Pedalin'

A few days into "BIG" trip.
-La Sal, Utah [USA]

Four months ago, I began a major undertaking, arguably one of the largest of my life.

In October, 2015, I began cycling from my home state of Utah (in the USA) to Argentina, and back.  Really, not much more to it than that... go south until there is no more south, and then turn around and go north, staying on the bike as much as is possible.  In the process, I anticipate that I will visit nearly every country in North and South America^[1] and cycle over 40,000 km... the equivalent of circling the globe at the equator^[2].

My goal is to meet new people, share experiences, and enjoy the journey.  I view myself as a fairly average guy that is trying to live life to its fullest, one day and amazing experience at a time.

What follows are the stories along the path.

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It's been exactly four months... four months down to the second.  In the most unexpected and surreal way imaginable, I find myself in precisely the same place, time, and surroundings that I was in four months ago... an unfinished basement at 3 in the morning surrounded with odd pieces of bike gear and dirty clothes and thoughts.

But this time, it's different... I am different.

Last time I was here, I was anxious.  It wasn't the nervous, annoying kind of anxiousness... the emotional equivalent of a barking Chihuahua, jumping and pulsating and shaking with angst.  No, last time it was the anxiousness of being at the start of the climb, knowing that there was work to be done and experiences to be lived.  It was untested resolve and certainty that difficulties would come, swirling like eddies in a long series of rapids; each unable to overturn the boat, but waiting to grab and twist and change its course.  It was that feeling of foreshadowing that churns from deep within the gut, the knowing that "something-big-is-about-to-happen-and-all-I-can-do-is-hang-on-and-hope-for-the-best".  That, that was the feeling... that inexplicable draw of unknown that has pushed humans for centuries to leave the comfort of home and family and routine in search of something new, something that inspires... the search for discovery and living past the mundane.

Most noticeably, I am physically different.  I have lost weight.  It's not that I've ever had a lot of weight to be lost, but now, now, I can eat five full meals a day, devouring 4,000+ calories without a thought and I remain more lean than I have ever been.  My body has become transformed and tuned to moving a 20+ kg bike with 25+ kg of gear and 80+ kg of flesh and bone over 100+ km a day.  Rain, snow, heat, wind, it doesn't matter... that's the task at hand.

I have also lost emotional and mental weight.  In a daily struggle of living life on the edge, the things that do not matter, the things that don't better support me or my task, have been discarded.  It is different than anything I've experienced before... unsurprisingly liberating, but oddly unexpected.

Now, it's a different 3 am, and I've already made the jump.  I have dipped my cup in and tasted, and I want more.

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As my thoughts swirl, I search for a way to distill my experiences... to crystallize events and put them into coherent words... but I can't... I lose my tongue.  I search for words that convey thought and emotion, but it is difficult to find them; they are elusive, and I feel that they should be that way.

It has all been so big, so raw, and yet somehow still so ordinary.  Some days, it feels like I just wake-up and sit on a bike, like it is any other 9 to 5 job.  Other days, the most extraordinary events take place... things that I couldn't possibly create even with the most vivid imagination.

The most unexpected sensation is that it all somehow feels like a lifetime has passed in no time at all.  This juxtaposition of extremes creates a feeling that perhaps it just hasn't happened... like someone just decided to rip off four pages of a calendar, or maybe, the universe just hit the fast-forward button, or perhaps, it's been a bizarre case of déjà vu and I've just awoke.

But all these feelings are betrayed by fact.  I have lived, I have cried, I have laughed, I have been humbled... I have hurt, I have ached, I have danced, and I have worked.  I have experienced highs and lows that I couldn't have guessed.  I have found new friends in the least expected places and amongst the least expected people.  I have been the recipient of kindness beyond belief.  I have pushed my physical, emotional, and mental limits.  I have seen humanity, marveling in its beauties and lamenting its shame.

Slowly, the stories are beginning to emerge; stories with wonders and quirks, reflections and locations.  It takes time to let details congeal and thoughts marinade... it takes time for the stories to find their place.

Tellin' stories.
-Guaymas, Sonora [México]

Footnotes:
1.  Sorry Canada and Belize, it's nothing personal.  I really do like you guys, but.... it just didn't work out this time... can we still be friends?!?!?  I promise that it's all me and my baggage, it has absolutely nothing to do with you.   -return to the story

2.  The distance around the Earth at the equator, is 40,075 kilometers (24,901 miles).  The Earth's diameter is widest at the Equator, creating a phenomenon called an equatorial bulge.   -return to the story