Ideas, motivation and uplifting news.

I am sure I dont need to inform anyone of the oh-so-beautiful weather today in Quebec. I woke up to a beautiful early December day; cold, high winds and snow. Needless to say there was no morning ride, nor will there be an evening one. I hate days like this because my body is getting used to going out to play and I get really antsy now when I am not getting a similar level of exercise.

In my previous postings I alluded to there being some ideas Julie and I had doing this trip. The first has been set in motion with writing this blog, and this ties in to the next cool idea. Julie is an amazing photographer, and my writing is decent and gets better the more I write. Since this trip is somethign that many people will not get to experience we want to be able to share it with others. We are very seriously looking at the possibility of publishing a “coffee table” book after the trip. This would showcase photography during the trip, writing about some interesting things that happen, talking about people we met, and sharing our overall experience. It would show some of the really good times we have and also give a glimpse of the harder days. This will be such an amazing experience and we want to share it truthfully for our readers. We hope that we can publish the book widely but even a self-published title is not out of the question. More on that to come as the idea unfolds further.

There are many reasons we are doing this trip. We were lucky enough to spend a year in Vancouver which was an amazing experience. The geography and nature there are absolutely incredible. We cycled more of Vancouver and the surrounding areas than most people who have spent their whole life in the area have. When we were flying home after the year Julie and I were amazed at the beauty and the varried geography of Canada. I think shortly after we got back home and settled we started talking about a potential trip.

We are both the type of people who need to be challenged and challenge ourselves. When things get too easy we get really bored. Routine is the worst possible thing for us. This challenge will bring us out of some comfort zones. The cycling is one thing we are comfortable with, but the life on the road is going to be a real change of pace. Camping daily, cooking on camping stoves, creating new meals (vegetarian too!) and getting used to being away from home, being unplugged, and only accountable for ourselves. We are certainly going to miss our little Oden too (who will be off to summer camp with his uncle Buddy!). I think for us the cycling will pose the least challenge, and the life on the road will be the real obstacle.

One of my great motivations for this trip was reading the book “The Flying Five” (Moving Muscles Ride 2008). This is the travel log of Keith Martin, Mike McDonald, Pat Cuthbert, Jonathan Taves and Brian Sprague ride across Canada to raise funds for Musculay Dystrophy. I do not want to give away the whole book but when Keith is diagnosed he vows that he would not let it interfere with his life. Him and his 4 friends cross Canada and raise funds for MD. If you can find a copy of the book I highly recommend it! Here is a link for more info: http://www.movingmusclesride.ca/

I have been feeling down for about a week. I know it is going to be tricky to get the time off work, and the news I had been trying to digest last week made me feel like I was going to have to jump through rings of fire and even then it was not going to be well recieved. It was even suggested that I do this over several years or even reconsider it. I suspect the timing was bad for discussing this with this person. Today after a short discussion with another member of our Board I feel much better about the willingness of our organisation to grant me some time off. This really is a dream and I need to do it before life throws any wrenches in the plan. I feel much more optimistic and ready to jump back into the big planning, which I had kinda set aside last week.

For now I will leave you with this entry with the hope that I will get to get some road time tomorrow despite a frosty start of the day. I am also hopeful for a Sunday tour with an old friend who I haven’t seen in far too long.