Dots connecting dots connecting dots connecting. It’s been so many instances of meeting people who recommend a spot few hundred miles up leading to a perfectly warm little cabin instead of $$ cold tent state park that I should hardly be surprised. Let it happen and don’t overthink it.
Wake up. Take insulin. Make coffee. Forgot to stretch. Eat half a dozen donuts before quickly hopping on the bike praying I get the timing right to avoid a blood sugar spike. Don’t think about the end, just the next few miles.
Learn to love the momentum. Undeniably the best part of riding a bike, the decent after crawling up every single dumb climb at a speed barely matching what you’d be walking. Heavy bike. Heavy breaths.
Everything is to be treasured. There’s no simply pushing a button (or gas pedal) to get somewhere, telling yourself that the view you take in is something you earned, taking a picture and then heading home. People talk about loving road trips but I’d bet the world no one’s going to drive across the country at half the speed limit. Hurry hurry hurry, hurry up and wait.
P.s. Look in dumpsters.