Hi everyone, sorry for my silence on the blog lately. I’m nearing the end of my ride across Europe, and in my nearly 6-month journey from the northeastern reaches of the continent down to the southwest, I’ve had many incredible experiences, met so many fascinating, amazing people, and learned many valuable lessons. The journey hasn’t been as I expected in a lot of ways, but it’s taught me so much!
At the same time, the journey has also been very challenging. The trip has been an important but difficult self-exploration, revealing to me that much, if not most of the suffering and stress in my life are actually coming from within myself, forcing me to acknowledge and embrace the long inner process I still have to truly knowing myself and learning to find peace within myself. The trip has also often just been boring as well as very lonely. I’ve had many moments where I wished I had someone to share the experience with, or periods where I just wanted to find anything to distract myself from the silent solitude of solo biking. In many ways, I’ve realized I’m not as good of company within my own head as I thought. I also struggled to balance my personal experience of the ride with writing and sharing stories from the trip, hence the long periods of silence. 6-months of solo bikepacking has been transformative, but hasn’t always been easy. I’ve reached a point where I crave to stay in one place for a while, to not always be on my own, and to have some time to reflect on the experiences from my ride so far. Honestly, I’ve realized I need a break before pedaling into Africa.
Riding through Africa is still absolutely my dream, and I know I will do it next year, but I want to take the time I need to get back to a headspace where I’m again filled with excitement, curiosity, and wonder for the adventure that riding through Africa will be. For now, I’ve realized it’s best for me to take my journey one continent at a time 😌
In terms of the practical elements of my break, I plan to finish my ride across Europe in Lisbon, Portugal before Christmas, then take a long break off my bike until next fall, when I hope to begin my ride again towards Africa around October or early November of 2025. During my break, I want to find work at a bike shop (or bicycle-related jobs, such as bicycle courier) within Europe (especially I want to find work in France to practice my French before riding west Africa). Please, if you know of any bike shops you think could be interested in hiring me for a few months or know of anyone who you think I should reach out to for bike-related work, please let me know!
During my break, I’ll also be able to catch up on the many many posts I have now in my backlog, so I plan to share a lot during this time. I also want to use my break to create a film documenting my ride through Europe and connecting my trip and my own personal motivations with the core philosophies of the independent living movement for people with disabilities and the simple, but profound call for freedom that lies at the foundation of independent living. I think there is a powerful story to tell, and I will be very excited to share the film with all of you! In addition, I plan to partner with a new disability-focused organization on my ride through Africa, and I have big plans for how to make my ride in Africa more positively impactful while also being feasible for myself 🙂
Thank you all for supporting my ride even through my long periods of silence and social media irregularities. Africa will offer so many amazing new experiences, challenges, and lessons that I will be excited to share… but for now, I’m going to focus on being present and soaking up this last part of my ride across Europe.
Leave a Reply