Journal Entry (Sunday February 19, 2023)
When I decide to do a solo bicycle tour, I ask myself, why? What is it I plan to accomplish? For me, the main reason comes down to the satisfaction derived from completing an epic adventure. The word “adventure” isn’t exactly right because I don’t think of it as an adventure in the sense that most people probably do. I would consider a true cycling adventure to be pedaling somewhere like Patagonia, or Turkey, or the Far East. It seems to me that a cycle tour of the U.S. (which is my plan) is certainly an adventure of a lesser degree. For sure, I view it as an accomplishment, an epic accomplishment. There are other reasons for doing this besides the feeling of accomplishment.
There is the experience itself. The riding. When you approach an undertaking like this with the right mindset, it can be a zen experience. For someone that would like to practice medication, but doesn’t know how (I’m trying) this is the easiest way to get into a zen state of mind. I find going solo for a period of time is refreshing and renewing. I’m the sort of person that is dedicated to the people I love, but I need time to rest and reflect and renew in order to be the best partner, father, friend, that I can be.
There is another reason to do a bicycle tour, to give me time to write. I love to write, but don’t confuse that with being a writer, or even wanting to be a writer. Being on a tour gives you built-in time ever day to write. It doesn’t hurt that each day presents no shortage of things to write about. When I finish the tour and have a collection of stories chronicling the journey, the stories become another accomplishment. An accomplishment almost as rewarding as the tour itself.
There is one more reason. I want to try and paint along the way. I’m not a painter. Don’t know how really. The idea of helping to tell the story through paintings just seems like it would be another epic accomplishment… It goes without saying that I will take lots of photos along the way. Of course photos can easily be used to supplement the written stories, but I like to think that hand paintings would be an even more intimate way of doing so.
There are other reasons to do an adventure like this, it’s different for everyone. These are just kind of my things.