First Big Milestone of the Trip: Helsinki to Paris!

Wow! After 3,679 km (2,286 miles), 20,807 meters (68,264 feet) of elevation gain (2.3x the height of mount Everest – and this has been through pretty flat countries 😅), and 47 days of biking, I rode from Helsinki, Finland to Paris, France, and have pedaled over halfway through Europe! My apologies for being so quiet on the blog for a while, but I wanted to make a short update post and share some pictures from short initial explorations in Paris. I will be taking a longer break from my ride here in Paris to experience the Olympics and Paralympics, and I’ll be catching up on sharing many stories from the last two months and the ride to Paris here on my blog during my long rest in Paris.

It really hasn’t sunk in that I’ve made it to Paris… All the new experiences, learning so much about each different country and culture and history and language, yet at the same time experiencing how borders blur and customs and traditions are shared across countries, showing how every story is unique and personal, yet we can always find similarities and shared storylines that connect us, all the time spent pedaling or camping in solitude, reflecting and listening to birds and waves and lots of podcasts, all the soreness, boredom, feeling lost and feeling free, and most of all the kindness I’ve experienced from strangers who’ve turned into new friends and all the amazing, interesting, compassionate, and unique people I’ve had the pleasure to meet along my journey so far! It’s been an incredible first section of my trip, and I’m proud of myself for how far I’ve come.

But I’m also really looking forward to a long break in Paris to let the experiences settle and catch my breath. For as many amazing moments as I’ve had so far, I’ve also had many tough moments, and have struggled with myself, my mindset, and aligning what I want out of this journey with my actual experience of the trip. In a lot of ways, this first section to Paris has taught me how I don’t want to approach my trip, wrestling with deadlines and over-planning, putting too much pressure on myself, stretching my time too thin, and rushing. I love bike travel because of the slow pace and the ability to be present and experience how big and diverse the world is, but sometimes I was hypocritically wishing I could just go faster to get where I needed to be… So, I will try to integrate these personal lessons into the rest of my trip, with more patience, spontaneity, relaxedness, and curiosity, and less deadlines and self-pressure

More than anything, though, I’m filled with a deep gratitude for having and taking the opportunity to pursue this dream of mine, and for all the journey has taught me so far. Thank you to everyone I’ve met, to everyone that’s supported and encouraged me on this trip, all of you for following and sharing, and especially to all of my amazing hosts for giving me a place to sleep, chatting with me, often feeding me, and just for showing me so much unconditional kindness and hospitality! It truly has meant the world to me…

I’ll be taking over a month long break from my trip now, to experience the Olympics and Paralympics here in Paris. During this break, I’ll be catching up on sharing many stories from the journey so far, from my experiences through the 7 countries I’ve traversed, promoting and sharing about the work and missions of various disability organizations I’ve been able to meet, and sharing personal stories of inspiring disability activists and people with disabilities who’ve graciously shared their stories with me. I hope you’re excited for all the stories to come, and for now: pedal (and rest) with soul

-Max