It's a familiar story for us now. When we first start off on a trip we feel a little out of sorts and homesick, for about three weeks. Then we get into the rhythm of the days, and our bodies strengthen. From there on, things just keep getting better. We enjoy waking up and having a definite goal for each day. And we enjoy feeling that physically we are growing stronger and more able to meet any challenges.

Then comes the time when we realize that the trip is reaching its conclusion. There arises an easily measurable number of days and number of kms left. If the trip has been in the summer, leaves may start to fall. Our thoughts may then often turn again to home, to the family we have not seen in a longish while, and to the chores that need attending to back at headquarters. In the end, we may be glad to be heading home.

The joy in coming home lasts about the same three weeks that were needed to get used to being away. After that, we notice that we are losing condition, despite any nominal attempts to go to the gym or cycle each day. There is just no good substitute for 8-12 daily hours of pedaling. And in three weeks we have easily cleared up any critical short chores at home. Plus we have had time to realize that bigger chores, like painting the house or clearing out/planting that back garden are probably not going to happen any time soon anyway.

So that is when we enter the phase of wondering where we can go cycling to, and when. Quite often this all happens with Winter coming on, so the question morphs into where can we go cycling that is not cold and rainy?

Heart

0

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply

There are lots of warm places in the world when it is cold at home, but we always slap on a bunch of other conditions. We are not into places with wars, crime, mega disease, or concentrations of religious or political crazies. That eliminates a huge portion of the earth's surface. And we want to avoid places with swarms of cars and not much bicycle culture. Yikes, another huge chunk gone.

In the past we have looked at this situation and chosen four trips: The Southern Tier, down the West Coast, a circle of Florida, and a circle of Hawaii. Despite our pickiness, each of these managed to throw something at us. Specifically, winds, heat, and cars; winds, rain, cold, and cars; cars; and hills.

Hills? Yes, Hawaii despite its benign image had a lot of hills - but only a problem because Dodie's knees were acting up. Now she feels they are a lot better. So we are game to give Hawaii another try.

Will it be boring to go back for another spin? Well to the extent that flowers, fruits, mountains, oceans, could ever be boring - yes. But there is still a lot to experience in Hawaii. Check the next page (coming soon) for what we are thinking about that.