August 5, 2023
Islander
I thought about what my life would be like with a kid long before I ever had a kid. Not often, and not in terms of how I would raise them, or how home life would feel, or what lessons I would teach to help them become the best version of themselves. None of that. I thought about how once I had a kid I wouldn't be able to travel like I had always traveled — the thing that really matters.
In the years before the kid showed up, I figured that not having total freedom anymore would leave a hole at the center of my being and instead of riding bikes all day I'd spend my time searching for the purpose and meaning I was sure to have lost.
God, I was annoying back then.
As it turns out, I had a kid and she ended up being the coolest person I've met. The more I get to know her, the less I want to leave on a solo trip for weeks and months. I want to be there to give her a big hug in the morning, to hear her crack jokes, and to teach her those key life lessons, like when it's okay to rip a fart in public and when it isn't.
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Still, I miss the road — it's mind-clearing, a challenge, not certain.
A few months ago I started looking at places I could ride for a week or two. But the more I outlined routes and towns and campsites, the more clear it became that I don't want to crank out big miles across hot and dry country like I've done so many times before. The less time I have to ride, the less I want to deal with forest fire smoke, rolling coal, miles-long mountain passes, the Big Lie, and chid on top of chid.
I'm lucky — I live in the place I want most to live, the San Juan Islands, tucked in the far northwest corner of the United States, closer to Canada than mainland America. But I'd like to know it better, to wander at bike speed instead of car speed. I watch loaded touring cyclists pedal off the ferry, through Friday Harbor, and out to the rest of San Juan Island every day between June and September. I'm jealous they see my home in a way that I don't.
The truth is, I rarely leave town on my bike. There's always work to be done, an errand to be run, a task of daily life that jumps to the front.
So I'm taking a bike trip and I'm keeping it close. I'm heading to the end of my driveway, turning right, and spending a week slow-riding around a corner of Earth that means more to me than any other. I know where they hide the good pastries around here and that's like half the point of riding bikes anyway.
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