Searching for Pavement.

In the end of August my family lost an important member, as part of my grieving process and to connect into the values my uncle stood for I have decided to ride 57km a day for the next 57 days.

I thought long and hard for a way for me to do something to remember my uncle. He was always someone who did things 150%, we had a big bike trip planned with him next year and although he won't be there the ride has been re-named in this memory and will be ridden surrounded by people who rode beside his wheel. I knew I wanted to something more than one ride, and as anyone who has signed up for a big goal event, the work before the day is far more than just that one day.

So I settled on 57 a day for 57 days, rain/shine/inside/outside whatever I needed to do to get it done.

Now day 34 I have learnt so much more then I have ever thought. I have never been an internal motivated or extremely dedicated person, I suppose i am just human. I find excuses, have bad days, don't feel up to it, have to push myself to get it done.

However over last 34 days not once have i had to ‘drag’ myself on the bike or pysch myself up to go out at 4:30am before my day starts. It has been effortless… surprisingly so, I never understood people who just seem to do things without excuses or backing down to a challenge, but this wasn’t like a challenge.

This was a mission. A quest for something much greater than the sum of days or kilometres and it has driven me on a different trajectory.

Cycling has always been famous for helping with mental health, maybe it’s the meditative pounding of the pedals as the sidewalks pass. The nods to the other lycra lights as they pass you. I think it also has created a way for me to keep him alive, a way for me to connect and feel more alive because of him, he has put joy back into my pedals and I will be forever indebted.

D.C.R.