Reflections

Days 51 & 52. Thankfully, the two days I chose to take as rest days turned out to be rain days. My bike was tuned up, and another rear tire was placed on it by the good people at Ski Hut Adventure Center in Duluth.

Day 53. Duluth to Solon Springs. 46 miles. 3199 TTD. 2000 feet elevation. Weather perfect.

This feels a little like one of those stupid Tick Tock or Instagram posts in which people are basically saying, “Look where I am, and you’re not.” However, I want to say how incredibly grateful I am to continue on this ride across a country that is beautiful and be able to meet people who are consistently pleasant and kind.

Perhaps part of my contentedness is the fact that I only rode 45 miles today, and it was an easy ride. It began with more beautiful trail in Duluth. I’m convinced that city is perhaps a hidden gem, at least for a few months of the year. This evening, I’m again in a beautiful place sitting on a dock on Saint Croix Lake in Salon Springs, Wisconsin. Wisconsin is the second of the three US states I cross before heading back into Ontario at Sault Ste Marie. So far, Wisconsin has been significantly better than Minnesota in terms of bug population. I have no idea why, but I’m grateful.

Seeing how I have now posted over 50 times and expect to be on this trip for somewhere around 100+ days, this is perhaps midpoint TimeWise in my journey. I’ve also crossed a significant chunk of Canada and almost half of the part of the US I’m crossing. As you might imagine, most nights, when I wake up to use the bathroom, it takes me a minute to figure out where the bathroom is located. I don’t even try to think about where I’m located. As for days and dates, I know it’s the middle of summer, and that’s about as close as I can guess without looking. 

It is easy to start wondering if I can do this for another 50 days. Yet, I haven’t really thought about the previous 50 days except for each of them as they came. As I’ve likely said before, bicycling long distances puts you in the moment, perhaps more than even meditation. If you don’t live in the moment you live in agony thinking about how far, how high, how hard etc. Undoubtedly, the consistent circular movement of the pedals is meditative in and of itself. I’m not sure that my meditation or time thinking alone has resulted in anything earth-shattering. However, it has been a pleasant reprieve from the normal rush of life where so much of life is missed. I continue to enjoy my three goals each day and the interactions they produce. This, while focusing on getting simply from point A to point B.

And while in some ways the past 50 days are a bit of a jumble, within them are markedly memorable places and people marking the journey and making it unforgettable. Which I think, is the real value in life.