#61 - What a trip to Alpe d'Huez taught me about letting go (and why I didn't quit)

This summer I set off on my bike from our house in the Auvergne, with Alpe d'Huez as the finish line. Four days, 500 kilometers and roughly 7,500 meters of elevation gain, on my own, from one chambre d'hôte to the next. I did it to cheer on my husband Rik, who climbed the col together with thirty colleagues from Mediafin for Climbing for Life, in support of the Diabetes Liga.In this episode, I take you along. Not as a travel report, but as a mirror. Because everything I ran into along the way, nerve pain in my foot that slowed me down from day one, an Oura ring flagging overtraining, a route I'd misjudged, a thunderstorm on the final climb, is something I recognize one-to-one in what I see every day with the photographers I coach. And in myself, as an entrepreneur.I'll tell you how I dealt with a body that wasn't cooperating, why pushing through is not the same as forcing yourself, how you let go of control without giving up, and why pausing to acknowledge a win matters just as much as the win itself. And I land on my biggest core value: freedom. Do you recognize something of yourself in pushing through when things get hard? Then this episode is for you.Highlights from this episodeThe starting point: why Kaat cycled to Alpe d'Huez, for Rik and Mediafin's Climbing for LifeDay one: 155 kilometers and over 2,000 meters of elevation gain, nerve pain in her foot, and an Oura ring flagging overtrainingThe decision not to stop, and why "ten kilometers at a time" workedWhy photographers stop too soon, right before the momentum arrives: "reculer pour mieux sauter"A misjudged route to the chambre d'hôte in the Vercors, and why letting go was the only optionThe final climb to Alpe d'Huez, in a thunderstorm, crossing the finish aloneWhat the trip confirmed about freedom as her biggest core value, and why that's the reason Kaat became an entrepreneurComing to Patagonia?Want to experience that combination of travel, challenge and depth yourself, camera in hand, alongside one of today's most renowned portrait photographers? In February 2027 I'm heading to a remote estancia near El Calafate, Patagonia, together with Bastiaan Woudt. Eight spots, a group that's well matched, and an experience that sends you home different than you arrived. All info at donkerekamer.com/patagonia. Not sure it's for you? Feel free to book a call with Kaat.Partner of this episodeCameranuAlongside creativity, photographers simply need the right tools, whether that's a new lens or a camera you can rely on during a client shoot. The specialists at Camera Nu think along with you and give honest advice. Head over here and use code DDK10 for 10% off.