Lots of you have wanted to know what it was really like to do the trip. Here are my recollections presented as highs and lows:
High: I have to thank and compliment my wife who did the day to day blogs. Somehow she managed to extract from our evening phone calls and my daily cell phone photos, the feelings, essence and events of our day – and she added touches to her commentary that brought it all to life. I did not get many chances to read the blog, but when I did, I was like many others who commented that they read the blogs daily (and missed them if there was a one day pause or those who found out about the blog late and then read all of it to catch up). To quote a close friend, “What a tremendous job Jan did with keeping everyone informed so well. And what a difference for those ‘left behind’ to have these constant updates!”
High: Being free to ignore emails…
High: Time to think, to smell, to see, to experience. The clarity that comes from slowing down is profound.
Highs and Lows: Actually having time for thinking. Sometimes wonderful, sometimes a challenge! Biking across Canada does not allow a lot of chances to ride side by side. Safety and road conditions simply do not encourage it. Nor does traffic noise or a wind across your ears allow you to hear. Thus one has a lot of time to think one’s own thoughts for hours on end. As the trek went on, I enjoyed the time to reflect on what was around us, events of the day, previous days on the bike and life in general. And for a host of reasons, my thoughts became more positive as I moved from stage to stage of the trip.
Highs and Lows: Feelings and thoughts changed as the trip unfolded. Our efforts in the initial stages were affected by the novelty factor and the assessment of our abilities to do this. Also it was very rewarding to see the kilometers add up, first to 1000, then 2000, etc. In the middle stages, the novelty had worn off and we were faced with some geography – the prairies and Shield that were less stimulating on a day to day basis and this allowed me to be more prone to negative thoughts about how I was feeling physically. I think it became easy to focus on what was happening to my body when the surroundings were less stimulating. It took time to learn to counter this by reliving in my mind some of the earlier stages and other events that I could remember warmly. But that “discomfort” factor, plus the gradual increase in our day to day kilometers caused changes in overall day to day highs and lows especially in the middle stages.
For example, I tended to fall prey to the "squirm factor" every day due to seat soreness - which included a greater tendency for me to feel less positive during the last parts of rides.
Highs and Lows: Pleasant mornings were always a high. But motivation tended to shift within rides; as we got faster - and we got tailwinds - we completed larger parts of rides earlier and often had covered 80 or 90 k by lunch. It was easy to be motivated when facing such a short ride in the afternoon! Also I finally mastered thought-shifting when I found myself mired in self analysis of the physical effort. I became confident and aware that some days it felt like I could just go forever. However, we learned the hard way that succumbing to this temptation could be a mistake because safety can be compromised when you are tired and not able to monitor the situation when it was needed. So we decided to more or less cap our distance at 150k, because by then we knew it was going to get done - if there was no headwind (and we saw mostly tailwinds east of the prairies, which was wonderful)
Lows and a High: The days when you wake up and (choose one) –its cold outside, it’s raining, you did not sleep well, you really don’t feel energized at all, you are sore and don’t feel like it, none of the above, or all of the above and you still don’t want to face the thought of peddling for 150k again. Luckily once you get on the bike, this always went away and you become engaged in the ride again.
High: You wake up, it’s warm and sunny, the birds are singing, you find a restaurant and get your breakfast (coffee!) right away, AND you are really feeling like this is a great day to go for little pedal…
High: The last days and the final phase of the ride began when we realized we were nearly home. For me that started at Collingwood and reached fever pitch when it was obvious that we were ten days from home. It also peaked again when we realized we had under 1000k to go. For me it seemed analogous to what might happen in building a rocket. First, a lot of novelty, learning how to work and the motivated effort at the start, then less motivation but better effort in the middle, and real excitement when that countdown began; - 10, 9, 8 ,7, … has real impact!. There was elation as I counted down the days to Wolfville.
Highs: Getting past the flat spots when you are thinking that quitting could be an option. (It never was). Dealing with challenges (lows) and emerging stronger for it! Mosquitoes, rough roads, one more hill or pass were all tough earlier times but I learned to face them and put it aside: I just did what was needed and shut out the negative thoughts - although I will confess that headwinds still can frustrate me. It was character building to deal with it and continue to the end.
High: That first sight of Nova Scotia at the border.
High: Those occasional glimpses of trains. Trains have been an interest of mine since childhood. This has turned into an extensive collection of old black and white negatives and photographs. We spent a lot of time paralleling the national transcontinental railway routes and it always was exciting to see the trains.
High and Low: Tug loved to get newspapers in order to check the baseball scores, particularly
for his beloved Yankees. When he could get one, I usually browsed through the paper (especially once the Tour de France started). One photograph really struck me and I clipped the picture and caption out and kept it with me from that point on: A little girl was shown as she dragged a heavy sledge across sand, leaning into a harness as she brought a heavy container of water to her family in a refugee camp. Her plight and effort reminded me about how lucky I am: I stopped complaining (in my thoughts) after she “joined me”. The contrast between her “choices” and my freedom to choose how my life was unfolding in Canada will always be with me now. I still have that picture.
High: Humming to myself over and over, the first lines of Steppenwolf’s Born to be Wild: “Get your motor running, head out on the highway, looking for adventure and whatever comes our way, …” and John Denver’s Sunshine on My Shoulders.
Low: I have always told my children when they are away from home to remember that they live in a pretty small world and that if they are ever really homesick or in trouble, they are never farther from home than a credit card and a few hours on a plane. I was wrong. There were times when I was on the prairies or Canadian Shield and we had not seen a human habitation for hours nor would we see one for more hours; this country is “small” only if you have a car available. And if you are prepared to quit in the face of adversity. Otherwise it is quite possible to feel some desperation very far from help. However, I cannot begin to imagine what the early settlers must have felt when they explored or travelled in these vast spaces. In truth I was on a surfaced road and there were occasional cars which could be flagged down. And most of the time my cell phone had service. None-the-less I found the isolation intimidating at times.
Nature:
Highs: nature up close. The direct experience with nature, weather, and all things outdoors when you are camping and riding a bike for weeks on end.
Highs: The mornings out west when the Meadow Larks sang for us. They would sit on fence posts and their song was ethereal in the quiet of the early morning.
Highs and lows of fog: Being out on the bike in the early morning mists along the road. Hazardous but also very beautiful when the sun breaks through it.
Highs: Thousands of beautiful wetlands along our route and the associated flora and fauna. Wonderful!
High: Lake Superior: simply stunning!
Lows: We make jokes about “road kill”, but I had never seen the extent of what is really happening when we go so fast in cars. Our highways are death traps; we saw so many mammals, large and small – moose, deer, foxes, a bear cub, pine marten, skunks raccoons, woodchucks, porcupines, squirrels, gophers/ground squirrels in the thousands, birds of all types – mostly songbirds but particularly the many seagulls and crows who come to dine, insects by the thousands – the larger ones - dragonflies most visibly, since they are large and like to congregate over roads where their prey seems to be prevalent, too many turtles snakes frogs and salamanders. The list goes on and on. I recall thinking that this is only one place on one road at one moment in time and how this is the tip of an iceberg.
More tomorrow
Gary
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