The “TransCanada
Backroads ’09 Ride 4 the Health Of It” was conceived in the summer of ’08 at a
small pub in Hudson, Ohio over a couple of cold lagers and hearty
Cheeseburgers. I wanted to use such a venture as a vehicle to accomplish three
very important goals:
1)
To promote cycling as a healthy recreational activity as well as a viable form
of green transportation.
2)
To take on a formidable endeavor that would challenge us mentally and
physically.
This
trip had been something that I’ve wanted to try all my life, challenging myself
on a repetitive basis, and seeing how I would handle the mental as well as the
physical strain of pushing day after day after day. I was very familiar with
rigors and the pain of one-day racing and one to two-weeks challenges such as
difficult cycling and backpacking trips. But the allure of Trans Canada was
well above anything I'd ever attempted. At the same time, our Trans Canada trip
was not only a journey into the unknown, but it was also a journey that
had the potential to put both Ryan's and my professional careers in danger, as
we both had to risk the well-being of our businesses by being on the road for
over three months. This was a classic case of risk vs reward in life.
Some days I was a master of
my environment; other days I was mastered by my environment! There was an ebb and
flow to good vs bad. But never did I even think of just calling it quits. This
was my singular focus for a year with respect to my own personal challenge.
Today I have a feeling of total and complete satisfaction. No second guessing. No
woulda shoulda coulda. Ryan and I both faced our own challenges, and we did persevered! And I believe we’re better men from the effort.
