More life lessons on Leg 2 of a 10,000 km bicycle trip
April 2002. Santa Monica Pier. Start of Leg 2.
April 2002, I started the 2nd leg of a bicycle ride in Los Angeles. I intended to ride 8,000 k.m. north to the Yukon. Finishing what I started in 2001. Life unfolded differently...
The ride was called: 'Wild Salmon Cycle'. I had chosen Inuvik in north and L.A. in south, as this is the range of wild pacific salmon in N. America.
I'd hoped to raise awareness, and learn more about salmon and people's relationships to them.
I started in Inuvik in 2001. Idealistically and naively, I planned to bike 10,000 km to L.A. in 6 months.
I stopped Sept. 9, 2001 in Tok, AK. 2,500 km done- over half of it gravel. Winter closing, and a dwindling bank account meant: time to work. Then 9/11...
After completing the 800 km all-gravel Dempster Highway in July- I had gone door to door in Dawson City, YT raising money. I was invited to give a public talk at the museum. I had also been offered work, but decided to ride on.
After Leg 1, in Sept., I returned to Dawson City- settled in for winter, got a job: Salmon Habitat Steward for a First Nation in the Yukon.
Lived in a 1Br cabin: power but no water for $100/mo. I was intent on finishing the Cycle by summer 2002.
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April 2002: I was back on the road. It was -20C in the Yukon. I decided to start in L.A. and ride north. Flew to Vancouver and took the train south.
My bike and gear in a box- lighter than year previous.
I had a bit more money saved, a few more donations, and planned to finish 8,000 km by mid-summer 2002.
_ _ _
I started at Santa Monica Pier in LA and rode north- through Malibu. The shock of going central Yukon in April to riding north in CA- there aren't words...
The first night, I slept on a small tarp, just above the ocean, partially hidden in brush. There was no where to 'camp'- urban everywhere.
I was woken up in the wee a.m. hours by beach-going partiers.
_ _ _
For the next 3+ weeks, I learned why most cyclists ride north to south in spring and summer months on CA, OR, and WA coasts. Prevailing winds from the NW.
Over 30 days, except one, I rode into headwinds; persistently stiff.
Pelicans, oil rigs offshore, migrating humpbacks, cows, and cars!
Felt like more cars and cows than people in CA- I call it Cow-lifornia and Car-lifornia.
Ride north from LA? Never again.
Northbound lanes against cliffs, no bike lanes, hill after hill.
I was honked at, nearly clipped multiple times, and one day a slushy buzzed by my head.
Again, I had misjudged.
CA went on forever. I felt like I would never finish, never reach Oregon, let alone BC.
Headwinds: downright demoralizing- narrow, hilly, busy Hwy 1...
Some days I only made it 40 km. Hills, headwinds, and traffic wearing me down.
In early June, 1800km done, I reached BC. I felt ragged.
I went treeplanting, with plans to finish the ride in late summer.
I didn't hit Leg 3 for another year.
Life lessons (clichéd?):
Day-by-day; hour-by-hour;
Embrace headwinds; lean-in.
Don't be attached to outcomes; sit in the process. Life happens.