Las Vegas may not seem like the perfect spot for a test run for my summer trip to Northern Europe. I had a few things I needed to test out: handling a loaded packraft with my bike, my new bike bag, and my new stove. I ended up there during a winter storm, so the conditions were much closer to what I expect to face in Europe that I could have…
Gert and me with a redwood trunk I bought Gertrude in November 2013. I had a tentative job offer in DC (they were waiting for their contracts to come through) and I was actively looking for a job in San Francisco. I came to California with about two months of savings and figured I'd spend some time job hunting and ride the CA coast and hope I didn't run out of…
This post may contain affiliate links. Scandinavia is one of the most expensive regions of the world but seeing it by bike is one of the most economical ways to see the region and, from what I've been reading, one of the best ways to experience the region as Scandinavians do. Camping most nights and foraging when possible will reduce the cost of this trip significantly. It doesn't hurt that I…
tl;dr I'm heading to the North Atlantic for the summer! I bought my first adult bike when I was 22 because although I loved walking I just didn’t have the time to walk everywhere. It was February in DC and in order to get to my yoga teacher training class I either needed to walk an hour and a half in the cold slush, take public transit for roughly half an…
Lauren and Jay remind me that the world is a kind and loving place. They pulled me out of a funk, back onto my bike and inspired me to get out into the world to remind myself of the love and kindness that dominates. They were right, the world is full of love and joy and kindness. It’s full of people who will go out of their way to help a…
The sirens’ song rang in my ears. I had resisted their call for weeks, keeping myself at work and away from the coast. As the nights shortened so did my ability to resist, and on the solstice I found myself on my Siren rendezvousing with the Pacific. I pedaled along the bay, sun in my eyes, wind in my face. I followed the traffic then the tourists angling for the best…
I’m still on edge every time I hear a loud noise. I can’t unhear it. Explosions that I talked myself into believing were just construction noises or fireworks because it wasn’t even a possibility in my mind that they were anything else. The day I trekked across Boston twice, once light on my feet and joyful, the second racing to be anywhere other than here. Every time I stop for ice…
I threw away my favorite shoes today. Calling them shoes at this point is overstating their structural integrity. They each had a hole in the sole, the tread was completely worn off, the uppers had split long ago freeing my toes of the constraints of laces. I don’t remember where I met those shoes. I know they weren’t my first pair of Saucony Kinvara 3s. I had just come back…
It’s evening rush hour, traffic is gridlocked, happy hours are full and noisy, street lights create odd shadows on the street; a typical Tuesday evening in the city. Sometimes the city breathes life into you, to be amongst other people sharing this uniquely human experience. For those other days, when it makes you feel alone, powerless, overwhelmed, or claustrophobic, there is the night swim. It's dark when I step out from…
I have been a swimmer for as long as I can remember. I have always savored the freedom of pulling off your clothes and jumping in the water, enjoyed the escape into a different world. I belonged in that world even if I couldn’t stay underwater as long or swim as fast as the other creatures. Diving down to hide before launching a surprise attack on my unsuspecting sister, fighting my…