to do your 35 miles and then some. If you can handle the big city on your old one-speed Schwinn, you're already a better athlete than you realize. You just need to believe it.